Myth #8 -- Some people are just
genetically "dyslexic"
The belief in an underlying genetic
cause for dyslexia ignores the fact that reading and writing simply have
not been around long enough to become part of our genetic makeup (see the
Naturalness argument in Myth #1). It was long argued that when a
disparity existed between a person's intelligence and their reading skill,
the person should be described as a "dyslexic." The term "dyslexic"
eventually became a catch-all term used to account for people who failed
to learn to read despite apparent intellectual capacity and environmental
support.
Frankly, the term "dyslexia" is
basically meaningless. The term simply means "difficulty with words,"
and anybody who has not learned to read could be called, "dyslexic."
There is nothing about that taxonomy that addresses the underlying reasons
for the difficulty with words. We know that people fail to learn
to read for a very wide variety of reasons, and categorizing all non-readers
under the "dyslexia" umbrella belies the complexity of reading disorders.
Clearly, some people have more difficulty
learning to read than others. In broad strokes, the three reasons
people have difficulty developing basic reading skills are
1. they have difficulty developing
decoding skills,
2. they have difficulty developing
language comprehension skills or,
3. both.
Difficulties developing decoding
skills very often arise from difficulties processing sounds in speech (phonological
processing skills). Some people seem to have an easier time than
others breaking spoken words apart and tuning into the subparts of spoken
words (e.g. alliteration, rhyme, etc.). To learn to decode words
(at least in alphabetic systems like English), it is necessary to understand
that the letters in text represent the phonemes in speech. For people
who have difficulty hearing and manipulating the phonemes in speech (because
of phonological processing difficulties), it is unlikely that they will
make the connection between letters and phonemes.
It could be argued that variations
in phonological processing skills have a genetic root, but even if that
is the case, we know that it is quite easy to teach children to be aware
of the phonemes in speech.
While some children have difficulty
developing decoding skills because of poor phonological processing skills,
other children simply do not get adequate instruction in the other necessary
knowledge domains that are important for developing good decoding skills
(concepts about print, letter knowledge, and knowledge of the alphabetic
principle). Or, they do not get ample opportunities to practice decoding
real words, and thus fail to develop sufficient cipher knowledge or lexical
knowledge about words. There is no genetic factor for insufficient
instruction -- the deficit is not intrinsic to the child; it is intrinsic
to the classroom and the system that failed to help the child to develop
these critical knowledge domains.
Difficulty developing language comprehension
skills often stem from either insufficient practice with language in general
or insufficient practice with a particular language (children often have
well developed language comprehension skills in languages other than English).
To be good at understanding a language, children need to develop a rich
vocabulary and appreciation for semantics, and they need to combine that
with a wealth of background knowledge about the world. They also
need to have an implicit understanding of the mechanics of the language
(syntax), and their ear needs to be tuned to the phonology of the language
so they are less likely to confuse words that sound similar (like "hair"
and "here").
None of these areas could be described
as "genetic" factors that lead to reading difficulty. They are environmental
factors, and good instruction can overcome them. The unpleasant fact
that we must come to terms with is that the reason that so many children
are "dyslexic" has nothing to do with the children; it has to do with the
quality of their education. They were simply never taught to read.
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