Archive for the 'Not LD' Category

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Reversals plugged on NPR

Published on 26 December 2007 in Comments, Dyslexia, News, Not LD, Research and The press. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

After hearing Steve Inskeep of NPR’s Morning Edition perpetuate the myth that individuals with dyslexia suffer from reversals, I submitted the following comment via the NPR Web site.

Dear Mr. Inskeep,

I was sorry to learn that you have the mistaken idea that the Learning Disability called dyslexia is characterized by “seeing things backwards.” I was even sorrier to hear you communicate this misinformation during an interview about dyslexia and entrepreneurship on 26 December.

Even though it persists among people who have not examined the research about it, the idea of reversals has been shown to be false in multiple scientific studies. To be sure, individuals with dyslexia make more reversal errors (read “was” as “saw”; confuse b and d), but that is simply because they make more errors overall; the ratio of reversal errors to total errors is the same among individuals with and without dyslexia.

I hope you can correct the misinformation that you passed along to to the large listenship of Morning Edition.

John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Division for Learning Disabilities

http://TeachingLD.org

For those who didn’t know or have forgotten, this is not the first time I’ve fretted about the accuracy of NPR’s coverage. For previous posts on this subject, see here (and see an earlier post about NPR’s coverage of Mel Levine).

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Another confusion of LD with the generic

Published on 23 December 2007 in Comments, News, Not LD and The press. 0 Comments

Over on EBDBlog I posted an entry about a story recounting the use of theater to help children with Autism prepare for religious ceremonies. The reporter, James Ricci, has the following paragraph that serves as one of the indicators of the children’s success.

Over time, the initial goal of trying to “get him into our world” for 30 seconds of a two-hour period expanded to the point where, at 13 1/2 , he attends a full day of middle school mainstream classes, augmented by two classes for the learning disabled.

Of course, one of the things that caught my attention about the article was this confusion of Autism and Learning Disabilities. It’s an old hobby-horse I ride, I know, but it’s a never-ending concern. Check the “not LD” category to see other instances of this confusion.

Link to Mr. Ricci’s story.

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I missed oppotunities

Published on 31 May 2007 in ADHD, Dyslexia, Families, News, Not LD and The press. 0 Comments

On the morning drive show for Richmond (VA, US) radio station WRVA, listeners were saddled with the burden of listening to me miss chances to restate the “Not Lazy and Dumb” message. Thanks to Jimmy Barrett, the morning host for WRVA, and his staff, I was invited to comment on whether dyslexia was a “fig leaf” for “stupid” in an interview about Professor Julian Elliott’s recent comments pushing that message.
Continue reading ‘I missed oppotunities’

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Not reversals

Published on 24 May 2007 in Comments, Dyslexia and Not LD. 0 Comments

Despite the fact that I’ve plied this theme frequently, I found this humorous:

I realized I was dyslexic when I went to a toga party dressed as a goat.

MR not LD

Published on 22 January 2007 in Comments, News, Not LD and The press. 2 Comments

Here’s another case of the misuse of “Learning Disability.” In a story about an Ohio (US) organization eliminating “mental retardation” from its name, Holly Zachariah of the Columbus (OH, US) Dispatch reported on “MRDD considers name change: ‘Mental retardation’ degrading, hurtful slang, some say.” Ohio’s Association of County Boards of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities is likely to follow a national movement in changing to a name that only refers to Developmental Disabilities.
Continue reading ‘MR not LD’

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Montana dyslexia

Published on 13 January 2007 in Dyslexia, News, Not LD and The press. 0 Comments

Writing in the Missoula (MT, US) Missoulian on 8 January 2007, Rob Granger provided a feature story about dyslexia that provided a reasonably sensible account of the condition. Despite a couple of bumps, Mr. Granger got a lot right.

Continue reading ‘Montana dyslexia’

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Another not-LD

Published on 11 January 2007 in Comments, News and Not LD. 0 Comments

Emma, who blogs as “WheelchairPrincess,” weighed in on the hot topic about the child named Ashley whose parents elected to have growth attenuation treatments to keep her (Ashley) physically undeveloped. Like other entries on WheelchairPrincess, this particular entry is a thoughtful and personal observation on the issues involved in the Ashley story. But, it includes a choice of words that perpetuates the idea that Learning Disabilities is a generic term, not the specific disability identified in US (and other countries’) laws. WheelchairPrincess wrote, “The short version is that Ashley X is 9 years old and has profound physical and learning disabilities.”
Continue reading ‘Another not-LD’

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Another misrepresentation

Published on 6 January 2007 in News, Not LD and The press. 2 Comments

Writing in the San Luis Obispo (CA, US) Tribune, Mary Ross used Learning Disabilities to make a political point. She gave a definition of LD that was either her own or drawn from an uncited source, used it to make a veiled reference to US president, George W. Bush, and then expressed her hope that the then newly elected US Congress will take control of government. Regardless of whether one agrees with Ms. Ross’ ppolitical statement, if one’s concerned about Learning Disabilities, it’s important to examine her description of LD.
Continue reading ‘Another misrepresentation’

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Not unintelligent

Published on 23 December 2006 in Dyslexia, Not LD and The press. 1 Comment

In an publication called Falkirk (Scotland, UK) Today, there is an anonymous story entitled “Getting to grips with dyslexia: Local help for sufferers” that echoes the important fact that Learning Disabilities such as dyslexia are not the result of low intelligence. Here’s a snippet:

OF all the myths surrounding dyslexia, perhaps the most common is that those affected by it are somehow lacking in intelligence.

However, a quick glance at some famous names who have achieved success despite having dyslexia proves just how wrong that is.

Richard Branson, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, and Jackie Stewart are some of those who have overcome the problems associated with the condition.

It’s good to have the press bust the myth that individuals with dyslexia are unintelligent. It’s too bad that this story indicates that Einstein had dyslexia. As Gerald Coles notes in his book, The learning mystique: A critical look at “learning disabilities,” (1987, Pantheon Books), Einstein reportedly read serious philosophy books as a young child; that makes the idea of him having dyslexia pretty untenable.

Link to the article quoted here.

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HS LD

Published on 25 September 2006 in Comments, Dyslexia, Families, News, Not LD and The press. 0 Comments

The Battle Creek (MI, US) Enquirer picked up an article by Meredith Bivens of the Lakeview High School Crystal about Suzee Dunn, a fellow student who has dyslexia. It’s a nice story of achievement in the face of the adversity that comes with Learning Disabilities.

Ms. Bivens captured some of the important ideas about LD. In addition to describing Ms. Dunn’s personal view of dyslexia, Ms. Bivens touches on the Dunn family, the importance of hard work, and other features revealed by the case. Although readers of LD Blog will recognize a myth that Ms. Bivens repeats (anyone?) in the following quote, the story also reveals some serious problems with LD.

Dyslexia is thought to be genetic, and that seems to be true in the Dunn family. While Greg Dunn, Suzee’s father, finished school with a 4.0 grade-point average, her mother, Kathy Sue Dunn, and her brother, Bud, both struggled with dyslexia from an early age.

Once Suzee began showing signs of dyslexia, Mrs. Dunn noticed immediately and knew what was going on. From kindergarten through third grade, teachers thought she would grow out of it, or she might be suffering from other problems.

“My third-grade teacher suggested going to see an eye doctor, which we did. I didn’t need glasses,” Suzee said. “She then suggested getting my hearing checked. We did that also, and I had no hearing problem.”

Luckily for Suzee, her fourth-grade teacher recognized the signs of dyslexia. Suzee’s pediatrician referred her family to the Kalamazoo Pediatric Neuropsychology Doctor.

“I was tested that summer, and we were informed that I had both dyslexia and dyscalculia (the transposition of numbers),” Suzee said.

I’m glad someone had the foresight (excuse me) to rule out vision problems in Ms. Dunn’s case, but I’m very sorry that her teachers did not take action earlier in her life. To the extent that Ms. Dunn’s recollections accurately represent what happened, it is embarassing to see that teachers promoted her difficulties by dismissing her problems or attributing those problems to spurious explanations.

Link to a PDF of the actual issue of the student paper that included Ms. Bivens’ story; it focuses on dyslexia and includes several other features, too (check the art!). Otherwise, Link to Ms. Bivens’ story in the Enquirer.

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