May 29, 2007
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Dyslexia
I was reading an article about a psychologist who was discussing the issue of dyslexia.
Julian Elliot, a psychologist at Durham University. has indicated that parents use dyslexia as an excuse for slow children. He is said to express the opinion, “Dyslexia is a social fig leaf used by middle-class parents who fear their children will be labeled as low achievers.” Here is the link: Link
Is dyslexia a way for middle-class parents to hide their children’s stupidity?
Comments (125)
I would think….No.
No. I had mild dyslexia as a child, but I overcame it (mostly), and it never hindered my display of intellect.
I’m going with a no.
I would hope not. Children are not stupid…they only learn what is taught to them.
to a point yes.
it’s just like all of these children being labeled as add or adhd. while i’m sure there are a few cases. every other child is being prescribed medication to take care of these disorders. some children are just overly active. get over it.
I think it is in some cases…
Sure, because we all know that only middle class white kids have dyslexia
No. That is silly. Is Ritalin an excuse for parents who don’t want to parent? Wait a minute that makes sense. Carry on…;)…
You’d be surprised at how many people DO do that. I had a person in my 3rd grade class that had ADD, and he was just a punk who needed manners, yet the parents didn’t want to mess with the kid so that is why they made him have the medication. Thats all.
And you’ be surprised at how easily the doctors give the diagnosis…My dad has ASTHMA, but even though they knew it, they told him they needed to check his vocal cords (??) to see if something was wrong with them, and not asthma. They just have all their patients become guenia pigs. I might have spelled that wrong. -o-
Speaking as a mild dyslexic, no. It’s not. Dyslexics are highly intelligent.
i guess is some cases parent’s would do that. but not all .. and what does class have to do with it?
amanda
No, but I wonder if dyslexia isn’t a gift in a way. They see things that normal people don’t…like artists…
ryc: Yea, he’s my big baby. He follows me everywhere at home. The bad part is he howls when his kitty litter is dirty. And I do mean howls.
I think that there’s slight truth in that.
I kind of doubt it.
I think that that’s called A.D.D.
And not necessarily stupidty; rather, the wrong kind.
Of intelligence, i mean.
I think it is no more dangerous than saying kids have ADD or ADHD rather than a lack of discipline…
Some cases of dyslexia are merely the results of educational malpractice.
LoL, that’s a bit of a stretch– especially for a damned psychologist.
Also blaming ADHD is pretty big too.
But if its a S and they see a C, then they might have dyslexia.
Theo Huxible had dylexia.
Except for the fact that dyslexia is real. Douchebags.
I think the guy who says it doesn’t exist is full of s***.
I think part of the problem with things like ADHD and dyslexia is that for a long time they were highly UNDER diagnosed.
Now that people are more aware of the diagnosis, I think that there is a tendency to over diagnose.
There is also the problem like in the article about people milking the diagnosis for benefits.
But no, it is not a way to hide stupidity.
No. There are lots of REALLY bright kids with dyslexia. One of my daughters good friends has dyslexia. She’s very smart, and tests high if the questions are read aloud to her. It’s a language processing disorder. There are great tutoring programs that can teach specific (but different) methods for learning to read, and often they [kids with dyslexia] can be back in the ‘mainstream’ in terms of reading and performance by late middle school.
Could it possibly be over-diagnosed? Sure. But that guy is a jerk (as well as uneducated about the subject) if he thinks kids with dyslexia are just dumb.
Surely you are not using ‘stupidity’ as a description for a child with a genuine learning disability…..(cyber slap) I have known a lot of talented and artistic individuals with dyslexia. I ‘do’ tend to try to claim dyslexia when I write down my age, but that’s another story (that’s when reversing the numbers is fun!). Schools have access to testing on site, so any child can easily receive a label, however a parent has to consent to the testing. The lower income children have government insurance and can more easily follow through with referrals than the mid-income who may fall through the cracks with no insurance. Sometimes that ADHD child is really experiencing chaos at home and acting out and may need to be evaluated more thoroughly……….so, it goes both ways. There’s abuse of most systems, but a GP should not just immediately slap a diagnosis on a child due to parental report. The schools should be included in a diagnosis as a teacher would be able to note dyslexia. ADD/ADHS is diagnosed way too often. The new fashionable dx is ‘Bi-polar’ in children! This is bizarre.
Correction: ADD/ADHD unless we want to create a ‘new’ label for ADHS
No
Stupidity? Ouch, that’s kind of harsh. A child who is a slower learning isn’t stupid, they just learn more slowly or differently than other kids. And there are tests to prove a child really is seeing words or numbers backwards, or differently or however they see them. I’m not dyslexic so I don’t know for sure. Anyway, it doesn’t seem like it could be used as a catch-all diagnosis since there are ways to prove if a child has it or not.
i hope not….but thats just plain sad to do so.
yeah. That and ADD & ADHD…
and asthma hides their lack of skill in sports.
I feel that often labels get used to justify problems that might be caused by other factors, though I think ADD/ADHD is the biggest scapegoat used these days.
The psychologist isn’t saying that individulas with dyslexia are stupid, just that it can be used as an excuse by parents whose children aren’t living up to expectations. I think it’s possible, as is the ADD/ADHD suggestion. It’s part of the point that individuals with dyslexia are often intelligent – parents want to say “look, my kid really is smart, this is just why they’re underachieving.”
And leaves them off the hook of spending time helping the kids learn instead of playing with toys, watching HDTV, etc
“Dyslexics are highly intelligent. ” -RedHairedCult
Yeah, and so are people with brown hair.
Being intelligent isn’t a prerequisite to having dyslexia. I’m sure, just as with many other “disabilities,” there are legitimate cases as well as illegitimate ones.
To answer the original question, sure, it can be.
No, dyslexia is a real condition.
Is the common cold a way for people to excuse their sneezing?
I think that Julian Elliot is trying to make a name for himself by saying some controversital things.
I think in some cases it might be over diagnosed kinda like some other conditions, but I do think that it’s a real problem and that statement is pretty stupid.
it can be, pragmatically.
but that should hardly be taken as the ‘definition’ if you will of the disease. it *is* a disease.
the above is obviously a psychologist’s view of it, rather than a neurologist’s or a psychiatrist’s view.
it is a malfunction of the brain, and therefore a lifelong struggle. difficulty visually recognizing words is not an indication of stupidity!
Q: Do you know what the initials D.A.M stands for???
A: Mothers Against Dyslexia
no. its not. my boyfriend has dyslexia. but he is really intelligent and works for the local govt. he can read, it may take him a little longer sometime…but he can read anything-he just has to reverse everything he is seeing in his head. dyslexia is a real condition, and a difficult one, but it can be overcome.
Perhaps in some cases, though I have seen people who truly suffer from it so I do believe it to exist.
ADHD seems to have taken over as the excuse for all that ills children these days. Grrrr
I imagine it does happen, and so does medication as social control.
Re the term “Social fig leaf”: Certainly there is a tendency to ”gentrify” problems by assigning a known label to them. “Syphilis” sounds much beter than “the pox.”
I have a friend who is on medication for the following causes: dislike of authority, especially at his current place of “work”; lack of attention, unconventional dress style and excessive sexual drive. He has in fact been persuaded to accept that these are caused by some form of psychological problem. Personally I think him being 18 might be the cause.
No. I’m sure some parents might use it that way, but I’ve known several people who have had truly had dyslexia, and all of them were quite intelligent.
as an educator I have seen some parents try and pull that..the thing is, most kids with dyslexia are above average-like a lot of kids with ADHD/ADD. Addressed properly and you have another Sir Richard Branson or Tom Cruise (ok, skip that one).
parents use whatever disorder they can to explain away imperfections in their children-its disorder here in society today to explain anything!
To an extent I agree. In some cases I believe that the issue exists, but some people just use it as an excuse. Same with people blaming America’s food industry for being overweight, people just want scapegoats to blame everyone else for their problems.
correction: its “insert disorder of choice here” in society today to explain anything.
but that is not to say that there are not legitimate cases of any disorder-dyslexia or otherwise.
You mean lysdexia?
Total change of subject, Dan: The video of your 9 yr old dancing is SO cute.
I just caught up on weekend posts (I was out of town).
The problem is the psyche of parents who feel a need to find a medical diagnosis for their kids when they are not exactly what they wanted. Doctors are also at fault because they actually diagnose the kids who do not fit the criteria.
My daughter has mild dyslexia, was speech delayed and that insinuation is a slap in the face of every child who has a learning disability. What the hell is wrong with that man? I’d like to beat the crap out of him right now because I’ve worked very hard with my daughter to help her do her best always. We don’t expect less from her because she has a learning disability. My child isn’t “slow” she just doesn’t learn in the same fashion as boy freakin genius who suggested this.
Gah this pisses me off
Can it be used? Sure. No more than ADD and ADHD can be used for lazy children. Does that mean Dyslexia, ADD, and ADHD are non-existent?
No. They are all tough realities that many kids have to face. We can’t discount them completely because some parents want a crutch to lean on when their children don’t meet expectations.
I had a student this year who was labeled special ed. It is the first time I have had a student so-labeled who truly was not. I said as much too. We have a work ethic issue, not learning ability issue. There is a difference, and the difference is noticable!
No.
I’ve only met one child who I was told was dyslexic. And I’m pretty sure he is.
I know the fat kids always refused to run in gym because they had ‘asthema’.
I can’t read any more of the comments because those who feel that I, as a parent, needed a “NAME” for why my daughter couldn’t talk at the age of 3 or couldn’t read or write the same as her peers in Kindergarten etc are people who don’t know what it’s like. My daughter is not imperfect in my eyes, she simply has a learning disability called a “language processing disorder” specifically she couldn’t process the words in her mind the same as we do.
It is just pure asinine to think that I wanted to put a label on it. No sorry.. not the case. I wanted to help her. That’s what parents do. We read every night, she was engaged in conversation as a baby just the same as I did with her sister. I have an honor’s child and a learning disabled child. It happens, it’s not the end of the world and there are ways to help your children. But don’t begin to think we’re just labeling our children because it makes life easier!
The people that I know who have Dyslexic kids work extra hard with them to help them to achieve. All the people that I know who have Dyslexia are especially bright.
This is going to be really bitter of a comment-
Yes, it is, and upper-middle and upper-class parents too.
I have had kids who go apeshit in the classroom stop and scream “aspergers” in my face as if it were somehow an excuse to be a retard in my presence when I ask them to stop behaving in a shameful manner.
I could tell you about overcoming the obstacles of being clinically disturbed as a child, and hugs don’t do it. The horrifyingly negative social feedback gained from peers makes the disturbed child want so badly to function normally the LEARN how take social cues and in late adolescence to adulthood, no one would ever know the strange kid that was once there.
These kids learn nothing with all these namby pamby esteem boosting new clinical approaches because there is a HUGE industry in childhood “mild autism” and equally bullshit like but profitable rackets like “mild to moderate dyslexia”
Awww, you can’t function, it’s ok. Good things your parents are RICH.
People with less do more. And the British press is VERY sensational. Who knnows?
In alot of cases, yes. Reminds me of a joke. Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac? He stayed up all night wonderinging if there was a dog.
taht saw taerg!………..sguh
snororm
tinmad
Wow. I feel bad for imagining some suburban OC mom explaining ruefully to her friends that her child is dyslexic because she doesn’t want them to think he’s stupid. I laughed. But I guess for those who are more image concerned and self-conscious that their child doesn’t fit in intellectually, I could see someone lying about their child’s condition. It depends on whose child it is whether or not they use it as a crutch to explain a child’s stupidity. I actually believe it. People are getting crazier these days…
NO! It’s a disease. One of my friends has it. I read an article in… Maybe it was Times magazine? that said that it was probably caused because the skill of reading has not been in the human conscious for very long, as compared to talking and the like. Studies have found that a certain part of a dyslexic person’s brain makes it harder for letters to form words and for words/letters to form sounds.
I bet some of them use it as an excuse, like the parents that want their children to be perfect and get the best grades – the ones that expect a lot. But I’m sure there’s some out there that really are dyslexic, but no one believes them because of the parents mentioned above.
♥
I think dyslexia, like ADD and ADHD and depression, etc. is highly overdiagnosed. I don’t have dyslexia, but I know that I could be medicated for depression and anxiety disorder should I choose to go to the doctor for it. But anxiety and depression are normal parts of being human. Some of these spectrum disorders (here I add OCD) are present in many people to a mild degree and do not need to be blown out of proportion. We are defined not by our achievements but our failures; in the same way, our physical and mental beings are defined not by what we CAN do but what we CANNOT do, and each person has his own cross to bear. By idealizing the human form and turning every little nuance into a disability, we create a crutch to make ourselves feel like we COULD do better, if only we weren’t defective people. SOme people really do have dyslexia and ADD and OCD, and they cannot get on with their daily lives because of it. These people need and deserve treatment and respect. But dyslexia and ADHD should not be used as an excuse for kids to act out and do badly in school.
not a very good way..
I know kids who were told by their parents that they have dyslexia, but didn’t..
those meanies..lying to their children about something like that..
I think that’s probably true in some cases, but I also think it’s can also be a case of parents milking the system for whatever advantages their wealth can afford them.
http://www.slatetv.net/id/2141820/
Some parts of Europe have been slow to recognize ADHD and dyslexia as legitimate diagnoses. This researcher’s comments don’t surprise me at all.
It could be. When I was in school, officials labeled me with a learning disabiity. They gave me an IEP plan and placed me in the special education program. All to hide the fact that I was lazy and didn’t give a damn about school in general. I didn’t even recieve any specialized tutoring like the other kids in the program. I sat down and did my homework the way it was assigned. I understood everything that was given to me. In fact, a skills assessment test in eight grade placed my reading level at that of a college student, and my math comprehension at pre-calculus. After that I really started pressing them about my supposed learning disability. Eventually they got so fed up with me that they let me go in my sophmore year stating “Special ed is for students with disabilities, not for students who don’t want to do thier homework.”
I also think there are a lot of genuine diagnoses. Didn’t mean to sound like everyone who seeks a diagnosis is scamming the system.
To be honest this is the first I’ve heard of this. But if this turns out to be rather significant, this infuriates me greatly. I have friends and even a former pastor of mine who have had dislexia quite badly and, for middle class parents to use it as a crutch for their kid’s slow learning ability is something that can be taken as quite offensive to people who legitimately have dislexia of any severity. ….its hard to believe sometimes what people think and do in this world to try and cover the truth and face facts how they are and handle them for what they are.
*face facts and handle them for what they are and not try to change that.
There are some of these cases out there but it is far more likely that the child is just misdiagnosed.
My mom has dyslexia and she is extremly intelligent. She was told she was “stupid” and even had to take Special Ed. Today she has her own counseling practice and is the Geri Psych counselor at a hospital. She was even a mensa member for awhile…
wish she could have given me some of that intelligence….
no, im dyslexic, and my parents never used it as an excuse for anything, they just made me try harder, most parents with dyslexic children dont let their children use it as a crutch.
Sweet
Dyslexia also presents itself in people in the higher IQ ranges according to the psychologist who diagnosed me. The last time I took an IQ test it scored around 156, but as far as keeping from transposing words or tighening a bolt the right direction, I’m not so good. It’s not something that was ever used as an excuse, just something that I have had to learn to work around. Maybe this guy is the one who needs his head examined.
in some cases, yes.
but I have a cousin who had it, and he was not stupid, he was very challenged, and he ended up working his ass off to graduate with honors.
it IS a cop out to say that your kid can’t do it because of a learning disorder, there are ways to get around it.
I have never seen a parent use dyslexia for a child’s “stupidity”. Interesting that someone would use that terminology.
CHildren have different learning styles. The way most schools in the US are, the system attempts to stuff all children into the same mold, thus creating learning difficulties. Parents need to take responsibility for their children’s education instead of dropping the children off and then wondering “what happened?!” 12 or 13 years later.
Dyslexia is a different learning style due to a “switch” in the brain that needs to be flipped. The trick is to know what to do to flip the switch.
seeing things backwards…
how is that related to them being slow..?
no I have a friend with Dyslexia, she is smart….always has been…
A lot of kids do use it as an excuse. So do a lot of parents. Kids with legitimate dyslexia and ADHD require more effort from parents, but parents and educators use the label to justify doing less.Its not that the kids are stupid..
But I do know some stupid kids who are dyslexic…..
Yeah, and so is ADD. Because of their misuse of the term, I use to think it meant the kid was retarded. Then I found the truth through South Park
My parents gave me AIDS to cover up my stupidity.
thats absurd
Some people will use anything as an excuse for their child’s laziness, whether a perceived or a real disorder, so I would say yes, some parents do use it as an excuse for their kids. Other parents use it as a tool to teach their children that whatever their talents and /or difficulties they must learn to conquer them in order to succeed.
Speaking as a mild dyslexic, no. It’s not. Dyslexics are highly intelligent. 5/29/2007 8:05 AM RedHairedCelt
Really? ALL of them? I’m sure some of them are. I am equally sure that some of them are most assuredly not. Just as the same could be said for people with most other disabilties. Don’t use generalizations to try to make yourself look better.
No and i would fun that girl!
dear god!!
i want her!!
i dont care how old she is!
No, it’s an actual disease.
ADD, on the other hand…
nope!
There is ample research to the contrary of this UK report. As with any other condition or disability…it could be missed or misdiagnosed-sure. However, to say that it is an excuse for middle class parents to hide their child’s stupidity is absurd.
i don’t know. i’ve seen a lot of parents and kids take advantage of their disabilities.
for example, a kid would get a bad grade on a test and blame it on -insert learning disability here-, instead of owning up to the fact that he/she didn’t study or bother trying as hard.
ehhh. i don’t know.
not for just middle class, and only in certain cases
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If you claim it doesn’t exist you deny a great deal of obvious science, proven by fMRIs – and even genetic mapping. The solution is Universal Design. Let all students read with whatever supports they desire. CLiCk-Speak will read this page to you in Firefox anytime you want.
The problem is not crazy parents, it is bad educators who do the equivalent of making farsighted kids take off their glasses while reading.
No. Two of my cousins have dyslexia and they’re both extremely smart guys. I’d even say above-average intelligent.
Albert Einstein was said to have been Dyslexic,lol.
I have ADHD, and with me it’s not being”stupid”. I get frustrated sometimes because my mind works in a different way.
Kids with learning disabilities are not stupid. What a negative word to use, Dan! I’m surprised.
There are people that sufferer from dyslexia because their teachers just didn’t brother to spend enough time with them to learn how to read the words, these kids just need a little more extra help then other kids that pick it up
In some cases, perhaps. I do often feel like parents use “disabilities” of their children as a scapegoat for bad parenting, but I know that is not always the case. My best friend’s little brother is 17 and is dyslexic such that he can barely read and writes like a child in kindergarten. Despite that, he just scored a 1500 out of 1600 on his SAT and is one of the brightest and well-versed teenagers I know.
No. I had mild dyslexia as a child, but I overcame it (mostly), and it never hindered my display of intellect.
<LI class=itemtimestamp>5/29/2007 7:56 AM
<LI class=itemsubmitter>la_faerie_joyeuse I agree with you. I have some trouble with it, however I just learned to focus more on what I’m doing and to review my work/essay/paper what ever it may be before I let someone see it, lol. I have trouble in math mostly and often problems that are wrong is because I mix up numbers that I mixed up but I just grint my teeth and re-do it.
>because I mix up numbers that I mixed up
Opps, I didn’t mean to write it like that…=p I wasn’t paying attention and typing WAY to fast. Haha. What I meant to say was:
“I have trouble in math mostly. Often a problem that is wrong, is because I mixed up the numbers, but I just grint my teeth and re- do it.”
There. That looks much better if I do say so myself. =D
on awy
I wouldn’t be suprised..
Yoda had dislexia and look how well he did!
Unfortunately, yes.
I think sometimes it may be true. I am slightly dyslexic (as are both my parents and my brother), but I was in all the honors classes an never had a problem achieving in school.
My little sister has dyslexia and she gets better grades than me (anything but a “low achiever”) and my brother has ADHD and he is very, very intelligent. Mr. Julian Elliot should do some research on such disorders before he makes assumptions.
Well maybe the middle class should start spending more time with their children rather than more money on them. Diagnosing their children’s problems with medical excuses is just a lame cover up that they didn’t read their children bed time stories, do supplemental summer work, or keep up with their education enough. It’s a sorry excuse for them to shoo their kids away due to self centeredness. My parents were in a lower class for most of my life and they still found time to make sure I was doing okay in school. Middle class has no excuse.
If the term dyslexia is used to cover up anything, it would be to cover up a school system that simply does not work.
Yeah. I only have ADHD because my mom doesnt like to think that it was her bad parenting that fucked me up.
umm, yeah, some may use it as an excuse, but there are those who really do have it.
thick headed parents = thick headed kid
wait, let me read this again…
Could be, but why go through the shame if you’re a kid? If I was stupid I’d much rather just learn instead of feeling stupid because I couldn’t achieve anything by fault of dyslexia.
No.
No Not at all, i have dyslexia and had i not been diagnoses then i would have never made it through school, it was a blessing that i had a teacher that could tell that i was not getting it. The dude just made me mad. Perhaps he is bitter.
If we are accept everything we read as being true, we would all be in hell at once. I have seen children who you might classify as slow, or simply having a problem learning….today there are special learning schools like Sylvan, they can turn slow child into a happy smart child in a matter of months…math, language and more….so yes there must be something wrong with the diagnosis…Just like in medical research, you are going to die, and yet the medical industry will refuse to treat you with other forms of medication proven to be effective only because they will lose money for the recommendation, and if word got out that herbal medicine can cure many of the common illness, the entire medical industry would have to back to school and retrain, and the F.D.A.would be out of business…..I have gone through hell believing doctors, now I do my own thing with herbal medication and accupuncture….I am now going to turn 64…and still pushing to be 110….
Do I still fit into the catagory if I’m “lower” middle class and white?
I’m a parent of a dyslexic child and a teacher. Of course some parents look for excuses, but the majority really want to help their kids in any way they can. Children get so easily lost in the education system that it’s easy to pass by a learning problem if it isn’t pronounced. Parents look to the teachers first to help keep them informed (since we are with their kids more than they are during the school year). Maybe we should be looking at how many teachers are looking for excuses to make their jobs easier. It’s always easier to put a student in a program out of your classroom or give them medication so you don’t have to find creative ways to teach.
I don’t know (don’t think so), but it seems every child nowadays is inflicted with dyslexia or ADHD. It could be that public schools are failing (in every way possible) and are trying to label children because of their own shortcomings.
I find the entire question aixelsyd!
Are you retired or disabled to have the time to sit around and think of inane questions to put to others?
Dyslexia is a legitimate medically determinable impairment, regardless of how socially-acceptable it might be relative to other politically-incorrect descriptions of people’s intelligence. It is a disorder of perception, not intelligence. It sometimes is mis-diagnosed for other things like scotopic sensitivity syndrome, another less-known perceptual disorder.
What the hell! UM, No! I am dyslexic and I function just fine thank you! That’s not even fair of him to say that. I also know tons of people who are very smart who have dyslexia. Actually all of the people I know personally with dyslexia are very intelligent. That just makes me angry at him.
Is dyslexia real? Is that the right question?
There is so much publicity around these days arguing about whether dyslexia is real or not , at Seeing Spells Achieving, we should like to put a quite different frame on the question. Dyslexia is very real for those with it, but it seems to be a learnt behavior (this may be a shock for you, but read on), that we learn by ourselves or by watching our parents/teachers around the age of 3 or 4 years old and by the time we are finishing junior school we are quite proficient at this confusing behavior. The symptoms we have of not being able to “see” words, like all the best spellers can and not being able to keep them still when we do “see” them are 2 behaviors that can be changed in minutes, not months through the NLP techniques described in the book, Seeing Spells Achieving. It is so quick it should be the first place to look for any concerned parent. If you understand the technique and help your child early enough they should never become confused by words. If your child is older, a few hours is all you need to help your child. For more information take a look at http://www.seeingspellsachieving.com and you are welcome to e-mail the authors for help – this is a real offer of direct assistance. And returning to the origional question, all children who are using their visual capabilities well, are much brighter at school.
no. my english teacher is dyslexic and shes chairwoman of the english department as well as a good teacher. her parents never made such an excuse… she told us all that the first day of kindergarden her mother told her to only talk to “the smart girls”. she had high expectations for her.
i dont think dyslexia is abused as an excuse as much as ADD and ADHD… or like OCD. alot of people really have no idea what they’re talking about.
To a point, sure, yes, but for the most part, no way.
haha, that’s not why it was invented, but i’m sure they use it as an excuse. just like every asshole is just bipolar.
I am a Certified Dyslexia Testing Specialist and I tutor dyslexic people in reading. I live in Appleton, Wisconsin.
My students have IQs that range from 80 to 120. Some are black, some are white, some are 6 some are 30, some are boys some are girls, some are right handed some are left-handed. Most are middle to lower income or poor because if you cannot read it limits your job opportunities.
What they all have in common is a lack of phonemic awareness. This skill can and should be explicitly taught in schools but is not in most.
Many also have an underlying lack of auditory discrimination. This is also something that can and must be taught before they will be able to learn to read.
For those who truly want to learn what the research has shown about dyslexia and how to teach reading go to http://www.DyslexiaReadingConnection.com and click on the link “About dyslexia” It has the most useful and up to date information available. It is free and accurate lots of it is given in free online videos because dyslexic people do not read well.