Measuring the Impact of Dyslexia

Striking a Successful Balance for Individuals, Families and Society

Carol Hayes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780429515026
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Measuring the Impact of Dyslexia shows the considerable benefits of recognising and celebrating the skills of those with information processing differences, explains their unique brain organisation and shows how they can excel as contributing members of society with proper support and guidance. It offers a balanced and research-based perspective to living with this condition, highlighting the huge number of children leaving school with low literacy levels, as a result of undiagnosed information processing differences.

Full of critically reflective questions, case studies and interviews with those affected by dyslexia, this text encourages educators of children and young people with dyslexia to challenge their own perceptions by understanding the links between low literacy and anti-social behaviour, poor health, unemployment and limited educational attainment, and includes helpful pointers for improving practice and outcomes.

This accessible and readable text is aimed at students, practitioners, researchers and experienced professionals in a range of disciplines to enhance CPD. It is particularly relevant for students working on both taught and research based masters degrees, especially programmes related to specific learning difficulties.

1 Introduction to dyslexia

No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even ‘unopened on a shelf’ like the one who cannot.

Dickens (1998, p. 22; original publication 1865)

Introduction

I wanted to write this book to highlight the impact that dyslexia can have, both positive and negative, upon individuals, families, employers, employment chances, education, the health service, the criminal justice system and society in general. I fully recognise that there are potentially many positive consequences for society and we could all probably benefit more by valuing those who think differently, those who are able to think ‘outside the box’ and perceive the world from divergent perspectives.

The book is aimed at all those who are planning to work professionally with adults and children who are dyslexic and those in training, but also for those who are just interested in this fascinating area of cognitive research. I hope that I will show that although dyslexia should rightly be a cause for general public concern, if appropriately valued, it could also make a positive contribution to employment and the economy through entrepreneurship and innovation

The book aims to analyse the impact upon society and the individual and to challenge the perception that because of the large numbers who could potentially be identified with dyslexia, we cannot afford to put suitable support in place. In our highly computerised and technically sophisticated world we have more and more to learn and literacy has become essential, as most learning ultimately requires reading. Modern society can be badly impacted when literacy cannot be relied upon.

Dyslexia in context

It is important for your understanding that dyslexia is set within the context of a historical framework. This will enable you to understand how recently this condition has been identified, and the range of occupations and professions that have been involved with that identification. Dyslexia has been on a difficult historical journey, going as far back as the 1800s when a few people could see that this was a condition which required investigation.

In the 1960s to 1980s the whole concept of dyslexia was derided by many as educational mumbo-jumbo. Dyslexia was frequently referred to as the middle-class disease, with the idea that educated middle-class parents needed an excuse for why their child was not reading. Frequently they felt that the blame fell upon them for not reading to and with their children, or not giving them enough of their time. Guilt was often very high. Today it is probably rare to find anyone who does not accept that there is a condition (whatever it may be called) that is neurological and probably genetic in origin, which makes it difficult for affected individuals to process information in the way that others do. Whether this condition can be clearly defined by the experts or not, it does exist, making the problem not with the affected individual but rather with the experts who are unable to agree. In order to understand the historical line that this condition has taken I have put the significant moments into Table 1.1; the table also identifies the many different professions which have become involved with the identification and progression of the condition.

Table 1.1 The historical context of dyslexia

Date	Historic event	Occupation
877	Adolph Kussmaul Identified a condition that he called ‘word blindness’.	Neurologist
1887	Rudolph Berlin Coined the word ‘dyslexia’.	Ophthalmologist
1896	William Pringle-Morgan Published the paper ‘A Case of Congenital Word Blindness’.	British physician
1917	James Hinshelwood Wrote about a case study of Percy F, a bright 14-year-old with literacy difficulties.	Eye surgeon
1926	Samuel Orton Set up the first training under the Orton Society.	American psychiatrist
1962	Kenneth Thompson Made the first mention of dyslexia in Parliament.	Member of Parliament
1964	MacDonald Critchley Published the seminal book Developmental Dyslexia; later in 1970 this was updated to The Dyslexic Child.	Neurologist
1970	Lord Morris of Manchester (Alf Morris) Introduced the ‘The Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act’ which mentions dyslexia as a disability for the first time in law.	Member of Parliament
1972	The British Dyslexia Association was formed.	Voluntary organisation
1975	Sir Alan Bullock Produced the Bullock Report (A Language for Life) and recommended specialist support for children with dyslexia.	Vice Chancellor, Oxford University
1977	Professor Tim Miles Set up the Bangor Dyslexia Unit at Bangor University, North Wales.	Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Bangor University
1987	The Government finally recognises dyslexia as a disability.	The Hansard records the Commons sitting where this is discussed by The Right Hon. David Amess MP
1994	The Dyslexia Guild is formed This is a professional organisation for all those working professionally with dyslexia to help them to improve the support that they offer.
2009	Sir Jim Rose Published Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties (known as the Rose Review).	Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMI) of Primary Education, and Director of Inspection for the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) in England
2010	The Equality Act Protects people with dyslexia in the workplace. Employers must make reasonable adjustments.	HM Government UK
2016	A Starbucks employee with dyslexia wins a disability discrimination case.	Legal profession

Definition

The origin of the word ‘dyslexia’ is probably Greek, with ‘dys’ meaning bad, ill or difficult (as in dyspepsia, dysentery and dystopia) and ‘lexia’ which refers to words (as in lexicographer, lexicon, etc). In one sentence dyslexia has become known as someone who has difficulty with words. This is certainly the traditional definition and some small-scale research which I conducted for my last book (Hayes, 2018) showed that when asked what dyslexia was, most people in the survey of the general population said that it related to a difficulty with literacy. However, if dyslexia is only about reading and literacy delay then all children who struggle with reading would be described as dyslexic. Today the word dyslexia is certainly used by non-specialists in common parlance, and most people believe that they know what it means, but at one time it was a specialist medical term only used in the medical profession. Researchers such as Cutting et al. (2013) suggest that the neurobiology of those with dyslexia is very different to those with other reading difficulties such as specific reading comprehension deficit (S-RCD). These differences can be seen in aetiology, genetics, cognition, neurobiology and developmentally, setting those with dyslexia apart from those with general learning difficulties and those with other specific reading difficulties.

It has been almost a century and a quarter since this condition was first observed, and in 1896 it was described in a British Medical Journal as a visual processing difficulty (Morgan, 1896). However, research has moved on and indicates that dyslexia is probably so much more than simply a difficulty with literacy; using the single term dyslexia rather implies that it is a single condition with a known neurological origin, but over the years researchers such as Frith (1997) and Miles (2001) have shown that defining dyslexia as one entity is unhelpful and probably misleading. More likely it is a combination of many different kinds of brain working and development that interact with the environmental conditions they are exposed to. This is one reason why I would rather refer to dyslexia as part of an information processing difference (IPD), which has the potential to influence the holistic development of the person and be recognisable in a combination of physical, memory, cognitive and language differences, often resulting in profound and life-changing social and emotional difficulties.

It is generally agreed that dyslexia is a condition on the autistic spectrum, which is rarely, if ever, seen without a combination of co-morbid conditions such as developmental coordination disorder (dyspraxia), dyscalculia, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, specific language disorder, Asperger’s and many others. This is another reason why I prefer to talk about an IPD, which enables a more global and differentiated view of how people experience this condition. Discussing dyslexia in this manner does have considerable advantages for securing a definition, and probably leads the lay person to a better understanding of a complex, multifaceted condition and the relationship between dyslexia (a condition usually related to words and literacy) and the other observable behaviours that people with this condition often exhibit. This then makes sense to the individual with dyslexia, and those close to them, who struggle to understand what they are feeling and why. This concept of difference in the way that the brain processes information that it receives (whether related to literacy or not) will be assumed throughout this book. It is vital for an understanding of this multidimensional condition that it is seen under a broader perspective, not limited to reading or spelling or even confined to literacy and language skills, rather that these are merely symptomatic and are probably the most observable of a much broader and pervasive difference of information processing. Poor literacy skills alone cannot constitute a definition, but are merely one aspect of the issue, and not necessarily even a crucial or exclusive one.

Although an IPD is so much more than a difficulty with words, for many this is the most observable and measurable feature for identification. However, it is also true that most people with dyslexia can read and, in some cases, they read well; this is attested to by the number of students in higher education with IPDs. The HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) data for 2016–2017 reveals that more than 22,000 students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) were in higher education in the UK (HESA, 2017), but for many the issue is not being unable to identify the words on a page, but the speed of processing, making them slow to read and comprehend. Anyone who has listened to a new young reader will be aware of how having to concentrate so hard on each presenting word can mean a loss of comprehension. Sit with many four- and five-year-olds and after they have struggled to get to the end of a passage, they will often be completely unable to tell you what they have read. Each word was correctly pronounced and identified, but no meaning was attached to the overall sentence and the ‘reading’ becomes slow and monotonal.

The overwhelming difficulty with identifying this condition is that those with IPDs do not look different or sound different to anyone else; looking at any group of people it is unlikely to be possible to recognise which ones have IPDs and which do not. It is like looking at a line of terraced houses; on first glance they all appear to be very similar and there is no way to see what is happening inside (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 All the same but very different

However, inside each house it is very different, with relationships going on, arguments, turmoil, emotions, different furniture, different decoration and structures, order and disorder, all hidden from view, but each will significantly influence those who liv...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary
• 1. Introduction to dyslexia
• 2. Help! I’m drowning!
• 3. The cost to family and friends
• 4. Health and mental health
• 5. The cost to education and social service
• 6. The criminal justice system
• 7. Employment: Cost to employers/employees
• 8. Balancing the books: Advantages to society
• 9. Research and academia
• 10. The great dyslexia industry
• 11. Politics, politics and policy
• Endnote
• Index