times, the symptoms of dyslexia have been confused with those of these related disorders, especially because some people with dyslexia show a degree of poor coordination, disorganisation and/or inattention. It is necessary for professionals, as well as scientists, to be clear about the limits of a dyslexia diagnosis: dyslexia is a disorder of reading fluency and spelling – in its purest form, these are the only skills that are affected. However, in some cases, co-occurring difficulties can complicate dyslexia’s manifestation. Such features, if disabling, need to be treated, but it is important not to confuse these with dyslexia’s core features, or to deny dyslexia exists because it has a variable manifestation16.
About the Authors
Philip Kirby is lead researcher on the UK Dyslexia Archive project, based at St John’s College, Oxford. Founded in 2016, the Archive is producing the first comprehensive history of dyslexia. His most recent article is ‘Worried Mothers? Gender, Class and the Origins of the ‘Dyslexia Myth’’, published in the journal, Oral History.
Maggie Snowling is President of St John’s College and Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. She is a world-leading expert on the science of dyslexia, and contributed to the 2009 Rose Review of dyslexia and literacy difficulties. Her latest book is Dyslexia: A Very Short Introduction, published by Oxford University Press.
1Kussmaul, A. (1877). Chapter XXVII. In: von Ziemssen, H. (Ed.), Cyclopaedia of the Practice of Medicine: Vol. XIV: Diseases of the Nervous system and Disturbances of Speech (pp. 770-78). New York: William Wood.
2Berlin, R. (1887). Eine Besondere Art der Wortblindheit (Dyslexie). Wiesbaden: J. F. Bergmann.
4DeFries, J. C. (1992). Genetics and dyslexia. In: Snowling, M., & Thomson, M. (Eds.). Dyslexia: Integrating theory and practice (pp. 3-20). London: Whurr.
6World Federation of Neurology. (1968). Report of research group on dyslexia and word illiteracy. Dallas, US: World Federation of Neurology.
7Rose, J. (2009). Identifying and teaching children and young people with dyslexia and literacy difficulties. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.
9Beck, A. T., & Alford, B. A. (2009). Depression: Causes and treatment. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press; Parker, G. (2006). The DSM classification of depressive disorders: Debating its utility. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 51 (14), 871–873.
10Snowling, M. (2000). Dyslexia. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
11Havegal, C. (2015, December 2). Governments confirms cuts to Disabled Students’ Allowance. Times Higher Education.
15Kirby, P. (2019). Worried mothers? Gender, class and the origins of the ‘dyslexia myth’. Oral History, 47 (1), pp. 92-104.
16Rose, Identifying and Teaching.
The History of Dyslexia Project (links to articles, presentations and newsletters)
Elliott, J. & Grigorenko, E. L. (2014). The dyslexia debate. Cambridge University press.
Kirby, P. (2019). Worried mothers? Gender, class and the origins of the ‘dyslexia myth’. Oral History, 47 (1), pp. 92-104.
McBride, C. (2019). Coping with dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD: A global perspective. Abingdon: Routledge.
Ramus, R. (2014). Should there really be a ‘dyslexia debate’? Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 137(12), 3371–3374.
Snowling, M. (2000). Dyslexia. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Snowling, M. (2019). Dyslexia: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.