Is dyslexia real or an excuse for educational incompetence?

Bully - Bully guy from Simpsons
January 14, 2009 11:46am CST
A Labour MP (UK) has raised this question! What do you think? Are 6 million people wrong? MP brands dyslexia a 'fiction' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7828121.stm
1 person likes this
2 responses
@stejhas (209)
• United States
14 Jan 09
Dyslexia is definitely real!!!! My little brother was labeled as a 'slow' learner and placed in special education classes throughout his ENTIRE school years - elementary through high school. When he was a Senior is high school he was taking a state standardized test and the school guidance counselor noticed he seemed to be having trouble reading the test questions. He offered to have someone read the questions to him and he answered them (which is allowed for those w/ disabilities).... turns out, he wasn't 'slow' or stupid or any of those things... he scored the highest on that test out of his whole class! - They brought in a specialist to do a bunch more tests on him and found that was dyslexic! - After years of being in special ed and labeled a dummy, he could finally learn! He went on to score at the top of his class in a state math exam too! And today, he works as a nurse and is very successful! Dyslexia is REAL! My brother can read very well, but he has to concentrate so much on getting the words right that he doesn't retain anything from the content... So if he can read, he can write, he can answer reading comprehension questions correctly (when the story is read out loud to him) and he is a terrific math student... you tell me? Is he slow? Is he stupid? NOOOO, he's dyslexic!
1 person likes this
@rmuxagirl (7548)
• United States
14 Jan 09
I just wanted to say I loved reading your story. It's a great to have a story like this to show that those with dyslexia are not stupid, but just need a little more time. I have a mild form of it...I confuse numbers and get them mixed up but otherwise good. Dyslexia doesn't mean that a person is stupid and is no way an excuse for anything!
1 person likes this
@klaudine (3650)
• Indonesia
14 Jan 09
I think dyslexia is real, but it is not an excuse for the educational incompetence. So far I know two people with dyslexia and they are able to make lots of posts in the forums I knew. I think it was interesting because even though they made lots of mispelling, I understood what they were talking about. Not only that, I feel like they were giving lots of good thoughts of lots of thing. Of course it would slower them down, but it can be cured, they can learn from the listening and speaking and started to write with the computer (typing).