'The gift I would like to return - Dekker delves into dyslexia'

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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'The gift I would like to return - Dekker delves into dyslexia'

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https://dekkerdyslexia.wordpress.com/20 ... to-return/
The gift I would like to return

There is a big theme within the Dyslexia community to promote Dyslexia as a gift. Whether being dyslexic comes with strengths remains a controversial issue that is under researched. There is some limited research that supports improved visual spatial processing strengths in individuals with dyslexia. People with dyslexia are certainly overrepresented in the arts and the business world but it remains to be seen whether dyslexia confers any extra benefits. It may be that faced with difficulties at school forces the individual to develop a level of resilience to failure and other coping mechanisms that allow them to succeed in their chosen field. Children may also seek refuge in the arts and creativity when confronted with the stress of the classroom.

I think the Dyslexia as a gift approach has a number of issues. Please don’t shoot the messenger. I’ve lived the Dyslexia roller coaster for a number of years and I hear all the stories.
I'm cross-referencing this post with one written by journalist Leah Hardy for The Telegraph as a new organisation is launched which claims that dyslexia is indeed a gift - really?:
The war of words over dyslexia: now it's a blessing, not a curse

A charity claims dyslexic people have special skills but an academic says the term means nothing. Meanwhile, children are struggling to read
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1383
This week, a small charity made a big splash. Made By Dyslexia is an organisation supported by a host of successful celebrity dyslexics including entrepreneur Richard Branson and thespians Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. Its mission? To portray dyslexia as a blessing rather than a disability.

The charity's founder, Kate Griggs, says that 'creativity, imagination and intuition' are 'skills that come naturally to dyslexics'. While Branson has declared that dyslexia has been 'a positive force in my life' and even that the condition gave him a 'dyslexic advantage' that lies behind his business success.

The charity has now released a glossy report from management consultants Ernst and Young. It claims that the specific skills of the 'dyslexic brain' will flourish as computers take over more routine jobs.

On its website, the charity defines dyslexia as a difference in 'wiring' which has many benefits. 'Dyslexic minds see the world differently,' it states. 'They think creatively, creatively, laterally, often solving problems others can't. They have the skills of the future.'

It's a powerful message that is likely to be comforting both to struggling children and their worried parents.

However, it makes Professor Julian Elliott snort in derision. 'It's unscientific nonsense,' he says. 'A myth.' Elliot is Professor and Principal of Collingwood College at Durham University. He is a former teacher in both mainstream and special schools, was previously an educational psychologist and is one of the most outspoken academics working in the field of dyslexia.

He states, firmly, 'There is no serious evidence in the scientific literature of any special creative or entrepreneurial gifts whatsoever that can be specifically linked to reading difficulties. That's not to say that dyslexia is a sign of stupidity or laziness either'.
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