Dyslexia

Medical Fact or Fiction?

Following recent media coverage of controversial claims about the “myth” of dyslexia Professor Arnold Wilkins, Head of the Visual Perception Unit at the University of Essex replies : “I would argue that the jury is still out. It is quite unclear what dyslexia is due to and it is unlikely to be just one thing. Reading is a complex visual, phonological, linguistic and cognitive skill and might be expect to fail for a large number of reasons. It may be more appropriate to concentrate on the reasons for reading failure than on the classification of individuals with such failure. Visual stress can certainly be one of the reasons for reading failure, using special filters to reduce head pain with which reading is associated can sometimes turn a reluctant reader into an avid reader overnight with consequences for reading acquisition. Some 20% of unselected children in mainstream education ( not simply those with reading difficulties) find coloured overlays/ filters of benefit and the benefit is pronounced in 5%. The label of dyslexia provides children who are failing at school with an ‘explanation’ of their difficulty. This is not an excuse for failure so much as a reason for specialist intervention. But it is also much more than this, it is a means of restoring a child’s self esteem, and should not be lightly set aside.”
Optometry Today Published 2005-10-07

I would draw attention to the results from Go With the Gobbies trials in schools and in particular to the high percentage (93%) of children who stated the reading Trackograph had helped them to read fluently. And of course, success breeds success!