Re Stephen Blacks highlighting of British Educationist Julian Elliots contention that dyslexia is a myth (see below):
I have insufficient knowledge of the subject to express an opinion one way or another, but one academics contentions are just that at this stage: contentions. I have to say there was something (admittedly minor in the context) in Elliots article for the Times Educational Supplement that doesn't endear me towards him. The first paragraph runs as follows: >Hunting, immigration, animal testing, dyslexia: some issues are guaranteed to evoke emotional reactions. As I stood in the grounds of Durham university a few months ago, berated by some who had just attended my lecture questioning the scientific status of dyslexia, all the time my discomfort being filmed by a Channel 4 television crew, I recognised that an appeal to logic or science was insufficient. Dyslexia persists as a construct largely because it serves an emotional, not a scientific, function.< http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2128733 I feel really uncomfortable with this kind of opening to an article in a serious journal. Instead of getting down to the business of telling us what his thesis is, he prepares the ground by implying that people who oppose his view are basing their position on emotional grounds, as against himself representing "logic" and "science": "I recognised that an appeal to logic or science was insufficient." That first paragraph is completely redundant. He could have omitted it and gone directly to explaining his thesis. That first paragraph is completely redundant. He could have omitted it and gone directly to explaining his thesis. The first article Stephen cited is by David Mills (Daily Telegraph, 17 January 2007): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml;jsessionid=QX2QZPAXGLJ53QFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/health/2007/01/15/hdyslexia15.xml&page=1 So whos David Mills? Hes the head of a TB production company which produced last years documentary on Elliots claims. I can see little in his article that is inconsistent the possibility that there is both an identifiable disorder which can be labelled "dyslexia", *and* that there is a considerable grey area in which such a diagnosis for reading difficulties is inappropriate, but nevertheless too often made. Id want a lot more than one education academic's proposing a thesis before treating it as more than an *opinion* that needs to be put against other opinions of people with expertise in the subject that I don't have. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org/ ------------------------------------------ Mon, 22 Jan 2007 20:53:50 -0500 Author: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Is dyslexia a myth? > It seems a huge controversy has develloped concerning the view of the > British educational psychologist Julian Elliott that dyslexia as an > identifiable disability requiring special intervention is a myth. > > I love mythbusters. And I've always suspected something of the sort about > dyslexia as well, although I could never have expressed it as > articulately and persuasively as Dr. Elliott does. It appears, not > surprisingly, that parents of dyslexic children are not too happy with > his idea. > > The Telegraph just last week published an article by David Mills on the > controversy, on-line Jan 15, 2007, "Dyslexia: a big, expensive myth". > > http://tinyurl.com/2lgo98 > http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2007/01/15/hdysle > xia15.xml&page=3 > > And an earlier and probably more informative article was published two > years earlier in The Guardian by Joanna Moorhead (September 7, 2005) > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/parents/story/0,,1564251,00.html > > There's also a short version of Elliott's views in TES ( Times > Educational Supplement, right?), September 2, 2005: > "Dyslexia myths and the feel-bad factor" > http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2128733 > > I haven't, however, been able to dig up an academic publication of > Elliott's on the topic. > > Stephen > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. > Department of Psychology > Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 2600 College St. > Sherbrooke QC J1M 0C8 > Canada > > Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy > TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at > http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
