The Myths of Dyslexia

Myth: Dyslexics form a special and identifiable category of poor readers.
Fact: There is no way of differentiating dyslexics from other poor readers. (Profs. Elliott /Stanovich 'The Dyslexia Myth') What was for a great length of time the most respected and used definition of dyslexia (the 'IQ discrepancy' definition where reading age was considerably lower than IQ would predict) was discredited a long time ago. No credible definition, or way of sorting 'dyslexics' out from a group of poor readers, has appeared to take its place. As there is no credible way of separating the 'dyslexics' out, either ALL poor readers are 'dyslexic', or none are! See -What is dyslexia?

Myth: This is the BIG one; dyslexia is caused by a specific brain weakness; a neurological difficulty with phonological awareness and processing skills (the ability to detect and process speech sounds) For a more detailed look at the 'phonological awareness' theory see Method 3. Synthetic Phonics
Fact: 'Humans have no reason to unglue sounds in words unless they have to learn an alphabetic writing system'. (D. McGuinness WCCR p138. Kerr p103/4) This is confirmed by the research which found that people who have learnt to read a non-alphabetic writing system, lack phonological awareness. For those children who lack any natural aptitude (due to normal genetic variation, NOT a brain defect) for untangling the phoneme level of speech, expert teaching of the alphabet code using synthetic phonics, along with brief, daily, one-to-one revision sessions, will enable them to learn the knowledge and skills necessary to become good readers.

Myth: Children who fail to deduce the alphabetic code for themselves from conventional instruction, by the age of 7-8 years, have specific learning difficulties (SpLD consistent with dyslexia) and need an IEP (individual education plan).
Fact: Unless the child is profoundly deaf, mute, or grossly mentally disabled the most likely reason why they can't read is 'ABT (ain't being taught!) (Miskin) or dysdidaxia (a problem with the teaching) (Macmillan p134). 'We know that the intellectual crippling of children is caused overwhelmingly by faulty instruction -not by faulty children' (Engelmann&Carnine 1982.Theory of instruction) They need to be taught the alphabet code and the skills of segmenting and blending, fast.

Myth: The prevalence of dyslexia is estimated to be somewhere between 5-10% of the population in English-speaking countries.
Fact: ''In the absence of a definition that provides unequivocal identification criteria, all statements about prevalence are guesses; they are value judgements, not scientific facts...The British Dyslexia Association's prevalence estimates of either 4 per cent for severe dyslexia or 10 per cent to include mild dyslexia have been described as both theoretically and technically contentious (Rice/Brooks p19-20)

Myth: Children and adults who have been professionally diagnosed as having 'specific learning difficulties consistent with dyslexia' need a special sort of literacy instruction which is different from that deemed suitable for 'ordinary' poor readers. Furthermore, this special instruction should only be delivered by teachers who have undertaken a long and expensive training course which has, preferably, been endorsed or accredited by one of the prominent dyslexia organisations.
Fact: All poor readers, whatever their age or IQ, need and benefit from one-to-one, synthetic phonics reading instruction. '(C)hildren of high IQ don’t respond any faster to interventions than children of low IQ. You would expect on average that the higher IQ group would do better, but the fact of the matter is they don’t..' (Prof.Snowling. The Dyslexia Myth) There are a handful of fast and effective remedial programmes which can be successfully delivered by anyone who is completely literate themselves, has undertaken a short training course and, in addition, thoroughly understands the principles of synthetic phonics -see resources 10

Myth: Dyslexics don't just have very inaccurate reading and spelling; other signs are used to identify dyslexia such as poor short-term memory and confusing left and right. The number and type of difficulties vary from one dyslexic person to another, as does the severity.
Fact: These are 'soft' signs - not based on data that is readily quantifiable or amenable to experimental verification. 'Forget about letter reversals, clumsiness, inconsistent hand preference and poor memory - these are commonly found in people without reading difficulties, and in poor readers not considered to be dyslexic.'(Elliott.TES) '(D)yslexia has been linked erroneously to left-handedness, balance deficits, persistence of infant reflexes, visual perceptual abnormalities and nutritional deficiencies' (Snowling. BDA website news17) Many so-called dyslexia symptoms such as b/d confusion and word reversal are simply the consequence of poor literacy teaching and lack of practice.

Myth: Dyslexia is caused by faulty genes.
Fact: The heritabilty studies and genetic models of dyslexia use the discredited IQ discrepancy diagnosis to identify the participants for the studies. This makes all the results invalid. 'Claims to link a complex, learned behavior that has to be taught (not part of species specific trait) to a gene complex, can only be bogus' (D. McGuinness) 'Thus, contrary to what practitioners may sometimes suppose, family relationship (familiality) alone is not a reliable indicator of genetic heritability' (Rice/Brooks p32) In English-speaking countries where, every year, at least 20% of children leave school functionally illiterate, nearly everyone has a relative (or several) who failed to learn to read.

Myth: Dyslexia is a visual problem - dyslexics see words backwards and letters reversed.
Fact: Prof. Vellutino showed this was incorrect when he 'asked dyslexic and non dyslexic American children to re-produce Hebrew letters none of them had seen before... the poor readers performed as well as the normal readers in reproducing Hebrew letters from memory...Absolutely no differences between the two groups. If anything the normal readers made more errors than the poor readers, so the poor readers could see the materials as well as the normal readers' (Mills. The Dyslexia Myth)

Myth: Dyslexia is innate, incurable and permanent. It 'will not go away with tuition, practice, hardwork etc.' (Klein quoted in Kerr p113)
Fact: If dyslexics are taught to read using a genuine, synthetic phonic, remedial programme such as the Sound Reading System, their 'dyslexia' WILL disappear. Sadly, unless effective intervention is put into place extremely quickly, the negative side effects of early mal-instruction such as a dislike of reading and low motivation are likely to persist and fluency is unlikely to ever be achieved. If newly taught skills are not practised they are bound to erode too.

Myth: Dyslexics are compensated for their lack of phonological ability by being gifted in the artistic / visual-spatial sphere.
Fact: This is simply 'opinion bolstered by anecdote'. Martin Turner, former head of psychology at the Dyslexia Institute (now Dyslexia Action), ''thinks it is a 'travesty' to talk about dyslexia as a bonus when it causes such suffering:'' It's a myth that there are compensatory gifts. Dyslexics go into the visual arts like sheep head for a gap in the hedge. They aren't more creative, they are more stressed.'' (Jardine) Dr. Rice and Professor Brooks came to the same conclusion. ''On anecdotal evidence, the belief that ‘difficulty in learning to read is not a wholly tragic life sentence but is often accompanied by great talents’ may seem attractive. However, systematic investigation has found little if any support for it.'' (Rice/ Brooks p18)

Myth: Dyslexia can be properly diagnosed by an educational psychologist using special tests.
Fact: No valid tests are available that can differentiate dyslexics from other poor readers; 'After three decades as an educationalist, first as a teacher of children with learning difficulties, then as an educational psychologist and, latterly, as an academic who has reviewed the educational literature, I have little confidence in myself (or others') ability to offer a diagnosis of dyslexia.' (Prof. Elliott TES) 'There’s only one question that really makes any sense: is my child behind in reading or spelling' (Burkard) and do they know the complete alphabet code? See Assessments

Myth: Dyslexia can be found world-wide.
Fact: In countries which have a transparent alphabet code and synthetic phonic teaching methods (e.g. Austria, Germany) it is rare to find people who are very inaccurate readers and spellers i.e. dyslexic in the English-speaking world's sense of the word. The number of poor readers in any country will be affected by the teaching methods used. If whole-language methods are imported into a country with a transparent alphabet then the number of poor readers will rise. A literacy gender-gap will appear too (Macmillan 2004)

Myth: Dyslexia can be cured or helped by special exercises, fish-oils, glasses with coloured lenses, magical spelling, modelling clay letters....
Fact: None of these cures or remedies are based on good empirical evidence - see Room 101

.....and Myths about Synthetic Phonics