Dyslexic Myths Part 1

Try my quiz which I often use during my staff training on dyslexia. All the statements are based on comments I commonly hear from both teachers and parents.

Can you work out which are true and which are common misconceptions about dyslexia?

True or False ?  Dyslexic or not?

1. He confuses b and d so he must be dyslexic

2. She can’t be dyslexic because she can sound out and decode words

3. His brother is dyslexic so I think he is probably dyslexic too

4. She’s always forgetting where she has left her PE kit

5. He has a good memory- he remembers all sorts of things we do as a family

How did you do? 

Here are the answers

1. Although some dyslexic children do reverse b and d it is probably not the best indicator of dyslexia. Young children often reverse b and d because developmentally their brain does not yet understand that they are 2 different symbols. We have created the convention of reading from left to right and it takes time to train our brain and eyes to view symbols from this perspective.  Children generally stop reversing letters about the age of 7 and 8 while some dyslexic students will continue. There are many other early indicators of dyslexia which are much more helpful in ensuring early identification and intervention.  I will discuss these in another article.

2. Some people think that if a child can read they can't be dyslexic.  However in my experience this is often the first skill they develop, although it may be slow and inefficient. With many schools following structured phonic programmes and using multi-sensory approaches most children do learn their letter sounds and how to decode regular words.

The noticeable difference with dyslexic learners is that they do not commit these words to memory.  A typical learner will sound out a word once or twice and then it will go into their long term memory. So when they see the same word several times on a page or in the same book they will remember it.  For a dyslexic child they think it is a new word every time and will sound out again and again.  This makes reading slow and laborious. This is why interventions like Toe by Toe and Units of Sound are so important for dyslexic students.  (More about these resources in further articles)

3. Dyslexia does run in families. The difficulty is many people from my generation or before were never diagnosed as dyslexic. We may recognise that we struggled with literacy tasks at school or with sequences, memory or remembering instructions. But we may have excelled in an area of interest. Strangely enough dyslexics often attract other dyslexics without knowing it. The result is two mildly dyslexic people may then have very dyslexic children. And while they only experienced a 'blip' at school and focused on what they were good at so they became successful adults. Their child may experience much bigger challenges as our expectations of young children and writing has changed.

4. Forgetting everyday things is very much part of the dyslexic profile. I personally leave a trail around my school. I leave a pen in one room,  cup in another, my diary somewhere else! 

5. Memory is a big issue for dyslexics but many people misunderstand how complex the memory is. Some one can be incredibly good at remembering events or facts but not be able to remember their own phone number.  I have worked with children who can remember everything there is to know about the Poison Dart frog and not remember that 3 + 2 = 5. This is hard for us to understand as we want to bright students to be consistently bright, it doesn't sit well with parents or teachers that a child can be very good in understanding concepts but can't do basic spelling or arithmetic. 
     
Main thing to understand is that there are many types of memory that work independently of each other.  Working memory is the fundamental flaw for dyslexics and for many learning difficulties.  The working memory is our brain's note pad. It is where were we keep a phone number just long enough to write it down.  It is also where we keep new facts while we process them so we can store them in our long term memory. But if we can not keep something in our head long enough to encode it and store it, the information is lost. Hence the difficulty with remembering irregular spellings or a 'meaningless string of numbers' -  like the 3 times table.  Information with meaning can be quickly linked to prior knowledge and so is stored and remembered.  Episodic memory is yet another type of memory and many dyslexics can remember events and experiences with great detail.

I hope this gives you food for thought....
    
Look out for future articles on working memory, key dyslexic resources and early signs of dyslexia