Dyslexia
DYSLEXIA DEFINITIONS AND POLICY updated to 2014
BPS Definition 1999
The British Psychological Society reviewed the evidence and adopted the following definition in 1999. I've put in the bullets. This definition refers only to word-level skills with no mention of other deficits or symptoms.
“Dyslexia is evident when
accurate and fluent reading and or spelling develops very incompletely or with great difficulty.
This focuses on literacy learning at the “word level” and implies that
the problem is severe and persistent
despite appropriate learning opportunities.
It provides the basis for a staged process of assessment through teaching.
Rose Definition 2009 (from a UK government commission)
The Rose Definition starts really broadly: "Dyslexia is a learning difficulty which primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling". But then it goes on to add some "characteristic features" other than reading/spelling skills, while excluding others. This goes beyond the BPS definition and starts to open to the idea idea that dyslexia has symptoms other than difficulty in reading and spelling.
Concepts of dyslexia: slides for a talk
The talk draws on research reported in the video below. Click on the arrows, bottom left, to change slides.
If the slideshow doesn't load, click this link instead
"The Dyslexia Myth" TV Programme from Channel 4 Despatches
The title of this otherwise excellent programme is really misleading, designed to provoke a media storm, which it did. The programme does not say that dyslexia is a myth. It presents research which reveals major problems with commonly held ideas about dyslexia. In my opinion the programme is consistent with the reality of dyslexia as defined by the BPS.
I used to include a link to the TV programme, but clever hackers have repeatedly replaced the correct link with a link to a different video, more in line with the myth of Dyslexia which the programme challenges. I still recommend this programe, and you will need to do a google search for it if you want to see it. Sorry about that. (October 2023)