
Dyslexia - meaningless?
#1
Posted 31 May 2007 - 10:58 AM
Apparently what he actually said was that the label is now applied so widely that it has become meaningless.
A factor in this appears to be the ability of middle class parents to exploit what the state has to offer. If their child is lagging behind, they press for the child to be labelled as dyslexic when the symptoms are far from clear cut and this results in their children gaining access to more than their fair share of educational resources.
I was amazed to learn that 10,000 pupils a year in Scotland now qualify for "special arrangements" for exams, including extra time, because they are diagnosed as having conditions such as dyslexia. Also 6,000 "declared dyslexics" now qualify for special support within the Scottish University system,
The questions that we have to ask is whether some of these students are milking the system to compensate for their inability to meet set standards or do they (and their parents) basically have aspirations beyond their ability.
#2
Posted 31 May 2007 - 11:07 AM
Some people certainly do find language more difficult than others, just as some people find playing sports more difficult than others because of their physical shape. It doesn't mean that you should stop exercising.
#3
Posted 31 May 2007 - 02:21 PM
The person I met was bilingual... English/Russian but she was only dyslexic in English ??
The only explanation they could give for this was the teaching method.
In English we re taught our letters by pictures.. eg Annie Apple.. but surely in Russian they are just taught the sounds and shapes of the letters.
Maybe although the "Annie Apple" method works for most, it may just be too confusing for some ??
#4
Posted 31 May 2007 - 04:48 PM
I know another similarly diagnosed who was "assisted" to pass an english o' grade by a "helpful and good meaning" scribe sc that person, god bless him, nice chap, can theoretically get a job requiring an english o grade, but he still can't read or write. He is doing a suitable and necessary job and contributing to society, but he could have ended up doing a job where people's safety depended on fast accurate reading.
There must be different degrees of dyslexia and I guess different degrees of mental prowess, but more care should be exercised in awarding certificates of merit?
This must be a little worrying for prospective employers!
#5
Posted 01 June 2007 - 01:12 AM
#6
Posted 01 June 2007 - 07:35 AM
I personally have great issues from time to time and if it wasn't for the wonders of google spell checker then my posts would be 100 times worse, I do stick my hand up and say 90% of my errors are from a form of lazyness, ie not reading back through my posts properly. but there is a 10% that is just genuine can never remember what is what, Their being my most common one.
#7
Posted 01 June 2007 - 01:06 PM
#8
Posted 01 June 2007 - 04:03 PM
#9
Posted 01 June 2007 - 04:04 PM
(edit - that's Koyaanisqatsi, Ghostrider got in ahead of me thanks to that bike)
#10
Posted 01 June 2007 - 04:09 PM
Weird science?"i before e, except after c"
#11
Posted 01 June 2007 - 04:25 PM
#12
Posted 01 June 2007 - 04:34 PM
Well I'm glad we cleared that one up... (O_o)The rule only applies to digraphs, so words like "deity" and "science" don't count.
#13
Posted 01 June 2007 - 04:42 PM

#14
Posted 01 June 2007 - 06:12 PM
#15
Posted 01 June 2007 - 06:39 PM
hloy fc*nkig hlel.
[mod]Swierang is not pirmetted on teh furoms

#16
Posted 01 June 2007 - 08:43 PM
I was told in high school that I would fail English! By my guidance teacher! I passed. and a few years later I was teaching English abroad, not bad for a dyslexic. I would say that I had to put a lot more effort into learning than most people just to get the same results out, but once I realised that I had to try harder it made it easier because I could see a reason for my lack of results, and a clear way of changing it, try harder than the other 85%.
I do think Dyslexia is a term used to cover a wide area of problems and most cannot be solved with a blanket method.
One thing I found insanely frustrating when I was a child was times tables, I could tell you the answer to any multiplication just give me a stick and a piece o peat, but as for remembering a string of numbers, I would have died if my life had depended on that.
If there is a system to something I can generally get my head around it, but English is one of the most unsystematic languages on the planet, especially with regard to spelling, so I was kind of out of luck. An interesting side effect to all this, is because of my need to systematize ideas I have developed a penchant for abstract reasoning. I win!
#17
Posted 01 June 2007 - 08:57 PM
#18
Posted 02 June 2007 - 02:22 AM
Way I see it people with dyslexia like me arent stupid, but they have problems, I cant spell right, I can write words and know they are wrong but cant tell how to sort them, same with sequences, I cant tell u what comes after j in the alphabet let along k. But in the modern age with spell checkers its no problem. I hate people that use any disability for an excuse, plus I hate equality if people are not really equal but PC tells us so. I know if I had to spell or do any type of sequentail task Im not equal. But at Trival Pursuit or any general knowelge I would rape most folk.
#19
Posted 02 June 2007 - 02:23 AM
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
wow I read that no bother!!!
[considering the time o night]

#20
Posted 02 June 2007 - 06:26 PM