The white middle class cop out

Dear Sir, THE up to date research that the Dr wrote about in last Thursday's paper on dyslexia was interesting. I am sure it would have been more relevant for readers to know a few facts on dyslexia. Rather than the medical theories of what part of the brain causes dyslexia. It is good to know that medical experts do still “believe” in dyslexia, as for many years it was called “the white middle class cop out” for when their child was not attaining any progress within school. Dyslexia is a complex subject; there is a list of signs and symptoms (over 20), which include short-term memory, lack of coordination, left right confusion, and sequencing. A dyslexic is highly unlikely to have every sign and sometimes only two or 3, but a key part is to what degree of severity they have. (There are four degrees mild, medium, severe and profound.) Now add in their IQ and that turns it into a minefield. The strangest part of dyslexia is there are no rules that govern what sign and system one has. In addition, what is meant to be a sign or symptom can be converse in the fact that they could be in the top 1% of general population of a sign. Two more facts that are interesting: 70% of architects in the USA are known to have Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD), which the UK called dyslexia. Over 70% of inmates in USA, prisons are also labelled as having SLD! If you want to know what it is like to have the “wrong” side of your brain working, here is a little test. Time yourself writing your name and address, now change hands and time yourself writing it from right to left. Hard? Longer? That is what it feels like for many dyslexics every day of their life.