Dyslexia at College

T. R. Miles, Dorothy Gilroy, Elizabeth Ann Du Pre

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781134138708
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This fully updated third edition contains practical and useful advice that will be invaluable for students with dyslexia, their parents and all of those involved in teaching and supporting them in their studies. Including the latest research into dyslexia, changes in legislation and information technology and the real-life experiences of six former Bangor students this book will:

• guide students through the process of applying for university, suggesting strategies for general organisation and for particular aspects of study

• outline how to get the best personally and academically from higher education

• give practical advice on setting up and using support facilities (both human and technological)

• be an accessible text for mainstream lecturers and tutors who need to be aware of the implications of the Disability Discrimination Act.

New chapters include 'Dyslexia plus', giving information on dyspraxia, attention disorders, Asperger's syndrome, and the more controversial 'dyscalculia'. 'Out of College and into Work' gives advice for students on the challenges they face after graduation.

Chapter 1
The nature of dyslexia

By the time they have reached the age of about 16, most young people who have been assessed as dyslexic will be aware of their main strengths and weaknesses. For the benefit of their tutors and others involved in their teaching and support, however, we thought it would be helpful in this first chapter to indicate briefly what dyslexia is and, in particular, how it affects those who are taking – or are considering taking – degree courses at university or college. This chapter should also be of interest to those dyslexic students whose dyslexia has not yet been formally recognised or whose strengths and weaknesses have not been fully explained to them.

DYSLEXIC STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

We have spoken of ‘strengths and weaknesses’. It is important to give suitable prominence to both. Because of early struggles with reading and spelling, we know that many dyslexic students may have underestimated their own capabilities. The very word ‘dyslexia’ has negative connotations. It is for this reason that proposals have been made for a change in terminology – one which will enable those who are dyslexic to be viewed, and to view themselves, in a different light. Thus it has been suggested that they should be described not as ‘disabled’ but as ‘differently abled’ (see note 1.1). They have also been described as ‘allomaths’, which by derivation means ‘learning in a different way’ (see note 1.2). Some, such as Thomas West, have surmised that the distinctive brain organisation characteristic of dyslexia is associated with distinctive talents (see note 1.3). West (1997) presents an impressive array of names of successful individuals who were either typically dyslexic or at least had dyslexic tendencies. West also points out that many of the clerical tasks which may have presented problems in the past can now be performed by computer. Certainly any terminology and any view of dyslexia which encourages positive thinking on the subject is to be greatly welcomed.

It is well established that on many types of task dyslexic students are no worse than their non-dyslexic peers. This applies, for instance, to many of the reasoning items in traditional intelligence tests, such as the ability to say how two or more things are alike. Suitably selected items from traditional intelligence tests are still useful in reassuring dyslexic students that they are certainly not stupid (see note 1.4). It is also a matter of familiar experience that many have outstanding gifts, for instance in art, architecture and the practical aspects of engineering. Perhaps surprisingly, weakness at reading and spelling does not prevent a sensitive appreciation of literature and poetry (see note 1.5 ).

For the rest of this chapter we shall be concentrating largely on the weaknesses of dyslexic students rather than on their strengths; if their needs are to be adequately met, it is essential that there is recognition of the aspects of study which may give rise to difficulties. It cannot be too much emphasised, however, that it is always important for dyslexic students and their tutors to think positively: the abilities of dyslexic people of all ages have too frequently been underestimated.

READING, WRITING AND SPELLING

Most dyslexic students have a history of lateness in learning to read and, even in adulthood, many continue to be poor spellers. The spellchecker on a computer, though useful, does not solve all problems, since the correct spelling offered by a computer is not always easy to recognise. The main disadvantage, however, which persists into adulthood, is a difficulty in dealing quickly with complex symbolic information – the memory easily becomes overloaded – and the effort needed in getting words and other symbols organised and ordered (see note 1.6 ).

For most dyslexic adults reading as such is not a major difficulty provided they are not under pressure of time and that there is not too much to hold in mind all at once. The main problem is that they are liable to remain slow readers and, unless they take plenty of time, there is a risk that they will misread and therefore mistake the sense of what is written. With regard to slowness, it may take them longer than their non-dyslexic peers to read books or articles, to find the right place in a mathematical table or to check the times of buses or trains (see note 1.7). Those dyslexic students who can read reasonably adequately to themselves may nevertheless be very reluctant to read aloud (see note 1.8). There is more on reading and on strategies for coping with the academic reading load in Chapter 11.

With regard to misreading, there are some quite serious risks which we shall need to consider more fully when we come to discuss examination techniques (see Chapters 18 and 19). For instance, we know of a student in a physics examination who misread the direction of a vector line and wasted three-quarters of an hour before discovering his mistake. It is not that dyslexic students cannot read, but that they need to take extra care to avoid making mistakes which may seriously affect their understanding of what they read.

In addition, many dyslexic students make errors in writing – including the omission of words or parts of words and the transposition of letters. One student, instead of writing ‘correlated’, wrote ‘corelatated’ and when told that he had made a mistake said that he could see nothing wrong (see note 1.9). A graduate student, who had come to us for advice, afterwards sent a cheque and explained in his letter that it was a small ‘denotation’ to the Dyslexia Unit.

There was a problem in the past in that the handwriting of dyslexic students was sometimes hard to read and gave the impression of being immature; this in its turn could sometimes lead to their work receiving a lower mark than it might otherwise have done. Use of the word processor has now largely eliminated this source of unfairness, although some students report that their reliance on word processing means that the quality and fluency of their handwriting deteriorates rather than improves; this may be a concern in examinations for those dyslexic students who do not feel confident about using a word processor when there are time constraints.

Although correct spelling is not valued nowadays as much as it was in the past, a conscientious dyslexic student may spend precious time worrying over whether a particular word is spelled correctly or, even worse, choose a less effective word which is easier to spell in place of the word which he originally wanted. Those dyslexic students who wish to improve their spelling may like to refer to Chapter 14.

SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Dyslexic students are liable – more than others – to mispronounce words. For example, the following mispronunciations have been heard by us at a student discussion group: ‘arriteration’ for ‘reiteration’, ‘simpler’ for ‘similar’, ‘relieve’ for ‘believe’, ‘pacific’ the ball’ instead of ‘up the wall’. Unless one is specially on the look out for them, errors of this kind are not always noticed in ordinary conversation. However, they may have repercussions on spelling and in some cases may give rise to confusion – as in the case of the psychology student who was unsure whether a particular piece of research had been carried out by Bradley or by Baddeley.

NOTE-TAKING

If a dyslexic student attempts to write down in detail what is said in a lecture, it is very easy for his memory to become overloaded: if he tries to write at speed and at the same time devotes resources to understanding what is being said, the result may be that he succeeds in neither. For more on note-taking see Chapter 11.

ESSAYS

Planning and structuring essays is often a problem, not, indeed, because the dyslexic student has too little to say – usually quite the opposite is the case – but because of a limitation of the amount of material that he can hold in mind without writing it down. Essays written by dyslexic students, even though they may be full of good ideas, sometimes give the impression of a lack of planning and structure. There is more on essay writing in Chapter 12.

CALCULATION

Tutors should not be too surprised if some of their dyslexic students find difficulty over seemingly simple calculations. This can be true even in the case of those who can grasp highly complex mathematical ideas (see note 1.10). More will be said about mathematics in Chapter 15.

READING MUSICAL NOTATION

Many dyslexic people are gifted musicians, but, like the symbols of mathematics, the symbols used in musical notation may cause them problems; in particular, playing at first sight from a line of written music may not be easy, since it involves the absorption of a large amount of symbolic information in a short time. These problems are not insuperable, however, and it is sad if anyone is discouraged from playing music because of difficulties over musical notation (note 1.11 ).

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

These can take many forms. Many may seem minor to non-dyslexics, but may cause real unhappiness to those who live with them on a daily basis. For example, quite a number of students have told us of their embarrassment when they fail to remember someone’s name. Several have found that learning to drive a car has highlighted their difficulties in following instructions over left and right. Some have told us that they avoid playing darts because, if they are asked to keep the score, they cannot carry out the calculations quickly enough. Most importantly, although dyslexic students may laugh about their present difficulties and speak of their earlier struggles without bitterness, it is important for tutors to remember that the scars may not have healed entirely (see note 1.12 ).

THE CAUSES OF DYSLEXIA

It is useful to think of dyslexia as a family of characteristics – what in medical terminology is called a ‘syndrome’. A syndrome has been defined as ‘a distinct group of symptoms or signs which, associated together, form a characteristic clinical picture or entity’ (note 1.13 ). Those who have met and talked to even a few dyslexic people will recognise the underlying pattern.

The characteristics of dyslexia appear to be due to differences in the ways in which the brain is organised. There are many unanswered questions in this area, and there may be differences between one dyslexic individual and another. Dyslexia quite often runs in families, and this strongly suggests that a genetic factor is sometimes at work. In this book we need not be concerned with the neurology of dyslexia since not enough is yet known to provide firm (as opposed to speculative) justification for any changes to existing good practice. Thanks to modern technology in general, and to the techniques of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and event-related potentials (ERP) studies in particular, knowledge is advancing at a fast rate, which means that theories are likely quickly to become out of date (see note 1.14). For the sake of completeness, however, we will mention two theories, not necessarily incompatible with each other, which currently command considerable support.

At the time of writing, a possible, though admittedly speculative, explanation is as follows (note 1.15). Researchers have divided the visual system of primates into two pathways, one containing relatively large cells (the magnocellular pathway), the other, smaller ones (the parvocellular pathway). The magnocellular system processes fast-moving, low-contrast information, while the parvocellular system processes slow-moving, high-contrast information. There may also be a similar division for the processing of sounds. Now, there is good evidence that a deficiency in the magnocellular system is associated with dyslexic difficulties. The suggestion is that on the auditory side this leads to difficulty in the ordering and recall of speech sounds. Thus, a widely held view of dyslexia is that it involves a weakness at the phonological level (where phonology is the study of speech sounds in so far as they convey meaning) (see note 1.16). If a person’s ability to deal with fast-moving auditory or visual stimuli is inadequate, this could have subtle effects whenever that person is confronted with symbolic material – written words and letters of the alphabet, as well as algebraic symbols, symbols for chemical formulae, punctuation marks, musical notation and so on.

It is possible, therefore, that a deficient magnocellular system gives rise to phonological difficulties, which in their turn result in the familiar manifestations of dyslexia. However, as was noted above, once the function of a given symbol has been understood, dyslexic learners have no particular difficulty with comprehension. In general, dyslexic individuals show an imbalance of skills: they may have difficulty in taking in symbolic material when it is presented at speed, but they may be very successful at tasks that require good reasoning power – recognising patterns and similarities and being able to tell how things work.

An alternative view is that there are some differences in the structure of the cerebellum which give rise to dyslexic difficulties. This theory is associated in particular with the ideas of Fawcett and Nicolson (1994). One of their central points is that for those who are dyslexic a longer time is needed before skills become automatic, and this would include the development of phonological awareness. A particularly interesting contribution from these two researchers has been the formulation of the square-root rule. This is an attempt to explain in quantitative terms the amount of extra effort needed by someone who has dyslexic difficulties before a skill becomes automatic. Thus, if the average time needed in the case of a non-dyslexic for a skill to become automatic is 100 hours, then according to the square-root rule the same degree of proficiency will, on average, take a dyslexic person 1,000 hours to achieve (10 being the square root of 100, and 1,000 being 10 x 100). For further details see note 1.17 ).

Dyslexia, then, can be regarded as a syndrome or family of characteristics. It does not take exactly the same form in every individual, but the underlying pattern is not hard to recognise. It appears to be caused by differences in the way in which an individual’s brain is organised. From the point of view of the college tutor, an important characteristic of dyslexic students is that they have an uneven balance of skills – some tasks, including the rapid processing of symbolic information, are hard for them – but it is particularly important that their talents should not be overlooked, and if dyslexic students are struggling it may often be helpful to say to them, ‘These difficulties arise from the way in which you are made and are not your fault.’

CHECK POINTS FOR CHAPTER 1

Dyslexia can be seen as a syndrome or family of characteristics. While dyslexia does not take exactly the same form in every individual, the underlying pattern is not hard to recognise:

• Dyslexic people have an uneven balance of skills: the term ‘differently abled’ has been suggested in this respect.
• In particular, difficulties with the rapid processing of symbolic information affect the automaticity, accuracy and fluency of...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface to the third edition
• Authors’ note
• Chapter 1 The nature of dyslexia
• Chapter 2 Dyslexia plus
• Chapter 3 Understanding your assessment
• Chapter 4 The move to higher education
• Chapter 5 Changes to the landscape
• Chapter 6 Preparations for college
• Chapter 7 Social and academic relationships
• Chapter 8 Organising a support service
• Chapter 9 Study skills and the support tutor
• Chapter 10 Organising yourself and your time
• Chapter 11 Taking notes in lectures and from books
• Chapter 12 Essays and other written assignments
• Chapter 13 Grammar and punctuation
• Chapter 14 Spelling
• Chapter 15 Mathematics and statistics
• Chapter 16 Information technology
• Chapter 17 Examination arrangements
• Chapter 18 Preparing for examinations, revision and memorisation
• Chapter 19 Sitting the examinations
• Chapter 20 Discussion points for moderators and Examining Boards
• Chapter 21 Out of college and into work
• Appendices
• Notes
• Recommended books on study skills
• Useful websites
• References