Archive for September 4th, 2005

Is dyslexia just a construct?

The Learning Disabilities world in Great Britain appears to be in a flap over an editorial by Julian Elliott, professor of education at Durham University, who questioned whether dyslexia is real or just a construct. Elliott’s argument appears to be similar to those familiar to people following the question of whether a discrepancy between ability and achievemenet defines Learning Disability. Do individuals who have a discrepancy between IQ and achievement require different educational efforts than their peers who have similarly low reading performance but no discrepancy? However, I’m still trying to get a copy of the original editorial so that I can report it accurately. Meanwhile, there’s lots of coverage in other sources.

News reports about the article include these:

  • Times Ed Supplement coverage of its own story here and here.
  • Link to the BBC’s coverage.
  • Link for theGuardian Unlimited(UK)
  • Link to discussion on the Times Ed. Supplement site.
  • Link to news release from Professor Elliott’s university, that includes a link to a profile of him.

Update: Liz Ditz has a post about this story, too.

Update 2: Link to another page of the Guardian Unlimited’s coverage (thanks, to Stacy Weiss’ Special Education News and Links).