Since it's you John, I'll expand on what I meant. There is no doubt that there is a set of learning difficulties which affect certain people which have been labeled 'dyslexia' - more for convenience than anything else.
But the recent explosion in the numbers of dyslexics is not due to a massive increase in the number of people suffering from these learning difficulties, nor is it due to better diagnosis of the condition. It's due to a convenient application of a label to people who 30 years ago would simply have been referred to as 'a bit slow' or 'not academically inclined'.
I'm not crazy, nor am I alone in holding these views - there is much literature on the subject.
That is precisely how dyslexics were described as 30 years ago... The explosion (as you phrase it) in numbers is due to better diagnosis, what you are suggesting is a bit like suggesting that variant-CJD doesn't exist just because more people have been found to suffer from it, think about it before replying with more ignorant clap-trap than "Drivel" normally posts!
much
Non of which you seem to have read, are you also a creationist by any chance?...
It might be a good idea to also place a flat 'roof' over the box so as to stop radiant heat from doing its worst. The fan can then be directed to blow air through the gap.
Quite agree. Dyslexia is a complex and varying mix of specific problems and limitations and also (often overlooked) specific strengths and abilities.
Yes I see what you are saying, and also agree. Greater awareness and ability to diagnose will inevitably result in some spurious claims where they are not really justified.
(estimates of those affected still remain at about the same level IIUC i.e. in the general population there are about 1 in 30 severe cases, and
1 in 10 mild ones)
Probably true in many cases. There is a danger that people start devaluing the term by using it as a politically correct term for cases of eminently explainable under achievement.
On the flip side, greater awareness and diagnosis will also obviously reveal more genuine cases that in the past would have also been dismissed in the ways you state. This will no doubt come as a big relief for those genuinely affected.
(I friend I went to school with would be a good example - frequently described in such terms earlier in life. Turned out he had an IQ of 169 and could speak a correctly constructed sentence in 17 languages by the age of 15! He went on to receive a first class honours degree (still can't spell though))
I think you would have to concede that the explanation you just gave is a somewhat different viewpoint from "it's not a real condition. Get over it." ;-)
IMHO your (clarified) viewpoint seems balanced and supportable. There are however many educators (and others with a duty of care for the education of our children) that still subscribe to viewpoints closer to that expressed in your original statement.
I just get so very tired of "don't discriminate against me, I'd dyslexic" types. When I was at uni, there was a strange period where large numbers of people I knew went and got themselves diagnosed dyslexic. They seemed to view this as a great excuse not being able to do particular things - to the point where they'd just give up - "it's not my fault, I'm dyslexic".
I think that's a very dangerous thing - we all have things we struggle with. Having a ready-made, off-the-shelf, socially acceptable reason to just give up is never good. That includes the use of apostrophes (although I've never actually seen that attributed to dyslexia before).
Since this is uk.d-i-y, how about a system to use the cold water tank? i.e mount your switch on the side of the tank for use as a heatsink?
Pardon the pun, but I reckon cooling your PC from the various feeds of cold water in the house is an untapped market. Much more powerful than some in-case radiator.
I'd rather believe the experienced infant teacher of my aquaintance (who also lectures occasionally at US universities.)
"In 40 years of teaching children of all abilities, to read, I've never met a dyslexic child." Her class of 6 - 7 yr olds had an average reading age of chronological age + 18 months, with the lowest being chronological age and the best being +4years on a standard reading test. I've seen the data so it is real!
30 years ago, the slow child was described as ESN. Very few children fell into this category. Even most of those learned to read the Sun(reading age of 7yrs old required) Now every other child is put into a "special needs labelled" category when what they really require is considerate teaching and the loss of a playtime, for encouragement to achieve. There is however a major problem in inner cities, where the child never hears or sees English except in the school environment. However, that is not "dyslexia".
There is a load of crap being spouted both here and in the US about increases in "Dyslexia". It's a made up label, commonly applied to children who are unable to read adequately, by teachers and "experts" who have no real idea of how young children learn, or how to teach them.
I read a recent summary (May 2005) of the papers presented on dyslexia at a US teacher conference (April). Crap described almost all of them. Very long words of dubious meaning and no significant content.
Get the politicians, apologists and self glory seekers out of education and you may have a chance of producing a literate population, otherwise, no hope.
Yup, it does seem like a strange mindset especially when going to uni is something people usually have to choose to do in the first place. The reality of actually just getting into uni with a severe case of undiagnosed dyslexia would be a major achievement in itself, requiring a very resilient attitude and lots of hard work.
To which the answer ought to be "well fail then" (in some cases anyway)!
(The exception being when you have lecturers determined to mark down otherwise complete and accurate work simply due to poor spelling (in subjects that have no curricular requirement for spelling accuracy)).
IME, the "real" dyslexics (and I know many) tend to be the ones who put up more fight rather than less.
A child being 'statemented' as dyslexic now means that they are not allowed to just 'give up', as there is so much help made available, the problem is getting 'statemented' by the LEA as they are then forced to help. Yes, I suspect that there are people, who no doubt hold your simplistic views of dyslexia, who might well have used it as an excuse for being plain lazy - most true suffers are in no way lazy, frustrated yes but not lazy.
That includes the use of apostrophes
before).
Then you really don't know WTF you are talking about, punctuation etc. is less important than correct spelling or placed correctly words, point littel ni gting the punctuation corretc if the raeder cant nudersatnd whats ben writen...
Exactly. Obviously one would need to prevent rapid and terminal cooling from the pipe leaking, but rigging some kind of parallel pressure regulated pipe is not beyond the realms of plumbing. Not sure how much water flow you get in a house but you might have to limit games playing to times of water demand - e.g. when the mrs is a) in the shower, b) washing up, c) on the lav, which is not significantly different to my current Doom3 habit.
On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 20:50:15 +0100,it is alleged that Marcus Foreman spake thusly in uk.d-i-y:
[snip OP about routers/switches/hubs located in loft]
A point well taken, the radiant heat can be quite high in summer, being a low pitched almost south facin roof, it presents quite a 'head on' aspect to the sun at around 1-2pm in midsummer.
She seems to equate dyslexia with not being able to read. While true in some cases, it is usually far more complex than that. Plenty of dyslexics I know can read very well. Of those that can't, not reading is usually only a part of a much broader range of issues.
Agreed...
Are not all conditions / problems etc that have names not also made up "labels"?
That is more the key in this case. There is also the danger that inadequate teachers use it as an excuse for their own lack of results.
True... sadly I don't see them getting out of the way any time soon.
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