Quote from: Eddive been "diagnosed" as having dyslexia. at the same test i was also assessed to be in the 98th percentile.
I have major problems with A level maths. I was really good at GCSE maths but as soon as it jumped to A level i was unable to grasp certain things. Rearranging equations was a major one. I dont think my teachers methods helped but then again they did work for the rest of the class, so he just thought i was thick, which didnt help to say the least.

Im good at most things but math is a hole for me, although I didnt start out that way. Initially I was better than everyone else in the class in that area. I hardly need to think, the answer popped into my head.

I certainly dont class myself as dyslexic because of that, its an issue but one I dont go up against often. However, I know others do have a hole in identifying letters and for them it can be a far worse problem. Most people dont need too much math but they do need to read.

Some do try and shove every shaped peg they can find that isnt perfectly round into that and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder though. It doesnt mean that the condition doesnt exists, just that there are probably far fewer people who actually have it than are claimed.

eh?  who says dyslexic people are illiterate ?

I may be dyslexic, but my reading and writing are a hell of a lot better than a lot of the dumb people i know !

theres too many people who arent dyslexic but say they are, and theres too many dyslexic people blaming everything on the fact that theyre dislexic...

I did a module at uni that was for dyslexic people only.... i only went to 2 lectures then didnt bother going back... full of miserable gits blaming everything on there dislexia... "I cant get out of bed in the morning because Im dyslexic" etc.... when really he was just a fat lazy bastard !

(p.s. I havent spelt dyslexic right once in this thread yet... thank god for spell checkers!)

im the same. my reading and writing are pretty sh*t hot..........well except on forums but they dont count
my mental arithmetic is fine. GCSE Maths is really all most people need unless theyre doing engineering or something maths heavy (guess thats kinda obvious tho)

Ive got a couple of friends who truly are dyslexic, they phonetically spell, they cant read properly etc. Now i dont think theyre thick per se because you can tell when someone really is 2 bricks short of a load and to speak to theyre as normal as me or my other friends.

To sum up, I DO think its a genuine condition but on the other hand I think people are far too quick to label someone as dyslexic. It really shows our school system up for what it is. Teachers dont have time to sit down with pupils 1on1 and find out their best learning method. Instead they just say "youre dyslexic" and palm them off to someone else.

As for those figures of nicaragua and korea having 100% literacy rates, im gonna take them with a pinch of salt.

Quote from: DaveI dont see why people who excel in some areas and under perform in others should be categorized as suffering from a particular condition whereas people who unperformed generally are just thick. IMO its just natural variation.

Quoteyslexia exist allright

AFAIK it only exists because we say it exists, i.e people who exhibit XYZ characteristics are classified as being dyslexic the fact is that the tests for these characteristics weve decided should be classified as a condition are pretty crude at best.  Wed do better to forget labels, forget attempting to medicalise a social problem and simply invest money in ensuring all kids who are struggling are given the appropriate level of help rather than concentrating efforts on special categories of kids decided by arbitrary rules/crude and inaccurate tests.

Exactly. I recall reading various tests that demonstrate how "dyslexic" people actually do far better than "normal" people in tests relating to spatial awareness and creativity. As you say its just different strokes for different folks but our modern society is so geared towards a standardised norm for everything that anyone who deviates from this is filed neatly under one of the many labels we have invented to explain the deviation. Its society in general that is broken, not the individuals who are slapped with the label.

Quote from: knighty"I cant get out of bed in the morning because Im dyslexic" etc.... when really he was just a fat lazy bastard !

Definitely not dyslexia - but there are other conditions it can appear in Fibromyalgia as "debilitating fatigue, sleep disturbance".

I would accept your description of fat lazy bastard though as you know this person better than I do

I think  Dyslexia does exists but only in a tiny percent say about 0.1% of people who claim, or are labelled to be, the rest are kind of self fulfilling prophecies, have trouble reading through  either lack of education or lack of practice when young,²° so are given help to read,  give up trying, get more help, goto ²°.

IIRC I saw an article in new scientist or nature that the east Asian language use different areas of the brain de to them being pictorial that stops dyslexia, and that western people who are labelled as dyslexic that learn eastern scripts find they are not dyslexic in those scripts.

QuoteIIRC I saw an article in new scientist or nature that the east Asian language use different areas of the brain de to them being pictorial that stops dyslexia, and that western people who are labelled as dyslexic that learn eastern scripts find they are not dyslexic in those scripts.

Do you have any more information about different areas of the brain being used for the comprehension of different languages?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14920186.800-language-centres.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14920132.300-why-english-is-hard-on-the-brain.html

Not much but it does confirm the item, its also based on a single person.

Dyslexia seems to run in families and it has at least some genetic component. Unless the people had the problem genes then it would be impossible for them to develop it. Which might explain why children in some large areas of the world dont get the symptoms.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14419482.700-dyslexia-gene-lurks-in-chromosomes-black-hole.html

Quote from: SeriousSaying it doesnt exist though is like saying you dont get headaches because you can take aspirin and other drugs to stop the pain.

erm no

It really doesnt exist in the sense that a headache exists. It is a term that weve applied to people whos personal abilities fit into the crude parameters set. It only exists in this sense because we say it exists.

I dont agree with the way this has now lead to certain children in schools being given special status or having extra resources devoted to them, instead of labeling people with conditions we need to just accept that through natural variation people will have different skill sets and schools should simply aim to devote resources to all kids who are underachieving in certain areas.

Quote from: Dave

Quote from: SeriousSaying it doesnt exist though is like saying you dont get headaches because you can take aspirin and other drugs to stop the pain.

I dont agree with the way this has now lead to certain children in schools being given special status or having extra resources devoted to them, instead of labeling people with conditions we need to just accept that through natural variation people will have different skill sets and schools should simply aim to devote resources to all kids who are underachieving in certain areas.

Thats fine in principle, but because of the standardized society we live in as already referred to in this thread - people who cant read/write relatively competently are at a significant social disadvantage - to me there should be at least a base level of competence that we try to get all kids to. That will inevitably take more resources for some kids than others.

Quote from: Alien8I think  Dyslexia does exists but only in a tiny percent say about 0.1% of people who claim, or are labelled to be...

What he said.

Its like that ADHD.  99.999999% of "cases" are utter bullsh*t - a poor excuse for lazy, undisciplined parenting.
 

 

Quote from: Dave

Quote from: SeriousSaying it doesnt exist though is like saying you dont get headaches because you can take aspirin and other drugs to stop the pain.

erm no

It really doesnt exist in the sense that a headache exists. It is a term that weve applied to people whos personal abilities fit into the crude parameters set. It only exists in this sense because we say it exists.

You only feel pain because your brain neurons tell you its there. There are people who can switch it off completely and others who have never felt it. Then painkillers can cause headaches. Your brain has no way of feeling pain directly either. You can also hypnotise people into having a headache. That means all you have is a symptom which might not even exist.

Quote from: SeriousYou only feel pain because your brain neurons tell you its there. There are people who can switch it off completely and others who have never felt it. Then painkillers can cause headaches. Your brain has no way of feeling pain directly either. You can also hypnotise people into having a headache. That means all you have is a symptom which might not even exist.

complete bollocks - if I go out and get sh*t faced then wake up on a Friday night the condition Im in on Saturday morning is a very real physical condition - the headache is merely a symptom.

Comparing this to dyslexia is, well I dont even know where youre going with this headache argument tbh... its complete nonsense.

You could decide that people who cant sing in tune should be classified as XYX, you could then decide that people who score highly on an IQ test but poorly on a memory test are now defined as having another condition.... In fact we could define 1000 crudly measured conditions which reflect all sorts of natural variation in the abilities of the general population at large. If people argue that these conditions dont exist we can point out that they can be measured/tested. Or we could just accept that people are different, will excel in some areas and be lacking in others.

Quote from: BigSoyThats fine in principle, but because of the standardized society we live in as already referred to in this thread - people who cant read/write relatively competently are at a significant social disadvantage - to me there should be at least a base level of competence that we try to get all kids to. That will inevitably take more resources for some kids than others.

Yes and what Im arguing against is giving some special status...

to put it crudely the kid who excels at maths but is crap at reading/writing is given a free laptop, extra time in exams, extra help lessons to cope with his condition and bring him up to speed with reading writing.

The kid who is equally crap at reading/writing but also sucks at maths doesnt get this special status because he doesnt fit into the condition weve chosen to define & label.

Would it not make more sense to forget about labels as an excuse for middle class parents when their kid turns out to be a complete mong at spelling and just devote appropriate resources to helping all kids who are falling behind.

i think youve missed the point about dyslexia (for those people that really do have it)

I couldnt learn to spell if my life depended on it (literally)

I wasnt tested until I was in uni so it didnt make much difference to me anyway.... but if Id been tested sooner Id have passed my English GCSE easy (and first time) because theyd have ignored my bad handwriting and spelling... instead of me having to re-sit during 6th form....

being dyslexic didnt really effect me too much.... but wait till you meet an obviously very intelligent guy in his 40s.... who has to trace his finger along under words as he reads them aloud (slowly) because its the only way he can read... you soon realises that a lot of dyslexic people are seriously screwed.