Riding the Dyslexic Unicorn to the land of myths!

Sorting the Dyslexic Myths from the facts

I am a very research orientated and like to stick to the facts! So let’s address some common Dyslexia Myths. 

This was a hard blog to write. It is quite the epic blog. I needed up leaving out a few Myth so there may be a part 2. When I asked our members to give me some myths I didn’t expect to be inundated with such a huge amount of heartbreaking comments. The quotes are comments that parents have been told by friends, relatives, professionals and teachers! I do hate to say it but the majority of these comments are from teachers. 

Some are laughable. 

Some are heartbreaking. 

Some are downright unprofessional. 

1. Myth: Children with Dyslexia can not learn phonics. It confuses them. Dyslexia needs a different kind of instruction

“Went to the library and told the librarian that I was looking for Dandelion or Fitzroy readers as my son is dyslexic and she said “whatever you do DO NOT teach him phonics. It is just too confusing for them”.”

“This was a comment from a teacher to one of my colleagues (a speechie) a few years ago who was teaching a child phonics in therapy: “Can you stop telling her to sound things out, it’s confusing her in our reading recovery sessions”… She also suggested to the child’s mother to stop doing speech and just focus on reading recovery, luckily she didn’t listen.”

Facts: 

This is a common misconception. Often children with Dyslexia have not received adequate phonics instruction and that is why phonics has failed.  Another reason why people thinks it fails is because people dont develop phonemic awareness along with it. Kilpatrick talks extensively about this and the PA must be trained to advanced level alongside phonics. Advanced PA meaning getting to the stage of phoneme substitution and deletion.This is a failure of instruction and not the child. Children with Dyslexia need intensive explicit and systematic phonics instruction. Phonics instruction is effective for children with Dyslexia, however, children with Dyslexia will generally need a more intensive approach. This is a  well established scientific fact supported by Learning Difficulties Australia (LDA), AUSPELD, Australian Dyslexia Association and reputable  International Dyslexia Associations.

“LDA supports approaches to reading instruction that adopt an explicit structured approach to the teaching of reading and are consistent with the scientific evidence as to how children learn to read and how best to teach them. This approach is important for all children, but is particularly important for children who have difficulty in learning to read. Programs that follow an explicit structured approach to the teaching of reading include as an integral part of the teaching program specific instruction in phonology (phonological and phonemic awareness), sound-symbol associations (letter-sound correspondences), as well as syllable structures, morphology, syntax and semantics (the structure, use and meaning of words) as a basis for developing accurate and fluent reading and reading comprehension.” https://www.ldaustralia.org/client/documents/LDA%20Position%20Statement%20with%20references.pdf

2. Myth: Dyslexics are just not that smart. 

“In Prep, I was told I was a helicopter mum, that my son was one step above dumb and not to have such high expectations of him, he will get what ever he gets. I have 25 kids in this class and yours is just slower so stop trying to make him out to be something he is not, are you qualified to understand his education??? He can not possibly be smart when he can not read or write!!!!                                                                                  Turns out he is gifted 2E with dyslexia and dysgraphia.”

“Well, I guess he’s not very smart..?”

“what do you mean he has an above average IQ if he can’t read and write then he can’t have.”

“She is really smart, no way she can be dyslexic. She is really verbal, how can she struggle with reading. spelling, writing.”

Facts: 

I.Q. Is not related to reading ability. Dyslexia occurs across the spectrum of I.Q. Levels. “These results converge with behavioral evidence indicating that, regardless of IQ, poor readers have similar kinds of reading difficulties in relation to phonological processing.” Psychol Sci. 2011 Nov;Epub 2011 Oct 17. The brain basis of the phonological deficit in dyslexia is independent of IQ. Tanaka H

 

3. Myth: Dyslexia is a visual issue or visual processing issue

“Do you want me to print her work on blue paper?” “maybe you should get some of those coloured glasses.”

“Oh you can get them rose coloured glasses to fix that….”

Facts:

Visual comments are the biggest headache for us in our support group. Seeing a behavioural optometrist or Irlen screener seems to be often the first place people go. Including myself I must admit. But I did my research and was smart enough to walk away when the behavioural optometrist couldn’t answer some simple questions about how she accounted for processing speed in her tracking testing! Recommending Irlen or behavioural optometry steers parents away from evidenced based remediation.

“Research has shown that vision problems do not cause dyslexia and vision 

problems are not more common in dyslexics.24 Eye and vision problems including high refractive errors, poor vision, nystagmus, abnormal pursuits or saccadic eye movements, difficulties with “crossing the midline” of the visual field, CI, AI, strabismus, amblyopia, reduced stereopsis, binocular instability, or a magnocellular deficit do not cause or increase the severity of dyslexia. No consistent relationship has been demonstrated between visual perception and academic performance or reading ability. Dyslexia is no more frequent in children with significant eye movement disorders than in the general population.25” https://www.aao.org/pediatric-center-detail/learning-disabilities

See my blog on Irlen Syndrome https://dekkerdyslexia.wordpress.com/

See my fact sheet on Vision and reading difficulties https://www.dropbox.com/s/vwobf5ljr1ais5f/Vision%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?dl=0

4. Myth: Dyslexia is a boy thing. He’s just a boy. 

“he’s just a boy they take longer to learn”

“His teacher said he isn’t dyslexic (principal in primary school). He is a boy! He is young! He will get it in his own time! He daydreams too much! I have no issues with him he is very well behaved (yes but he can’t read??)”

“he is a boy. They don’t start reading until they are about 8-9”

“He is so well behaved, so he doesn’t have a learning issue.”

Facts:

Research shows Dyslexia is distributed quite evenly between male and females. There may be slightly more males affected than females. More males tend to be diagnosed as they exhibit secondary behaviours which lead to referral. Girls in general tend to shrink and hide whereas boys will act out their frustration.  “A range of data now indicate that although there are somewhat more boys, significant numbers of girls struggle to read. (Flynn & Rahbar 1994, Shaywitz et al. 1990).” Shaywitz 2007

As for accepting the idea that boys learn to read slower or it is ok that they are not learning to read….We need to take a look at ourselves as a society. There is a general scientific consensus that aptitude for literacy and numeracy is not gendered but a gap exists early due to parental and societal attitudes. Children tend to meet the standard that we set for them. We need to expect all children can read because evidence shows only the most disabled can not learn to read. 

“Research shows that many teachers hold views of boys as “troublesome” and under-achieving, whereas they see girls as “compliant” and high-achieving (Jones & Myhill, 2004). These different perceptions of boys’ and girls’ behavior and abilities from a young age can affect their achievement (Alvidrez & Weinstein, 1999).” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tell-me-story/201308/the-gender-gap-in-reading

5. Myth: Children with dyslexia read backwards and reverse letters

“Are you sure he’s dyslexic? He hasn’t writing his letters back to front for a while now” 

“Yeah, people with dyslexia see the words printed backwards/letters all jumbled up.”

Facts: 

Letter reversals are quite developmentally normal until around age 8. They persist sometimes in children with Dyslexia as they are the mistakes of beginning readers which can also exist in children who struggle to learn to read. These errors tend to disappear with appropriate remediation. My Dyslexic child had far less problems with this than her sister. 

“This outcome speaks against the widespread view that reversals in the production of individual letters are a good predictor of future reading problems.” “Educators and clinicians, therefore, should not assume that reversal errors in writing are indicative of dyslexia.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4309997/#!po=10.2941

6. Myth: Dyslexic children are just lazy. They just need to work harder and pay more attention.

“Sight words/magic words well everyone else can learn them this way, you just need to work harder with him.” 

“He just needs to find motivation and try harder, then he’ll do enough work to pass”

“She doesn’t have a problem – she can do it when she tries hard enough.”         

“What is dyslexia anyway? An excuse to be lazy?”

Facts: 

Children with Dyslexia are often working much harder than other students to produce less work. Dyslexia causes problems with sequencing and organising information so it is difficult for children with dyslexia to work out the purpose of the task and organise their thoughts. Dyslexia makes reading slow, tiring and inaccurate making the question or information difficult to understand and comprehend.

“The dyslexics were using 4.6 times as much area of the brain to do the same language task as the controls,” said Richards, a professor of radiology. “This means their brains were working a lot harder and using more energy than the normal children.” ‘Dyslexic children use nearly five times the brain area.’ Schwarz (1999) Dyslexic children use nearly five times the brain area. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2017, from http://www.washington.edu/news/1999/10/04/dyslexic-children-use-nearly-five-times-the-brain-area/

Inattention, lack of focus, poor motivation can all be the result of secondary learned helplessness and anxiety that have developed due to constant failure at tasks. “3Children and adolescents with learning disabilities have high rates of mental health problems and behavioural difficulties.” Allington-Smith 2006

7. Myth: We don’t use the word Dyslexia anymore

Facts:

Teachers and health care practitioners are under the misinformed impression that the term dyslexia is no longer used and has been removed from the DSM-5. This is categorically incorrect. The extensive 2013 revision of the DSM has most certainly not dropped the term dyslexia but has made the term more formalised as it is specifically stated in the section on specific learning disabilities (disorders). 

“DSM-5 includes dyslexia as a Specific Reading Disorder – “Dyslexia is an alternative term used to refer to a pattern of learning difficulties characterized by problems with accurate or fluent word recognition, poor decoding, and poor spelling abilities”.(p.67, DSM-5) (APA), 2013 

Please see my blog “The Dirty D word” for more detail https://dekkerdyslexia.wordpress.com/2018/01/27/the-dirty-d-word-2/

8. Myth: Dyslexia can’t be properly diagnosed

Facts:

Whilst the term dyslexia is used inappropriately by promoters of reading products it has a clearly defined diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 and can be adequately identified by well trained and experienced professionals.

The following criteria is used for a diagnosis by an educational psychologist;

“A.      A persistent difficulty learning academic skills for at least 6 months despite intervention. In regard to dyslexia the areas of persistent weakness may include;

-Inaccurate and slow reading.

-Difficulty with word decoding.

-Difficulty with the comprehension of text.

-Spelling Difficulties.

-Difficulties with grammar, punctuation and other writing skills. 

B.       The areas of weakness or skill impairment are significantly below the expectation and impede academic progress. 

C.       Learning difficulties may not be apparent until the demands of school are in excess of the student’s progress.

D.       The academic and learning difficulties do not occur because of other issues such intellectual, hearing, vision, mental health or due to inadequate instruction. ”

Summarised from The DSM-5 is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition, American Psychiatriac Association (APA), 2013. 

“Science has moved forward at a rapid pace so that we now possess the data to reliably define dyslexia … For the student, the knowledge that he is dyslexic is empowering … [It provides him] with self-understanding and self-awareness of what he has and what he needs to do in order to succeed.” Sally Shaywitz (2017)

9. Dyslexia doesn’t exist it is all “ disteachia”

Facts:

Whilst there is a percentage of children who have failed to read due to inadequate instruction dyslexia is a recognised and diagnosable condition as per the myth examined above. Dyslexia is reading difficulties that persist despite adequate evidenced based intervention. “There has been over 30 years of documented, scientific evidence and research proving the existence of dyslexia. It is one of the most common learning disabilities to affect children.” http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/dyslexics/learn-about-dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia/debunking-common-myths-about-dyslexia

“Experts in the field have reached a substantial degree of consensus about what is meant by the term and how it should be defined in a clinical context. Dyslexia is widely viewed as a severe reading difficulty that persists despite high-quality evidence-based instruction. This is enshrined in documents such as the Rose Report in the UK, and the Australian Dyslexia Working Party report.” Wheldall, Castles and Nayton, (2014) 

Please see my blog “The Dirty D word” for more detail https://dekkerdyslexia.wordpress.com/2018/01/27/the-dirty-d-word-2/

10. Myth: Your child will never learn to read. But that is OK!!! They can do a trade or sport or colour in daisy wheels.

The colouring in of daisy wheels was actually the experience of our daughter’s tutor who didn’t learn to read a word until year 5. Diagnosed at 18 after failing her A levels she went on to get a Masters from Cambridge in Psychology and Education.  

“The physiatrist who tested my son and found him to be highly gifted at 5 went on to tell me at 6 that now she had diagnosed dyslexia, Dyscalculia and dysgraphia he would never reach the full potential of his IQ and I would have to modify my expectations of him…”

“Forget about being academic just concentrate on sport.”

“Yours boys are so cute , don’t worry about the Dyslexia they will get great wives “

“Hello, he’s dyslexic! He better get used to being a failure! At least he’s not like (insert name of a child with severe cognitive issues here).”

“He is such a delight don’t worry”

“He’s never going to be a rocket scientist…ironic considering how many dyslexic people become scientists.”

“Take her home and love her… she will never succeed at school”… told by a behavioural optometrist”

“You (parent) expect too much. Your child isn’t a genius, so don’t expect him to be.”

Facts:

We must change systematic acceptance that a certain percentage of kids can not learn to read or succeed. We must have the highest expectations of all children. Placing children in the too hard basket and writing them off as unteachable is unforgivable. Telling a parent that that need to lower their expectations is absolutely unprofessional and hurtful.

The great majority of children can learn to read. The exceptions are only the most profoundly disabled. “Thanks to new scientific research—plus a long- awaited scientific and political consensus around this research—the knowledge exists to teach all but a handful of severely disabled children to read well.”  “Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society.” 1999 https://www.ldaustralia.org/client/documents/Teaching%20Reading%20is%20Rocket%20Science%20-%20Moats.pdf

We must accept that Australia’s high rate of illiteracy is down to decades of poor literacy instruction based on ideologies rather than science. “Mr Boulton said that According to Reid Lyon and James Wendorf, 95% of the children that are struggling with reading are instructional casualties.” http://www.rrf.org.uk/archive.php?n_ID=55&n_issueNumber=53

Whether being dyslexic comes with strengths remains a controversial issue that is under researched. There is some limited research that supports improved visual spatial processing strengths in individuals with dyslexia.  People with dyslexia are certainly overrepresented in the arts and the business world but it remains to be seen whether dyslexia confers any extra benefits. It may be that faced with difficulties at school forces the individual to develop a level of resilience to failure and other coping mechanisms that allow them to thrive as entrepreneurs. Children may also seek refuge in the arts and creativity when confronted with the stress of the classroom. 

All children have strengths. The most important thing is that your child finds their strengths and utilises those strengths to help overcome their weaknesses.

Please see my blog post for further detail Dyslexia and the journey to the magical world of reading https://dekkerdyslexia.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/dyslexia-and-the-journey-to-the-magical-world-of-reading/

11. Myth: Dyslexia doesn’t qualify for learning support

“dyslexia isn’t funded so we can’t help.”

Facts:

Dyslexia is not specifically funded in any State or Territory under specialist disability funding support. All schools get some funding for children with special needs. Children with dyslexia can access this general learning and support funding. This unfortunately is not specific so will depend on the extent of difficulties, the school and the priorities of the principal. Learning support funding criteria will differ in each Sate and territory. Policies will also differ in Catholic education and private sectors.

“The Australian Government provides substantial funding to education authorities to help meet the educational needs of all students, including those with disability. This funding, provided through the Australian Education Act 2013, also helps schools meet their obligations under the Disability Standards for Education 2005.” Australian Government Department of Education and Training, Students with Disability, 2005

“Students who experience difficulties in basic areas of learning and behaviour are supported through Learning and Support in their local school. Students in primary, secondary and central schools may receive additional assistance in literacy, numeracy, language and behaviour. Students do not need a formal diagnosis of disability to access support through these resources.” Disability Support, NSW Department of Education and Communities.

12. Myth: I have not taught any dyslexics before!

This is a common response from teachers when told by a parent of a Dyslexia diagnosis. 

“When first got diagnosed we had a meeting with the school Team support teacher for special needs. We asked “we’ll this is all new to us, what have u done for other dyslexic kids in the school?” Her response was ” yeh I think we had ‘a kid’ here ONCE with dyslexia, don’t worry he eventually got it & could read, it just took him till grade 5, really u just need to stop worrying”……………really 1 kid, you’ve been here for 20years & there’s nearly 300 kids at this school, really??????. Yes” 

Facts:

Because dyslexia occurs across a continuum and varies in definition the percentage of people affected is often debatable. Some consensus is that it affects around 10 % of the population with around 3-5% experiencing a significant impact.  Based on statistics you would expect to find 2 to 3 children in every classroom with dyslexia. Many of those are not being identified.  

Please see more blog teaching Dyslexia sorting through the facts for more detail https://dekkerdyslexia.wordpress.com/2018/02/16/teaching-dyslexia-sorting-through-the-facts/

13. Myth: Dyslexia is not recognised as a disability

Parents get told this all the time by teachers and principals. Far too often this is discussed in the support group.

Facts:

Dyslexia is a disability recognised under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 Act. These acts are federal legislation so cover every educational institution in Australia in the public and private sector. The DDA also covers discrimination of the basis of disability in all areas of Australian life including the workplace. 

Unfortunately many schools are unaware that dyslexia is a disability and therefore fail to adequately meet their legal obligations under the DDA and Disability Standards. 

“The definition of ‘disability’ in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) is sufficiently broad as to include dyslexia within the meaning of that term as outlined in recommendation 1.  Dyslexia would therefore be covered by the provisions of both the DDA and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 made under that Act.” Australian Government response to recommendations of the Dyslexia Working Party Report (2012)

Please see also the Dyslexia and the law Fact Sheet https://www.dropbox.com/s/1sci4cews929j57/Dyslexia%20and%20the%20law%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?dl=0

14. Myth: They can’t read because you didn’t read to them enough. 

“It’s such a shame when that happens. Some people just don’t realise the importance of reading & talking to their children from a young age.”

“it’s really important that your kids are exposed to language even if you have to read to them” or “kids should be exposed to language and the written word from a young age”… oh right, thanks, haven’t thought if that. Parents of dyslexics have probably had to read more out loud, do more work around language than any other parent. “

“Vice principal – “honestly you work a lot do you think maybe if you quit and just read to him more that would help ?”

“It’s because you didn’t read to them when they were little.”

“Have you tried reading to him each night?”

There were countless comments like these. Everyone shows a distinct lack of understanding how children learn to read and absolute unprofessionalism blaming a child lack of progress on the parent. The primary goal of primary school is to teach kids to read. This is the school’s responsibility. It is it’s reason for existence!

Facts: 

I can guarantee every parent in our support group has read a lot to their children. They are concerned enough to be in the group looking for answers. I read to both my children from birth. One easily learnt to read and the other didn’t. For the dyslexic child we were reading things to her like Harry Potter from kindergarten. She always loved language and complex stories. Whereas our non dyslexic child liked picture books for a long time. We still read to both our kids every night and the youngest is 11.

Certainly reading to children does impact oral language including phonemic awareness and vocabulary and it is certainly an essential foundation but it won’t teach a child to read.

“The scientific evidence that refutes the idea that learning to read is a natural process is of such magnitude that Stanovich (1994) wrote:

That direct instruction in alphabetic coding facilitates early reading acquisition is one of the most well established conclusions in all of behavioral science. . . . The idea that learning to read is just like learning to speak is accepted by no responsible linguist, psychologist, or cognitive scientist in the research community (pp. 285-286).” http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar98/vol55/num06/Why-Reading-Is-Not-a-Natural-Process.aspx

Please see my blog on learning read is not a natural process for more detail https://dekkerdyslexia.wordpress.com/2018/04/10/phonics-check-myth-buster-2-learning-to-read-is-a-natural-process-and-advocating-just-a-phonics-approach-destroys-a-childrens-love-of-books/

15. Myth: Dyslexia is rare

“I’ve never taught a dyslexic child before.”

“I’ve taught one Dyslexic child before.”

“what’s Dyslexia? I’ll go home an google tonight “

“I’ve been teaching 20 years and I’ve never had a dyslexic child before….”

Facts:

Because dyslexia occurs across a continuum and varies in definition the percentage of people affected is often debatable. Some consensus is that it affects around 10 % of the population with around 3-5% experiencing a significant impact. Based on statistics you would expect to find 2 to 3 children in every classroom with dyslexia. Many of those are not being identified. 

We get a lot of teachers joining our support group looking for ways to help a student they have in their class. Sometimes we get 20 a day. Learning support teachers, librarians, principals and some of these are teachers who are stumped because their own child just got diagnosed. 

Are we are happy they are seeking help? Most certainly!

Are we shocked that they don’t know what to do? No!

Are we sad that a volunteer support group is the place to go to find answers? A little. 

We would love to see all teachers adequately trained in

• Identifying kids at risk of reading failure
• Basics of Dyslexia
• Accommodations and learning adjustments for children with Dyslexia
• Evidenced based reading instruction 
• Legal obligations under Disability legislation 

16. Your child will grow out of it

“He will grow out of it. It’s a phase he’s going through 

“I had that but I grew out of it”

Facts:

Dyslexia is a neurological disability that affects the language system and the development of literacy skills. It is defined as a specific learning disorder, more specifically a reading disorder. It is characterised by problems with spelling, accurate or fluent word recognition, working memory, processing speed, rapid automatic naming, reading comprehension, phonological decoding and weak phonemic awareness.  

Dyslexia is not curable and is a lifelong disability. It can be remediated with appropriate interventions but some difficulties may still persist and need to be managed adequately.

17. Myth: Just wait and see as some kids just take longer to learn to read.

“Comments from the gp when trying to get a referral for speech therapy – well no 6 year old can spell or read well, parents need to help them more and not waste our time.”

“There’s no need for private tutoring. He’s not in yr 11 /12 yet. Wait till then – friend.”

“The teacher aide tells me he seems to know his sight words and honestly his such and adorable little boy just give him time.“

“He will “get it” eventually, it will just “click”.”

Facts:

Early intervention is absolutely essential to ensure the reading and learning gap does not continue to widen and prevent the development of secondary mental health issues. 

Initial failure predicts future failure!

• 90% of poor readers in first grade are poor readers in fourth grade (Juel, 1988)
• 74% of children who are poor readers in the third grade remain poor readers in the ninth grade (Francis etal., 1996)
• Many children with difficulty in learning to read develop a negative self concept within their first two years of schooling (Chapman, Tunmer, & Prochnow, 2000)

Importance of sticking to the facts 

Comments of a parent “How I feel when I hear these comments? Shocked, frustrated, annoyed, angry, upset to say the least.” Think about the impact on these parents and kids before you spread a myth or shatter the parent. Parents are fragile. This is their beautiful smart child that you are saying things about. The parents are fighting with all their energy to do the best for their child so you should give them the respect to do your research or say nothing! Myths also delay effective remediation and early intervention is essential.

This one may seem like a comedy sketch but unfortunately it is not….but I will leave it with you….gave a few of us a good laugh. Laughing because otherwise we would cry!

“My daughter was lying in her hospital bed the other night & overheard a phone conversation. She sent me a text & relayed one side of the conversation:

” No, he has dyslexia. It’s an eye condition. Yes, they have special eyes. They can’t see words or letters at all. …… I know…. strange isn’t it? They open a book & its pages look blank. Their eyes can see everything except words. Yes….. special eyes….. I don’t know what causes it. I actually heard that there are dyslexic authors. I don’t see how they could write….. well maybe they write but they can see the words they write on the page……. unless they just get someone else to write it for them.”

 

 

 

I’m seeing RED!

I’m a bit mad, harassed and upset. There was actually a moment or two today when I considered giving up the advocacy gig. But luckily I’m hard wired for a fight and I won’t back down.

This week I’ve been under attack for posting the RANZCO media release titled “No scientific evidence that Irlen Syndrome exists, say ophthalmologists.” RANZCO media release 2018 https://ranzco.edu/media-and-advocacy/media-centre/media-releases/media-release-articles/no-scientific-evidence-that-irlen-syndrome-exists-say-ophthalmologists.

“What is the verdict?
Due to a critical lack of scientific evidence that Irlen Syndrome exists or that treatment methods do anything to improve an individual’s performance, RANZCO cannot endorse treatment of the condition.” RANZCO POSITION STATEMENT 2018 https://ranzco.edu/ArticleDocuments/176/Irlen%20Syndrome%20RANZCO%20Position%20Statement%20260418.pdf.aspx?Embed=Y

Lack of evidence supporting Irlen or vision therapies for Dyslexia or reading difficulties is not new. But I think RANZCO has been the of first organisation in Australia to come out and say what is on everyone’s lips… “no scientific evidence that Irlen Syndrome exists!” There I’m brave enough to say it! I’m saying it out loud!

“Despite 35 years having elapsed since the initial description, neither the
International Classification of Disease (ICD-10; World Health Organisation) nor the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric
Association) list visual stress as a recognised disorder. Similarly, neither of these
widely used diagnostic manuals makes any reference to visual-perceptual
distortions as being associated with reading difficulty. The ability of coloured filters
to improve reading performance in individuals who report symptoms of visual
stress has been widely contested [6-11] and the practice has even been listed
among ‘neuromyths in education’.[12] ” The effect of coloured overlays and lenses on reading: a systematic review of the literature, Griffiths http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/opo.12316/full

I received a bit of twitter abuse and the usual “I’ve seen it work” “It worked for me”. But the most venom came from our parent members. I understand that it is hard for someone to say to you that the intervention you picked for your child was probably a waste of time and money. This is exactly while anecdotes are so unreliable. People need to believe. I understand that you need to desperately cling to the idea that you have found your solution. I understand I’m a parent of a child with multiple learning difficulties. Posting evidence is not a criticism of your parenting skills. My job as an administrator of an evidenced based group is to inform parents of the latest information so others don’t merrily skip down the wrong path.

Irlen has a moral responsibility to prove that Scoptic sensitivity exists and that their remediation works. They have had decades. Professionals have a moral responsibility to families that the best information is made available so that they can make the best used of limited intervention time and financial resources. “As doctors, ophthalmologists have a responsibility to help families make the best use of limited resources. We should steer families away from unproven interventions that consume resources and thus interfere with the implementation of proven methodologies such as educational and language based therapy.” RANZCO Eye2Eye Spring 2016

In our support groups we have certainly tried to be gentle and take the line of “not a remediation for Dyslexia”, “Dyslexia not caused by vision or visual processing issues”. But with many Irlen franchises in Australia including the word Dyslexia in their title, diagnosing “visual dyslexia” and including Dyslexia in their long list of things Irlen remediates, it was time someone drew a line in the sand.

Scientific research has shown Irlen is no better than a placebo. In fact a recent research study showed girls had preference for pink, rose and purple which certainly leans towards a placebo rather than an actual intervention. This article discusses in detail the likely placebo effect of Coloured lenses https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320468142_Coloured_filters_show_gender_differences_and_poor_repeatability

“Consistent with previous reviews and advice from several professional bodies, we
conclude that the use of coloured lenses or overlays to ameliorate reading
difficulties cannot be endorsed and that any benefits reported by individuals in
clinical settings are likely to be the result of placebo, practice or Hawthorne effects.”
The effect of coloured overlays and lenses on reading: a systematic review of the literature
Authors Philip G. Griffiths, Robert H. Taylor, Lisa M. Henderson
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/opo.12316/full

 

Unfortunately Irlen is not a harmless placebo. We get many parents who have wasted valuable time, money and dented their children’s self esteem riding the Irlen rainbow. In fact everyone of our 3 admin bunt their fingers on either behavioural optometry or Irlen before finding structured literacy and evidenced based paths. Opportunity cost is significant when the importance it early intervention in reading difficulties is well established. Often parents are sent to an Irlen centre as their first port of call by professionals and teachers. This often delays literacy remediation. Sometimes years pass before appropriate evidenced based intervention is received.

“Ineffective,controversial methods of treatment such as vision therapy may give parents and teachers a false sense of security that a child’s learning difficulties are being addressed, may waste family and/or school resources, and may delay proper instruction or remediation.” Joint Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus and American Academy of Ophthalmology, 2009 (reaffirmed 2014)

Vision and visual processing – The research and evidence

There is a large body of research that does NOT support the theory that dyslexia is caused by visual abnormalities or visual processing difficulties. Irlen Lenses, coloured glasses and overlays are NOT evidence based interventions for reading difficulties. Irlen lenses are NOT recommended by AUSPELD, Learning Difficulties Australia (LDA), Macquarie University Special Education Centre (MUSEC) or the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) or The Australian Dyslexia Association for the remediation of reading difficulties.

“Currently, there is no adequate scientific evidence to support the view that subtle eye or visual problems cause learning disabilities. Furthermore, the evidence does not support the concept that vision therapy or tinted lenses or filters are effective, directly or indirectly, in the treatment of learning disabilities.” Joint Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus and American Academy of Ophthalmology, 2009 (reaffirmed 2014)

“There is no evidence that Irlen, Wilkins, or Chromagen filters/lenses improve reading comprehension or speed.” 2017 American Academy of Opthamology, Learning Disabilities, Droste https://www.aao.org/pediatric-center-detail/learning-disabilities

 

Vision should be certainly assessed by an optometrist or if any major concerns an ophthalmologist. Reducing glare certainly helps anybody read better but that is no reason to diagnose a condition.

Don’t shoot the messenger.
Providing information to parents is what I do.
Informed decisions are good decisions.
I won’t apologise for my stance as it is firmly grounded in research evidence.

For even more research links see https://www.dropbox.com/s/nibdxvvgsohz83n/Vision%20and%20dyslexia%20the%20facts%20and%20research.pdf?dl=0

For a simple fact sheet see https://www.dropbox.com/s/vwobf5ljr1ais5f/Vision%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?dl=0

“When things just don’t add up!”

Mathematics can often be an area of difficulty for people with dyslexia. Mathematics has its own distinct language and symbols. Mathematics also has a heavy reliance on processing speed and working memory. There is also a high incidence of dyscalculia as a comorbidity with dyslexia.
“5. Difficulties mastering number sense, number facts, or calculation (e.g. Has poor understanding of numbers, their magnitude, and relationships.” Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorder (DSM-5)
“There is a high co-morbidity rate for children with developmental dyscalculia and dyslexia. Between 60% and 100% of dyslexics have difficulty with certain aspects of mathematics (Miles, 1993 & Joffe, 1990).” Dyslexia help University of Michigan

The fundamental principles of the remediation of mathematical difficulties are;
-Teach concepts and understanding in a hands on way.
-Mastery of basic facts and concepts is essential.
-Focus on students area of weakness.
-Variety and repetition until automaticity of essentials.
-Play games and make relevant to life to alleviate anxiety and increase motivation.

“I was, on the whole, considerably discouraged by my school days. It was not pleasant to feel oneself so completely outclassed and left behind at the beginning of the race.”  “a quadratic equation belonged to the world of Alice in Wonderland and the Differential Calculus was a dragon” Winston Churchill  ” Winston Churchill’s description of mathematics echoes the feelings of many people with a mathematical disability. For them, the world of numbers, equations, and mathematic problems is populated by evil creatures, designed to make their life miserable.” Understanding Dyslexia and other Learning Disabilites Linda Siegel 2013 Pacific Educational Press

Mathematics anxiety is a well researched area and can have a significant impact on kids struggling to cope with the extra demands learning difficulties place upon them everyday in school. Mathematics, as taught in the curriculum, gives children the belief that they are either right or wrong and leaves little room for creativity.

The greatest level of anxiety for my daughter currently is mathematics. She is actually doing well in English. With the help of remediation she reads slowly but at age appropriate level. With the help of the great assistive technology features of her IPAD her creative writing has blossomed and she writes for pleasure. With Math if she gets stuck on the initial problem in a set of many she has to wait for help. She will rarely take a punt a giving it a go, because to do that she risks a whole page of red pen. Getting her spelling wrong in a beautiful written piece still earns her praise.

Years of Mathematics failure have lead to a lot of anxiety. At home what she can understand and achieve in Maths is not in line with the classroom. She says that she freezes up just walking into Mathematics. What are we doing wrong? Why are we creating generations of children afraid of Mathematics? Not just kids with learning difficulties but Maths anxiety is well documented in the general population. For a comprehensive examination of Math anxiety Steve Chinn’s essay is worth examination. http://stevechinn.co.uk/child%20devel%20beliefs.pdf

 

Manipulatives and exploration of Mathematics concepts in the early years does not play enough of a role and is pushed out early by wrote learning and speed of calculation. My daughter actually spent quite a few psychologist sessions discussing her severe anxiety over weekly Maths Mentals! Children, especially those with learning difficulties, need to be given the opportunity to master basic skills and concepts before moving forward otherwise they risk missing basic essential foundations. These foundations I have had to re teach to my daughter.

We need to allow more exploration of Mathematics concepts and allow children to find other ways of solving a problem. Many times in the teaching of my daughter we threw out the way she was being taught at school and examined her own ways of doing calculations. Sometimes weeks spent doing something one way, without success, a conceptual understanding would be achieved in one lesson using a different approach. At home we have had many light bulb moments.

I think we can probably take a lot of lessons from the rise of Singapore to the top of the maths world. In Singapore maths the focus is on mastery of basic concepts and problem solving skills. There is a significant use of visual aids and manipulatives in the classroom and not just in the first year or two. Children are not shoved into the slow group but the class moves ahead when mastery is achieved for all. This avoids development of anxiety and poor maths self concept. Maths moves slower but mathematics foundations are solid. In every High School Mathematics classroom in Australia there are many children with large skill and concept gaps.

 

“Singapore maths is a method of teaching mathematics which emphasises problem solving. It works with people’s ability to visualise things, recognise patterns and make decisions. It does not resort to rote learning, memorisation or other tedious tactics that put most people off mathematics at a very early age. The goal is to make sure people understand what is going on and that they are not performing procedures that don’t make any sense to them. There is very little reliance on tedious calculations, memorisation and meaningless repetition as those things don’t help anyone to become a thinker; and creating thinkers is the goal.” https://mathsnoproblem.com/singapore-math-singapore-maths/

For someone like myself who found Maths effortless it has been a big learning curve for me to turn around and teach my daughter the basic concepts when school left her behind. We are still working on Maths and I am not sure if we will ever overcome her hatred of math and the anxiety that has developed. She loves reading and writing despite having Dyslexia and Dysgraphia but the fear of Maths weighs heavily.

For more information on Dyscalculia and maths difficulties I recommend;
Steven Chinn who started out in Dyslexia remediation and realised a lot of children also struggle with Math. Dyscalculia is certainly less understood and has less resources than Dyslexia. Steve Chinn has a range of books and resources. http://www.stevechinn.co.uk

Ronit Bird has a range of books and some free resources. This is a list of 10 tips for parents. http://www.ronitbird.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/toptentips.pdf

Maths No Problem https://mathsnoproblem.com/en/blog/

Judy Hornigold. Judy Hornigold will be running a 2 day worshop this year in Sydney Brough to you by SPELD NSW https://speldnsw.org.au/event/dyscalculia-and-maths-interventions-2-day-pd-with-judy-hornigold/. I attended her one day SPELD worshop last year and it was excellent. http://www.judyhornigold.co.uk/dyscalculia.html

Maths Fact Sheet https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7cosgpdc2oto4v/Math%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?dl=0

 

For ideas, tips and articles please follow my Facebook page Dyscalculia Awareness Australia https://www.facebook.com/SupportMath/?ref=bookmarks

 

Phonics myth buster 3 “Nonsense words are silly and we should teach reading in context.”

“Nonsense words are nonsense” is utter nonsense!

One myth that immediately shows the tigers stripes is the myth about nonsense words and context. Straight away your opponent has shown their lack of understanding of learning to read, the importance of phonics and their alliance to multi cueing.

Are nonsense words really nonsense? After all any word that is not in a child’s vocabulary is a nonsense word. Without the ability to decode nonsense words the reading of some of the best children’s literature would be impossible!

Crodsquinkled’ – The BFG by Roald Dahl

Woozles’, ‘Wizzles’ and ‘Heffalumps’ – Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne

Hornswogglers, snozzwangers, whangdoodles and Oompa-Loompas –Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Nonsense words or pseudowords are an essential part of the phonics check. Pseudoword decoding issues are a well established predictor of reading difficulties. Nonsense word tests such as DIBELS have been used for some time as an indicator of decoding difficulties.

Keith Stanovich (2000) …cites several experimental studies that conclude;

• “the speed of naming pronounceable nonwords is one of the tasks that most clearly differentiates good from poor readers” (p. 40).

• It thus is not surprising that pseudoword naming is discovered to be a “potent predictor of reading ability at all levels” (p. 100).

• there is an “incredible potency of pseudoword reading as a predictor of reading difficulty” (p. 207). http://www.nrrf.org/old/essay_pseudowords.html

The phonics Screening check has been examined for validity. “Our analyses show that the phonics screening check is a highly valid measure of children’s phonic skills. The check showed convergent validity by correlating strongly with other measures of phonic skills (e.g., teacher judgements of phonic ability and psychometric tests of nonword reading and spelling) and with broader measures of reading (e.g., single-word reading accuracy, prose reading accuracy and comprehension). It also demonstrated discriminant validity, by showing weaker correlations with more distal skills (e.g., vocabulary and maths).

Furthermore, the phonics screening check seemed to be sensitive with respect to identifying children at risk of reading difficulties.” (Duff 2015) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-9817.12029

It needs to be emphasised that this is a simple check of one essential element of reading. An element that can certainly derail a child’s road to effective reading quickly. We also now understand that the majority of children with Dyslexia have a phonological deficit and these children make up the great majority of children who fail to learn to read and require intensive intervention.

In my daughter’s case we were told time and time again she was going ok despite the fact that my parent alarm bell was ringing. It wasn’t until half way through year 2 ,when our new school learning support teacher tested her phonics, that we knew something was really wrong. My daughter could not decode even the most simple nonsense words. Yet she had given the impression she was reading for over 2 years due to her wonderful ability to “guess”. My daughter was read to from a young age and has an enormous vocabulary so she has the ability to guess in context. She would often finish sentences that were over the page. This is not reading.

I’ve heard teachers and parents claiming good readers fail the test and they get tricked by the nonsense words. Nonsense Words are clearly indicated with a monster symbol! There is only one correct pronunciation!

It’s highly Likely that these mystery children have been taught to read using context clues and guessing strategies. These children also may have had the phonics check nonsense word section poorly explained to them. They are also likely to be at risk of reading failure later due to inability to decode.

What about the teachers who in the UK are teaching nonsense words? I’ve heard this as an argument. I haven’t seen any evidence. If they are teaching nonsense words then this is the fault of the teachers and not the check. The only way to teach how to decode nonsense words is to teach decoding explicitly and systematically.

There are some situations when a very limited teaching of nonsense words is valid. It is probably appropriate to explain to children before the phonics test what a nonsense word is, give some examples and show that it is indicated by the monster. Also explain to kids these words have to be decoded. In the case of my daughter we use nonsense words as a diagnostic tool. She has such an extensive vocabulary and has poor guessing habits so we need to test whether she can actually decode. Whether she has learnt a phoneme or guessing is very evident once we throw in a few pseudowords.

Using cues in context for reading comprehension as an adult or a capable reader is a useful strategy. Reading in context for word identification using multiple cues for beginning readers is not a useful strategy and is often a fallback coping mechanism for the poor readers. Encouraging of guessing is not reading and is a very difficult bad habit to undo in struggling readers. It took a long time for us to teach our daughter to decode rather than guess. Going through every word starting with a “D” that you know when faced with an unknown word is not efficient. As a parent it is maddening when my child does this. When she is encouraged to decode she will get the word quickly.

“Scientific evidence strongly demonstrates that the development of skilled reading involves increasingly accurate and automatic word identification skills, not the use of “multiple cueing systems” to read words. Skilled readers do not need to rely on pictures or sentence context in word identification, because they can read most words automatically, and they have the phonics skills to decode occasional unknown words rapidly. Rather, it is the unskilled readers who tend to be dependent on context to compensate for poor word identification.” http://www.readingrockets.org/article/use-context-cues-reading

The year 4 reading slump is well documented and is often when children with Dyslexia are diagnosed. In year 3 we switch from learning to read to reading to learn. The text becomes much more difficult at this point and the pretty pictures that children have used to help them guess have vanished. Lack of ability to decode unknown words becomes very evident at this point and affects fluency and comprehension if decoding is not automatic. Reliance on multiple cueing systems fails miserably.

“The 3-cueing approach is a microcosm of the culture of education. It didn’t develop because teachers lack integrity, commitment, motivation or intelligence. It developed because they were poorly trained and advised. They didn’t know the relevant science or had been convinced it was irrelevant. Lacking this foundation, no such group could have discovered how reading works and how children learn.” (Seidenberg, 2017, p.304) For further information on the three cueing system read https://www.nifdi.org/news-latest-2/blog-hempenstall/402-the-three-cueing-system-in-reading-will-it-ever-go-away

Anyone who declares nonsense words are nonsense does not know how to teach reading or how to identify children at risk of reading. I need a big digital stamp for every time I hear this nonsense.

Let me leave you with a little nonsense.

Jabberwocky a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought —

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

An explanation of the poem can be found here….including how he made up the words. http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/analysis/poem-origins/jabberwocky/

Cutting down phonics Screening Check myths feels a bit like slaying the Jabberwocky …

Phonics Myth Buster 2 “Learning to read is a natural process and advocating just a phonics approach destroys a children’s love of books!”

This myth makes me super mad for a number of reasons. It’s the ultimate straw man and is frequently trotted out when faced with research and logical arguments. It is also one of the most ridiculous arguments in the anti-phonics arsenal.

Surrounding children with books does not teach them to read.

Yes being exposed to a rich language environment does give a good foundation of Phonemic awareness and vocabulary but excellent oral language does not ensure excellent reading. A child who struggles to learn to read because they have not been given explicit systematic phonics instruction will not love books no matter how much they are exposed to great literature.

“The scientific evidence that refutes the idea that learning to read is a natural process is of such magnitude that Stanovich (1994) wrote:

That direct instruction in alphabetic coding facilitates early reading acquisition is one of the most well established conclusions in all of behavioral science. . . . The idea that learning to read is just like learning to speak is accepted by no responsible linguist, psychologist, or cognitive scientist in the research community (pp. 285-286).” http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar98/vol55/num06/Why-Reading-Is-Not-a-Natural-Process.aspx

“Scientists have established that most students will learn to read adequately (though not necessarily well) regardless of the instructional methods they’re subjected to in school. But they’ve also found that fully 40 percent of children are less fortunate. For them, explicit instruction (including phonics) is necessary if they are to ever become capable readers. These findings are true across race, socioeconomic status, and family background.” https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED498005.pdf

Not only is this supported by research I can attest to this through personal experience. My daughter adored books until she went to school. I read to her constantly. It was our main activity. Her first sentence was “read dis book yep” as she followed me around the house toddling and carrying a book. She had a lovely kindy teacher who read her books and played games but she was not so good at teaching phonics. My daughter developed severe anxiety centred around school and reading and would throw her readers across the room with ferocity. I can attest to the fact they were not great literature either!

In year 3 we hired a structured literacy tutor who taught her explicitly and systematically phonics, Fluency, comprehension, phonemic awareness and vocabulary. Gradually her love of books outweighed her fear of books as she learnt to read. So she has gone from being a non reader in year 3, without the ability to even sound out “cat”, to year 7 loving books. I still read to her every night. She has dozens of books piled into her bed to read. To calm her anxiety she reads. She writes stories constantly and says “books are magic portals to other worlds.” English is one of her favourite subjects.

Can anyone please point out who the phonics only advocates are?

I’m not sure who these so called phonics only advocates are because they get mentioned so much and I’m yet to meet them. I’d really like to meet them and tell them how stupid they are…..but I fear they are but a mystical creature. They are the boogie men of the phonics world. Made up to scare all the teachers who don’t want to accept the science that conclusively shows the importance of an explicit and systematic approach to the teaching of reading, including phonics.

Let’s examine some of the phonics check expert advisory panel. Do they advocate a phonics only approach?

Jennifer Buckingham is behind the Five From Five initiative which aims to improve literacy levels by ensuring all children receive effective, evidence based reading instruction. I will give you a clue…..Five from Five….not one from one. Jennifer Buckingham advocates “The simple view of reading is that learning to read requires two abilities – correctly identifying words (decoding) and understanding their meaning (comprehension). Acquisition of these two broad abilities requires the development of more specific skills. An extensive body of research on reading instruction shows that there are five essential skills for reading and that a high quality literacy program should include all five components…..Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabluary and Comprehension.” http://www.fivefromfive.org.au/five-keys-to-reading/ Five from Five is a great website with substantial research information. It is worth taking a look.

Pamela Snow, according to her University profile, specialises in research in “the oral language skills of high-risk young people (youth offenders and those in the state care system), and the role of oral language competence as an academic and mental health protective factor in childhood and adolescence and applying evidence in the language-to-literacy transition in the early years of school.” So put simply she researches the role of oral language and effect on literacy.

What Pamela Snow says about the myth …”One of the tired and hoary old chestnuts that is regularly trotted out against those who argue for better and more systematic phonics instruction is that there’s more to reading than simply decoding text. That’s a bit like saying that there’s more to making a cup of tea than boiling the kettle. Advocates for evidence-based phonics instruction have always seen learning to decode as a necessary but not sufficient part of literacy learning. The Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) asserts the importance of both decoding and comprehension. So if you can’t get words on and off the page, what hope do you have of participating in digital, critical, multi or any other sort of literacy?”http://pamelasnow.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/reading-is-verb-literacy-is-not.html

Check out her blog the Snow report as it is excellent.

Mandy Nayton states “Explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, structured synthetic phonics, vocabulary, reading fluency and reading comprehension strategies provide all children with a clear learning advantage” http://auspeld.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Balanced-Reading-Programs-What-are-they.pdf

So stop trotting the myth out that phonics is promoted as the cure all to reading. Also stop throwing the love of books back at us “phonics advocates.”

The phonics check is a simple check to identify children most at risk of reading failure and ensure all children are given adequate phonics instruction. “We know that children taught to read using structured synthetic phonics will be a year ahead of controls and national norms initially and will maintain or even add to this advantage over time (Johnston and Watson, 2003; McCardle and Chhabra, 2004).” http://auspeld.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Balanced-Reading-Programs-What-are-they.pdf

It is time to drop the myths and ideologies and follow the evidence. We are leaving too many kids behind. Pamela Snow could certainly give you the research on the consequences of illiteracy and as an admin of Dyslexia Support Australia I can give you the horror stories.