BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia

Subject: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Bassic
Date: 08 Sep 05 - 05:42 PM

Excellent programme on the latest about Dyslexia and its treatment, any one taped it please?

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Emma B
Date: 08 Sep 05 - 07:21 PM

Sorry no Gordon, but watched it with interest - had some problems in that area myself

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Sep 05 - 07:37 PM

The thing is "dyslexia" is a label rather like "blindness" - it indicates that there is an inability to do a particular thing, but says nothing whatsoever about which of a large number of underlying causes is involved.

And the trouble - the "myth" in the words of the programme, and the book that lies behind it, is that often people take that word and treat it as if it was a diagnosis that in itself identified what was at the root of the reading difficulty. (Or at the other extreme take it that there is something mythical about the fact that people have the difficulties that have resulted in the label being attached to them. Which is self evident nonsense.

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Crystal
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 04:05 AM

This is what I hate about not having a TV. The one time in 6 months that there is somthing on you REALLY want to watch, you can't.
Drat!
Did anyone mention wether they have actually started using Dyslexia to mean the specific communication disorder rather than just as a blanket term for those who are not academically gifted?

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 04:11 AM

Dyslexia?? Wot a looad of bolux, no sutch theng!

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 04:12 AM

Dyslexia is also a catch-all name to most people. Its very annoying to those of us with different things to be called dyslexic.

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 05:21 AM

Someone I know has told me he is dyslexic which is amazing for a research scientist with several degrees including a doctorate. I think this shows that the term is very vague and that it can be overcome.

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: sapper82
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 06:39 AM

You're not the only one with no TV Crystal, i've not seen the programme either!
Dyslexia has suffered the stigma of being used as a "catch all" for any reading problems in children, very often being used either as an excuse for the result of poor teaching methods.
It is interesting that, here in the UK, dyslexia and a general decline in reading ability have co-incided with the abandonment of the old, tried and tested, traditional methods of teaching reading that took place from the '70s onwards.

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Emma B
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 06:52 AM

Many teachers and child psychologists will report that the "rot" has set in well before a child even attends school. Fewer parents spend (or have) time to actually talk to their children giving them little experience of spoken interraction - it's NOT suffcient to stick them in front of the TV!

One recent plea has even been for parents to buy the kind of pushchair/buggy that faces the parent to encourage the child's exposure to the sound of words! The programme last night emphazised the need for early vocabulary but did also criticise the adoption of "trendy" ideas in reading methods.

I know there are lots of primary school teachers out there - it would be interesting to hear your views.

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Crystal
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 06:57 AM

Actually I was never caught in school because I had a high reading age (10 at age 5!). Dyslexia is a specific communication disorder rather than just a reading problem. I apparently have a spelling age of 13 (I'm 22), but my reading age tested off the scale while I was still in primary school (I have reading problems, but not in the way many dyslexic people do).

On the downside I still can't count!

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Cats at Work
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 07:04 AM

I have worked on Dyslexia for over 30 years and I work with Dyslexics and lecture for Plymouth University on it. Originally it was called a Specific Learning Difficulty and encompassed all aspects of difficulties with processing information. Over the years the term Dyslexia has become a hot potato. I still feel that being Dyslexic is rather like saying you are ill, you could have a minor sniffle or terminally ill, with all stops in between. I work in short intense courses of about 6 weeks giving small group help, but within each group, every child has a different learning style and need, so, in effect I am delivering as many different lessons as there are children in the group. I have used coloured overlays and tinted lenses, prescribed in conjunction with an optometrist, for at least 18 years. That is the indication that the problem may have a neurological base as opposed to an educational one. This is born out by the fact that there is an ongoing dispute between health and education as to who should pay for the glasses and at the moment the parents have to pick up the bill, which I find appalling. Paired reading and individual help in a one to one situation will help every child, regardless of academic ability or learning ability, so that's nothing new. I will continue to provide overlays for my students. If they are telling me that letters on the page move about or form themselves into one solid block, and that by using coloured paper or overlays this stops, it is clear and they can see it, well, if it gives them a second chance at learning all well and good. If it acts as a placebo, I'm not arguing either, but I am not going to tell my students that the movement they see is not really there and it doesn't exist. For them it does and I don't care what you call it. I am sure there are Catters out there who have children for whom using coloured glasses has been a real help. By half past nine this morning I had had 3 phone calls from anxious parents who saw the programme and were concerned that I was going to take away their children's extra help or overlays or that teachers in this College would stop their children using tinted glasses. And, this morning, I have given out three sets of overlays....
Perhaps we should go back to calling it a Specific Learning Difficulty?

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 07:52 AM

Emma, you are right, but it's very hard to catch it before school.

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Hawker
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 10:58 AM

I have always provided my children with books, read with them and stimulated looking and reading sessions since birth. Both my children have a 'learning difficulty' (which to me sounds derogatory, as they are both highly intelligent and in the middle to top groups in everything at school). The eldest has mild Aspergers Syndrome dealt with on other threads on mudcat, The youngest one is dyslexic. First there were the daily headaches, but really, it came to light as a result of her taking up the violin and she was totally unable to read the music, she said it marched about on the page and she had no idea what line or gap the note was on. After 3 eye tests at the opticians, The optician suggested that I get her tested for dyslexia, as this was a symptom. The school were most uncooperative, as she was one of the best readers in the school and way above target for her age!!! I eventually managed to have her assessed without the schools help . She has Meares-Irlen Syndrome, which comes under the dyslexia blanket. She started off with coloured overlays and progressed to coloured lenses, She has not had a headache since she started wearing her glasses, her schoolwork has improved and she passed her grade 1 violin exam, even the sight reading bit!!! - which she could not have done before at all. Dyslexic people are very clever and thus develop ways of coping by memorising , thus very often they are not diagnosed early. If as has been suggested this is all rubbish, you are gonna have to fight Amber for her glasses, 'cos she for one is NOT giving them back!
Cheers, Lucy

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: JulieF
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 11:38 AM

Different for differnt people.

My daughter manged to work round it throughout school - although some of her attempts at spelling were hellish and eye spy was fun. I always thought that she didn't read enough but was told by her teachers she was reading above average.

When she got to her GCSE year suddenly all her friend she was keeping pace with forged ahead and she found it difficult to accept. Her reading and writing speeds are half of average and she struggled at A level even when she got extra time for exams in the last year.   At university she is doing much better, possibly because the course is more practical. She still has problems with books that are either densly written or jump about (Can't read Terry Pratchett even though she loves the ideas) and she can't find the bit of paper she is looking for in a pile.   As we are both terminally disorganised that may be herediatry.

J

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: Cats
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 07:07 AM

Try getting her assessed for coloured glasses by a qualifed optometrist - not an optician as it is neurological not physical.   Failing that it looks as if I might have to start taking my testing kit to festivals with me!

Subject: RE: BS: Uk Dispatches Ch 4 TV Dyslexia
From: DMcG
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 07:27 AM

"Dyslexia" is, as McGrath said, a label, not a diagnosis. As to whether it is "a looad of bolux, no sutch theng", I can only offer a personal anecdote. I have three children. Both my wife and I read to and with them for an hour or two a night, not only pre-school but we were still doing so when they were nine and ten. My eldest son and my daughter had both finished every book in the primary school within two years of starting - we had to send them in with more demanding material. My middle son - same home life, same school, same teachers - was still unable to distinguish any of the 'wh' words (why, what, when etc) by the time he was eleven. On every other assessment, he scores highly. For example, an assessment of his vocabulary put him in the top 5% of his age range - the limit of the test. Similarly, IQ test, verbal reasoning, etc, etc.

He has no difficulty reading a musical score, by the way.