Dyslexia is fiction, says Manchester MP

[Fluoxetine]

A Labour MP has claimed dyslexia is a myth invented by education chiefs to cover up poor teaching methods.
Backbencher Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley, describes the condition as a "cruel fiction" that should be consigned to the "dustbin of history".
He suggests children should instead be taught to read and write by using a system called synthetic phonics.
But Charity Dyslexia Action said the condition was "very real" to the 6m people in the UK affected by it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7828121.stm


What a tool he must be to think that dyslexia is just a problem of bad teaching.

[TygerTyger]

I do think that he raises some interesting questions, although the manner in which he does it is not conducive to an informed debate.

With regards to this comment:
Certified dyslexics get longer in exams," he said. "There has been created a situation where there are financial and educational incentives to being bad at spelling and reading.

I think that he may have a point. I have worked with young people claiming to be dyslexic when many were responding to the fact that dyslexic people do preferential treatment in exam situations and can get access to IT equipment aids not available to other students, such as digital dichtophones to record lectures and free laptops!

Amongst some of the young people I work with currently claiming to be dyslexic is seen as an easy way to lessen the workload that they have to do on some of the courses that involve a bit more theory than practical! This doesn't mean that there aren't genuine cases of dyslexic people, just tha the means of assessment do not seem to be stringent enough!

[Fluoxetine]

Looking up famous people with dyslexia are people like General Patton, Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg and the singer Tim Armstrong (singer for Rancid and Transplants) who now produces music for famous names.

Even though it is a hinderence within learning, saying what he said is something the Duke of Edinburgh would say to get a rise out of people. But from a MP itself? Not good.

[Cindlady2]

Wow.... just wow!
My FIL was a reading/English teacher. His 2nd son has dyslexia. 2 of my kids have it and I have a milder form of it and so dose my daughter! We know what the struggle of not perceiving information in the "normal" way is about. It's like there are "walls" between you and what you are trying to learn! Sometimes the path to learning things is off the path of the way most people learn. That is probably why the synthetic phonics system works for may dyslexic children. However reading is not the only thing dyslexic kids have issues with. I could read well, well, above grade level, can't spell worth SH$#!!!
Some can't do math, some can't recall things in order, etc.
Perhaps Mr. Stringer needs to do some more research!!!!

[Cindlady2]

Ok, people were typing while I was! LOL


I do think that he raises some interesting questions, although the manner in which he does it is not conducive to an informed debate.


Amongst some of the young people I work with currently claiming to be dyslexic is seen as an easy way to lessen the workload that they have to do on some of the courses that involve a bit more theory than practical! This doesn't mean that there aren't genuine cases of dyslexic people, just tha the means of assessment do not seem to be stringent enough!

I do think perhaps there are kids "taking advantage" of the system (and not necessarily there fault) and better testing methods could weed them out. I do know that dyslexic people have a tendency to have above average I.Q.s. This may be a factor in finding the "real" dyslexic kids. Although I know even I.Q. test have been questioned.

[Nicholas]

I have a mild case of dyslexia, enough to cope if I really work at it. My father has an odd case of of it as well, especially with numbers. He is brilliant with math but if you tell him to write a phone number down it will be wrong but when he puts it in even a few days later it is correct...

In any case my dyslexia allowed me to take extra time on examinations etc... however at least where I am from high schools and universities will allow any student who takes the prof aside and asks for a bit more time to get it. So really there is no need to use dyslexia as an excuse here.

It has been offered to me many times but the idea of being in an examination room all by my self would make me feel uncomfortable and I would likely do worse. I more or less grin and bare with it.. and make sure I re-read everything I put on the page.

Oh, at my high school foolscap was always tinted yellow because there was some study somewhere(no idea if there is truth to this) that showed that people with dyslexia preform better on tinted paper, and when the overhead projectors in classrooms were tinted.

I personally feel that at least in my area no one uses it for an advantage, although I do see how it could be a manipulation of the system in other schools in the US and not local to me.

[Shawn Blackwolf]

He is right...Lesdyxia does not exist...:bigredgri

[aluokaloo]

wow guy! i suppose the common cold isn't real either. he needs to do his research.

[watersprite]

Before the diagnosis was heard of and kids were called lazy and stupid in school, I taught my older(Right before me) brother how to read. He was a bit slower reading and when I realized that he was seeing things so differently I turned the letters around for him. I was in elementary school, he was in middle school. He tried so very hard, and I tried hard to help him. I didn't know how to help him. We did our homework together and I helped him spell things that "didn't look right" to him. When he got to high school, he made honor role in all the "shop" courses. Auto, metal and wood. Cs and ds in every thing else, but he passed and graduated. He was born Vaginally in a military hospital in 1951 with the cord around his neck several times. He did not cry for a week. He didn't get supplemental oxygen.
This guy does not know what he is talking about, and needs to lose his position.

[Louisvillian]

What a tool he must be to think that dyslexia is just a problem of bad teaching.

Huh. What a douchebag. My mom had dyslexia, and I can attest to it. This MP needs to be kicked sharply in the balls.

[Phoenix Blue]

What a tool he must be to think that dyslexia is just a problem of bad teaching.
Manchester MP is an idiot, says Phoenix Blue.

[Lunacie]

Wow.... just wow!
My FIL was a reading/English teacher. His 2nd son has dyslexia. 2 of my kids have it and I have a milder form of it and so dose my daughter! We know what the struggle of not perceiving information in the "normal" way is about. It's like there are "walls" between you and what you are trying to learn! Sometimes the path to learning things is off the path of the way most people learn. That is probably why the synthetic phonics system works for may dyslexic children. However reading is not the only thing dyslexic kids have issues with. I could read well, well, above grade level, can't spell worth SH$#!!!
Some can't do math, some can't recall things in order, etc.
Perhaps Mr. Stringer needs to do some more research!!!!

The math and numbers thing is called Dyscalculia - I haven't been diagnosed but believe I have this myself. I cannot write a phone number or address in the correct order, and even when reading the correct number cannot punch it in correctly on the phone. What a blessing the memory on my cell phone has been for me!

Typing in my credit card number for an online order is a nightmare. I do better with the keypad, but then find myself horribly confused because the keypad on the phone and the keypad on the computer are backwards from each other. More nightmare.

Yes, these conditions are real, and now that scientists can do PET imaging and CAT scans, they are able to see very real differences in people's brains when they are asked to perform different mental tasks. They have even showed this for things like ADHD.

[Dr. K]

I have Dyscalculia! It made doing math a real issue I would do a problem 100% right but somewhere along the lines I would always read the numbers back words and right them as such. It was a problem in school but it is still quite the problem. I give out phone numbers, my kids birthdays and sometimes there Social Security Numbers wrong all the time. I finally had to write down my own phone number in my day planner and have other people read it who wanted my number. I have to double and triple check everything I write. And even then I don't always catch things because I still read the numbers in my mind the right way.

In short this guy is a dick! To take something that has been a real problem for many many people, me included, and dilute it down to lazy teachers and lazier students is insane!!!

[Lunacie]

I have Dyscalculia! It made doing math a real issue I would do a problem 100% right but somewhere along the lines I would always read the numbers back words and right them as such. It was a problem in school but it is still quite the problem. I give out phone numbers, my kids birthdays and sometimes there Social Security Numbers wrong all the time. I finally had to write down my own phone number in my day planner and have other people read it who wanted my number. I have to double and triple check everything I write. And even then I don't always catch things because I still read the numbers in my mind the right way.

In short this guy is a dick! To take something that has been a real problem for many many people, me included, and dilute it down to lazy teachers and lazier students is insane!!!

A lot of us with these kinds of issues grew up believing we were lazy, crazy or stupid. And many of our parents and perhaps even our teachers accepted the blame as well. I can highly recommend a book called "You Mean I'm NOT Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?" by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo. But even worse was the period where psychologists were blaming mothers for being cold and unloving (the Refrigerator Mother syndrom), saying this caused their children to be Autistic... even though in many cases they also had other children who were not Autistic.

It is so sad for me to see that there are still people who ignore valid research into these medical conditions and look for someone, anyone, to blame instead. And even worse when they have a public voice to share those ill-informed opinions with others, who don't bother to look into the issues and check out the research for themselves but simply take the loudmouth idiot's word for it. GAH.

[mephistopheles]

The math and numbers thing is called Dyscalculia - I haven't been diagnosed but believe I have this myself. I cannot write a phone number or address in the correct order, and even when reading the correct number cannot punch it in correctly on the phone. What a blessing the memory on my cell phone has been for me!

Typing in my credit card number for an online order is a nightmare. I do better with the keypad, but then find myself horribly confused because the keypad on the phone and the keypad on the computer are backwards from each other. More nightmare.

Yes, these conditions are real, and now that scientists can do PET imaging and CAT scans, they are able to see very real differences in people's brains when they are asked to perform different mental tasks. They have even showed this for things like ADHD.

Me too. To the point pretty much ever maths teacher with teh exception of one tried to fail me in school :lol:. Finally, my senior year I had a teacher who saw what happened when I did the work without "showing the work", and the hack job that happened when I attempted to write it all out. Funny stuff that was :lol:.

[Glowingsun]

What a load of BS. My mom has dyslexia but she didn't know till she was 25. She sees numbers in opposite forms. Like, she'll see the number 25 when it's actually 52. She also unknowingly talked inscrabbled sentances. So now she talks ever so carefully and clearly.

[Lunacie]

What a load of BS. My mom has dyslexia but she didn't know till she was 25. She sees numbers in opposite forms. Like, she'll see the number 25 when it's actually 52. She also unknowingly talked inscrabbled sentances. So now she talks ever so carefully and clearly.

I sometimes do that as well. The worst was when I was really into full blown menopause and would swear I was saying exactly what I was thinking, but my daughter would stop me to ask what I meant when I said "rose" instead of "diaper" or something equally strange. That is about when I learned I have ADHD and began taking Omega 3, and that helped quite a bit. Also, I realized I wasn't lazy, stupid or crazy, that there was a reason for my eccentricities and that I wasn't the only one.

[Cindlady2]

What a load of BS. My mom has dyslexia but she didn't know till she was 25. She sees numbers in opposite forms. Like, she'll see the number 25 when it's actually 52. She also unknowingly talked inscrabbled sentances. So now she talks ever so carefully and clearly.
Oh so true!!!
I wish they had a "make sense check" like a spell check when I write! It's fine in my head, but when I try to write it or sometimes even say things, it just doesn't seem to come out right! I have to read and reread what I write and hope it's works for other people.

I do allot of correcting!:weirdsmil