Professor: Dyslexia does not exist

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Dyslexia does not exist - professor

The Journal
Sep 2 2005

An education professor has claimed that dyslexia "does not exist" because it has no valid scientific basis.

Writing in the Times Education Supplement, Julian Elliott argues the term is largely an "emotional construct".

Experts have failed to agree what it is, and being diagnosed as dyslexic makes virtually no difference to the treatment that the individual requires, he writes.

Professor Elliott, who teaches at Durham University, said poor readers wanted to be called dyslexic because of a "widespread, but wrong, perception that dyslexics are generally intellectually bright".

He added that after 30 years in the field he had "little confidence" in his ability to diagnose it.

"Contrary to claims of 'miracle cures' there is no sound, widely accepted body of scientific work that has shown there exists any particular teaching approach more appropriate for 'dyslexic' children than for other poor readers," he says.

The British Dyslexia Association said the claims were inflammatory.

The charity's chief executive, Professor Susan Tresman, said educational psychologists or trained teachers had no problems spotting the condition.

She told the Daily Mail: "Dyslexia survives as a term because it is a real condition. I know of so many individual cases which completely refute what he is saying."

Up to six million Britons are believed to suffer from the brain disorder that disrupts reading and writing. Last month Princess Beatrice, 17, spoke about how she was diagnosed with the condition at the age of seven after struggling to read books that her younger sister, Eugenie, was managing.

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