Dislezia a friction

'Special' schools is quite a deroggatry term.

like dfp and hippy have pointed out it is not. i put it in inverted commas as i am well aware of the negative connotations this term has received.

i have no doubt dyslexia exists. i agree with those who have feel we over-medicalise borderline cases though. i also agree with those who think it's over-diagnosed and often faked/played up to.

on a related issue, i had a friend at uni who also got the free mac and easy-ride treatment as a result of being diagnosed dyspraxic. i must admit i never looked up anything about this syndrome but as far as i could tell her sympoms seemed to be "easily bored", "not listening to instruction/explanation", "relying on others to do her work for her", "making fuck all effort to understand anything she couldn't immediately grasp". ah and worst of all "being incapable of putting CDs back in their cases". the poor lamb.

the mac sat in her living room downloading music and films till she moved house and couldn't be bothered to take it with her.

apologies to wider dyspraxic community but i'm pretty sure my afflicted friend was just a lazy manipulative moo who'd developed a method of getting people to do things for her.

which is quite different from this:

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyspraxia[/ame]

I got a computer and 'easy-ride treatment' while at uni. They helped me enormasly. If I didn't have them then I quite simply wouldn't have passed. It really isnt an easy ride.

Dyslexics should be dealt with by the police, not the liberals.

I got a computer and 'easy-ride treatment' while at uni. They helped me enormasly. If I didn't have them then I quite simply wouldn't have passed. It really isnt an easy ride.

sorry mate, was only messing. by "easy ride" i was exaggerating for effect. and i wouldn't make assumptions about anyone else based on my friend's system-playing example. twas but an anecdote.

I only recently found out I am quite severely dyspraxic too.

Only found out due to information of friends, suggestions from Uni dyslexia asessor (me aged 22) and personal research.

I could not walk straight throughout childhood, only learned to catch a ball when I was 16 through personal determination. Yet it was never picked up at school.

Same goes for my Aspergers syndrome, which I only found out about through a charity recently.

I showed very visible symptoms throughout school which led to me being bullied by teachers and expelled when I was 14 despite consistently acheiving highest exam marks at school in most subjects.

School sucked bigtime, I would have loved to have been 'labelled' from an early age and gone to a special school. Mainstream crushed all the things that I was good at.

i actually take offence at your comment. i consider myself to be a liberal person, however liberalism does not mean shying away from important issues and believing that all people will prosper in the same environment.

i believe that people with specific needs should be provided with the specific attention, education and support that will best help them. the closing of many 'special' schools has had a detrimental effect on thousands of children and their families.

take your reactionary guardian reading views elsewhere.

Lets test that shall we?

this labour government has pushed the inclusiveness agenda way too much.

How do you know this to be true? Tell us which legislation and government intiatives have pushed inclusiveness "too far"? How far is the right distance?

i have many friends with disabled (is that still an ok word?)

Is that still an OK word? Yes. You just used it. You didn't break any rules, or offend anyone. So why imply that there is some body or group that is about to prevent you from using it?

children whose specialist school was closed down so that they could be integrated with their 'peers' at normal school. none have benefitted from this practise and in fact the pupils lives, enjoyment and education have all suffered.

How do you know this to be true? None have benefitted? Are you sure? How did you measure that.

You can't just bandy a load of vague reactionary nonsense around and not expect to be called a reactionary. I have no problem offending reactionaries.

I'm not a Guardian reader. I'm an epistemologist.

I too recognise that dyslexia exists, and the problems surrounding the diagnosis of such. However, I too take issue with the throwing computers at it. But I wouldn't have passed without my own computer either, or I would have had to use the uni's ones. Buying my own computer put me severely out of pocket and still accounts for some of my debt to this day.

I used to work in close proximity to dyslexia specialists and I think I can say the following with some confidence.

Dyslexia is a wide-spectrum diagnosis that is used as a catch-all for a lot of Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs). The prejudice that people use it fraudulently has been around for ages (and is actually pretty discriminatory), but where a misdiagnosis occurs it's actually usually not that simple.

Firstly, it is more often the fault of the assessor than, say, the student or other subject being tested. A good assessor should not misdiagnose it, as the tests are designed to make cheating extremely difficult. However, there can be complex dynamics between assessor and student and you can't just generalise about it.

Secondly, the field of SPLD research is only developing slowly owing to the empirical research methods used.

Thirdly, owing to the many possible SpLDs and the different understandings that are around, the process for people of coming to terms with their particular difficulties can be quite hard. Except for a single case, I never came across a student who didn't have some genuine concern, even if that actually turned out to be General Learning Difficulties.

The main problem is with the range of reasonable adjustments that are available. These are often blunt, like the much-derided laptop, and quite often it is the students' fault for not accessing the most effective form of support, which depending on the case may be specialist skills tutoring or something else. And don't underestimate the number of dyslexic people who despite having been diagnosed would rather you think that they're just playing the system and exploiting it because they still feel a massive stigma attached to being dyslexic. It doesn't do them any favours, though, and often causes further complications. Before you come back with counter-examples of people you know think about how much you really know about them and about SpLDs. Many who genuinely are dyslexic will open up to people who they feel understand them, however.

A lot of people suffer educational traumas, feeling discriminated against and undervalued by teachers and others, and people have very different ways of dealing with this, based on their personalities, but dedicated dyslexia support can often make a huge difference to a dyslexic student's studies. I've seen absolutely excellent dyslexia work done that really allowed students to realise their full potential.

For those who think that dyslexia is an example of things being too medicalised, it should be pointed out that dyslexia (and other SpLDs) is not a medical condition. Some people claim that it is, but it is actually just a normal aspect of some personalities to have certain weaknesses. Every single dyslexic person will have some strength somewhere that they often never get a chance to develop because they're sorted out early by the education system. I think someone already said that upthread.

It is certainly true that it can be relied upon too much to explain difficulties that are not actually SpLD-related, but there is often no better explanation. A lot of things in this developing science are so far unexplained, and it is pulled from pillar to post by approaches from all sorts of disciplines.

Some people are so severely dyslexic that they basically can't read at all, whereas for others it mostly rears its head in situations where they have to apply high-level literacy skills under pressure, such as in exams. The latter isn't necessarily preferable, as someone who's severely dyslexic can be much better prepared for the difficulties they face in any situation than someone who's only out of their depth intermittently.

NB Some severely dyslexic people are very good spellers because they've spent a great deal of dedication acquiring the skills. It is discriminatory to just assume that just because someone is dyslexic they couldn't be a proofreader, as the real question is whether they could do the job. Some could, as it's their skills that count. Whether it might have been more difficult for them to acquire the skills is neither here nor there.

Firstly, I would like to apologise for getting arsy yesterday. I read the article and it made me angry and I then got deffencive over some of the comments made.

Secondly, the laptop issue, I did receve a computer wich helped me know end (as I have said before). One of the things with dyslexia (and is one of MY biggest problems) is lack of consentration and organisation (they are linked). I simply could not work in the library at uni and I struggled with the IT room as well. I really could not focus. If I didn't have the computer at home I would have failed. Also, it was the only help that was offered. I got more time in exams but no educational support was offered. I went to a Dyslexic school (for wich I am very gratefull to my parents, who sacrificed a lot) then attended a normal secondary shool. This was fine as the lessons and the lerning was very structured. At college and uni it wasent structured and was on a lecture basis. This was a huge problem. I couldn't take it all in and strugled.

I have been very fortunate that I was diagnosed very early and have receved help from an early age. I have never used my dyslexia as an exuse for my failings. The reason I got a third at uni was because I didn't work hard enough. Simple as. I may have been at a disadvantage with the dyslexia but that is not the reason. But, things have turned out Ok, I have a good job in an Architects and am doing well.

The MPs comments made me angry because if there were more people like that in power then it could get to the point where the help I receved would not be available to others with good potential who are meirly deemed dim or disruptive.

Anyway, sorry about the rant. And sorry for getting shity with anyone yesterday.

i didn't think you were aggro. sorry if i offended anybody by being flippant.

Thats cool, dont worry about it. Due to my anger at the artictIe was unable to read anything without seeing offencive terms here or there (even though they really weren't offencive). My bad.

there was the story about the Dyslexic insomniac agnostic who used to lie awake at night wondering "is there a dog?"

;d

dyslexia (and other SpLDs) is not a medical condition.

Good point. I prefer to think of it as my brain is merely wired differently.

I may be flummoxed by forms, timekeeping and appointments, note-taking and meetings but I'm exceptionally creative, imaginative and focussed, which compensates in all sorts of ways. All I had to do was find a job and a way of working that suited me. The diagnosis helps you stop worrying about it and sort that shit out.

In my youth there were no computers but we did have rock and roll as a compensation. Also I bought a slide rule and never used it.

Good point. I prefer to think of it as my brain is merely wired differently.

I may be flummoxed by forms, timekeeping and appointments, note-taking and meetings but I'm exceptionally creative, imaginative and focussed, which compensates in all sorts of ways. All I had to do was find a job and a way of working that suited me. The diagnosis helps you stop worrying about it and sort that shit out.

Absolutely. And recognise and value diversity.