In an article entitled “German Scientists Uncover Dyslexia Gene,” DW-Worldwide reports that a term of German scientists has further evidence about DCDC2 as the genetic basis for dyslexia. It’s not quite as much of a new discovery as DW-Worldwide makes it out to be, but it is corroborating evidence.
Dyslexia tends to affect family groups, a fact German geneticists were well aware of when they began their search for a gene responsible for the disease. Now, researchers at the National Genome Research Network say they have located the dyslexia gene, known as DCDC2.
Link to the DW Worldwide article. (Note the very cute picture of the dog and the clever caption that perptuate the reversals myth.) Links to previous coverage of DCDC2 in LD Blog here and here (the latter includes links to several sources for further information).
The American Academy of Pediatrics has several very good pages about Learning Disabilities, but they have one curious flaw. In two of the pages, the authors make clear that visual problems do not cause Learning Disabilities, but on one about dyslexia the author perpetuates the reversals myth.
However, a young student with dyslexia (reading disabilities) may not overcome these problems. The difficulty can continue as the student gets older. To him, a “b” may look like a “d.” He may write “on” when he really means “no.” Your child may reverse a “6″ to make “9.” This is not a vision problem. The problem involves how the brain interprets the information it “sees.”
Sure, this is not a huge point about Learning Disabilities, but it still concerns me that the misinformation is so common. How can we combat this? Links to the AAP pages follow.
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