MP brands dyslexia a 'fiction'
Jan. 14th, 2009 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luckyloveI want to introduce the MP in this article to a clue-by-four. He just wants an excuse to save £78.4m by getting rid of the disability allowances that many dyslexics receive.
From the BBC article.
A Labour MP has claimed dyslexia is a myth invented by education chiefs to cover up poor teaching.
Backbencher Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley, describes the condition as a "cruel fiction" that should be consigned to the "dustbin of history". He believes the reason many children cannot read and write properly is that the wrong teaching methods are used. But Charity Dyslexia Action said the condition was "very real" to the 6m people in the UK affected by it.
Writing in a column for the website Manchester Confidential, Mr Stringer said millions of pounds were being wasted on specialist teaching for what he called a "false" condition. Mr Stringer argues that children should instead be taught to read and write by using a system called synthetic phonics. "The education establishment, rather than admit that their eclectic and incomplete methods for instruction are at fault, have invented a brain disorder called dyslexia," said the MP. "To label children as dyslexic because they're confused by poor teaching methods is wicked. If dyslexia really existed then countries as diverse as Nicaragua and South Korea would not have been able to achieve literacy rates of nearly 100%. There can be no rational reason why this 'brain disorder' is of epidemic proportions in Britain but does not appear in South Korea or Nicaragua."
He claims the "fictional malady" has also been wiped out in West Dunbartonshire where the council has introduced the synthetic phonics system of teaching, also known as linguistic phonics.
'Financial incentives'
Currently, 35,500 students receive disability allowances for dyslexia at an annual cost of £78.4m, Mr Stringer claims. "Certified dyslexics get longer in exams," he said. "There has been created a situation where there are financial and educational incentives to being bad at spelling and reading. "It is time that the dyslexia industry was killed off and we recognised that there are well-known methods for teaching everybody to read and write."
A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said the government was supportive of children with dyslexia. "We understand the distress and frustration that many parents of a dyslexic child feel so keenly," he said. "Often they have endured years of struggle trying to get extra help to overcome their child's difficulties with reading and writing. That is why the government is working with a number of dyslexia organisations to identify and promote best practice in identifying and supporting children with dyslexia."
Dyslexia Action said the condition was not just a reading difficulty, but a combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process. Chief executive Shirley Cramer said: "Once again dyslexia seems to be making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. It is frustrating that the focus should be on whether dyslexia exists or not, when there is so much evidence to support that it does."
The British Dyslexia Association, (BDA) which campaigns for the use of phonics and multi-sensory teaching to help solve child literacy problems, said the MP had failed to grasp the issue. "Mr Stringer assumes that literacy will solve the issue of dyslexia, however although many dyslexics have acquired the skills of reading, there is no doubt that they still remain dyslexic," a spokeswoman said. "It is concerning that an MP does not recognise dyslexia, which affects 10% of his constituents, even though his government have taken steps to make sure dyslexic children and young people with dyslexia are recognised and supported."
From the BBC article.
A Labour MP has claimed dyslexia is a myth invented by education chiefs to cover up poor teaching.
Backbencher Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley, describes the condition as a "cruel fiction" that should be consigned to the "dustbin of history". He believes the reason many children cannot read and write properly is that the wrong teaching methods are used. But Charity Dyslexia Action said the condition was "very real" to the 6m people in the UK affected by it.
Writing in a column for the website Manchester Confidential, Mr Stringer said millions of pounds were being wasted on specialist teaching for what he called a "false" condition. Mr Stringer argues that children should instead be taught to read and write by using a system called synthetic phonics. "The education establishment, rather than admit that their eclectic and incomplete methods for instruction are at fault, have invented a brain disorder called dyslexia," said the MP. "To label children as dyslexic because they're confused by poor teaching methods is wicked. If dyslexia really existed then countries as diverse as Nicaragua and South Korea would not have been able to achieve literacy rates of nearly 100%. There can be no rational reason why this 'brain disorder' is of epidemic proportions in Britain but does not appear in South Korea or Nicaragua."
He claims the "fictional malady" has also been wiped out in West Dunbartonshire where the council has introduced the synthetic phonics system of teaching, also known as linguistic phonics.
'Financial incentives'
Currently, 35,500 students receive disability allowances for dyslexia at an annual cost of £78.4m, Mr Stringer claims. "Certified dyslexics get longer in exams," he said. "There has been created a situation where there are financial and educational incentives to being bad at spelling and reading. "It is time that the dyslexia industry was killed off and we recognised that there are well-known methods for teaching everybody to read and write."
A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said the government was supportive of children with dyslexia. "We understand the distress and frustration that many parents of a dyslexic child feel so keenly," he said. "Often they have endured years of struggle trying to get extra help to overcome their child's difficulties with reading and writing. That is why the government is working with a number of dyslexia organisations to identify and promote best practice in identifying and supporting children with dyslexia."
Dyslexia Action said the condition was not just a reading difficulty, but a combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process. Chief executive Shirley Cramer said: "Once again dyslexia seems to be making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. It is frustrating that the focus should be on whether dyslexia exists or not, when there is so much evidence to support that it does."
The British Dyslexia Association, (BDA) which campaigns for the use of phonics and multi-sensory teaching to help solve child literacy problems, said the MP had failed to grasp the issue. "Mr Stringer assumes that literacy will solve the issue of dyslexia, however although many dyslexics have acquired the skills of reading, there is no doubt that they still remain dyslexic," a spokeswoman said. "It is concerning that an MP does not recognise dyslexia, which affects 10% of his constituents, even though his government have taken steps to make sure dyslexic children and young people with dyslexia are recognised and supported."
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 10:10 pm (UTC)*hugs, thanks for your recent support*
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 10:19 pm (UTC)The most disadvantaged dyslexics in the world are certainly British ones, as this man points out even though that's not his intention.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 09:08 pm (UTC)I am dyslexic. I was born dyslexic. I was acknowledge as being dyslexic at the age of 22. 10 years ago.
The effect of my form (of dyslexia) does not really affect my reading and writing ability (hence I was considered not to be dyslexic at the time rather a slow and difficult child), although there is a definable difference, when compared to the standard reading and writing abilities.
Dyslexia does affect other aspects of communication, through which when I was young, weren't considered to be a part. Hearing, hand-eye co-ordination, spacial awareness, concentration; all of these are affected because areas of the brain which are used by us in communications do not develop/are damaged, when born or developing through childhood or in accidents. (A former coursemate became dyslexic as a result of a car crash when she was 16.)
Also processing information taken in - be it visually, auditory, or physically - take long in the brain, because having dyslexia, much of what should be dealt with the cerebellum (the unconscious processing of information) is actual dealt with by the frontal lobe, which deals with the active side. As aconsequence, we were considered to be 'slow' in learning. Yes we are slower, because we are having to break down the information recieved, process it in a different way and then act upon it.
Having extra time does help most people with dyslexia, (only those with severe dyslexia who cannot read or write find it impossible and therefore need a helper to write down the answer given by the person in an oral form). It allows us time to process the information, organise and respond to the questions asked. Having the same amount of time means we become rushed or stressed and it has been proven that being under stress means we can not operate at peak performance. (And that goes for everyone not just dyslexics.)
As an expect once told me... 'you need to surrender and win'; I.e. by relaxing, can I allow myself to slow down and that way, I can do more. It is something I try to do everyday.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 09:14 pm (UTC)I have met and spoken with such people, and it is truly amazing what the results can mean to them and their way of life...
no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 11:43 am (UTC)And before anyone jumps on me, I myself suffer from a form of dyslexia.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 02:30 pm (UTC)"Dyslexia is a cruel fiction, it is no more real than the 19th century scientific construction of ‘the æther’ to explain how light travels through a vacuum.
The sooner it is consigned to the same dustbin of history, the better."
He also accuses the educational establishment of having invented dyslexia as an excuse for poor academic performance which I find particularly offensive as it was only after my diagnosis and a great deal of trouble by my parents that I was given the opportunity to be branded as anything other than stupid by the educational establishment of the 1980's when they were highly resistant to recognising dyslexia as a real problem.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 03:50 pm (UTC)Blackley is where I was born and spent the first sixteen years of my life. On that basis, I'd like to propose the addition of several six inch nails to the end of said clue bat, MP for the use on.
More seriously what a complete and utter wanker. Hopefully this will be electoral suicide.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 10:37 pm (UTC)If anything, she received better early education than I did - my parents took me out of the school where I'd spent my first two years because it was so awful.