Chat Ed : Welcome to our Dispatches webchat with Producer, David Mills. Tonight’s Dispatches exposes the myths and misconceptions that surround a condition said to affect 10 per cent of the population. The Dyslexia Myth argues that the common understanding of dyslexia is not only false but makes it more difficult to provide the reading help that hundreds of thousands of children desperately need. Welcome our guest David Mills…
Roy Ferrari : Good programme
charlie : that was a really interesting programme
David Mills : Hello everybody, it's David Mills the Producer here. I hope that having seen the documentary that a lot of the misinformation that has been spread about it will have gone. I look forward to your questions...
Daniel : David, we all agree that your conclusions are actually very unclear in this program. What is different about your approach to dyslexia? Why is it a myth when you have shown that it is a true neurological complaint?
David Mills : What the programme is saying is that what most people believe about dyslexia is a myth, but that there are real reading problems that are quite different to those that have been assumed, and, there is no difference between children diagnosed as being dyslexic and any other poor readers. We are not saying dyslexia is a myth, we are saying the popular conception of dyslexia is a myth and that dyslexia itself needs to be redefined in a much more rigorous way. There are at least five major definitions of dyslexia being put forward, all of which identify different groups of children. Until this question of what dyslexia really means is resolved it is very difficult for the term to serve the useful purpose that it might if we could arrive at a definition that everybody agrees on.
John in Ipswich : The program seemed to focus on reading only, there are many other aspects such as balance, coordination and poor direction. would you like to comment?
Gareth Timms : why has the problem just concentrated on reading neither writing nor organisational skills
David Mills : You are correct. 25-50% of poor readers also have problems with physical co-ordination or clumsiness. The two - poor physical co-ordination and poor reading - are clearly associated and triggered by some underlying pathology in the brain. But there is no evidence at all of a causal relationship between physical co-ordination and reading problems.
Interestedaswell : Where can I find more information on the intervention programme? Some interesting points that i would like to know more about
Resitha Airey : Please let me know who I can get contact with the course leaders?
Judith : Where can I do a training course to teach the programme you were demonstrating?
traceym : where can I learn more about the Cumbrian Reading Intervention scheme? Can parents use it?
worried parent : Is there a good website giving details of the Cumbrian reading intervention programme?
David Mills : The Cumbrian Education Authority has a website which may be helpful www.cumbria.gov.uk I have also written an article on the Dispatches website which has useful links and advice to parents.
swagman : why was the show based on tests of children and not adults
Alegna : can the same principles be used to improve adults' reading?
Jon Shimmin : has any research been done on how dyslexia affects people into adulthood? i felt the program completely ignored this.
David Mills : The problem of adults with reading disabilities is very sad. The emphasis must be on getting the latest treatments to children when they are young enough to really benefit from them. Whether these treatments will help adult poor readers, I'm afraid I don't know. It's very sad, I don't know for sure, by my guess is that all the available resources should be initially deployed on young children. It is a tragedy for many people that these new treatments have come along just too late to help them, but it's not an area I have any expertise in so perhaps they will help.
Allan Lewis : Briefly, what can parents do to help their children's literacy before they start school?
LouiseD : So What should parents do, right now, in everyday life and schools
David Mills : Before school the emphasis should be on oral language, not on reading, but the Dispatches website has a feature with my advice for parents and there is a whole section there on what parents can do to help pre-school children.
smoothly : Are poor readers who are also academically poor otherwise, being made to suffer by resources being funnelled into high IQ poor readers?
Ian McIlquham : Are saying that money spent of dyslexia lessons is money wasted?
David Mills : Yes, in terms of their reading the great fear among academics is exactly this, i.e. that resources which are not achieving very much or being spent on older children with the diagnosis of dyslexia, could be better spent on preventing the development of reading problems in much younger children. But let me add, no one I have spoken to is suggesting any resources should be taken away from any child or student receiving them at present. There is no reason for anyone to fear the improved use of resources, no one will suffer as a consequence - many will gain.
Sarah : I would be interested to find out what experiences David Mills has had with dyslexia and how it has affected the making of this program
Alichpln : Do you have dyslexia?
David Mills : Curiously, under one definition of dyslexia, - which I reject quite strongly - I might be counted as dyslexic, but that is the nonsense of the present situation in that no two definitions of dyslexia (and there are many) pick out the same group of children or individuals. So until we resolve this question the usefulness of the term is strictly limited. Indeed until we sort this out often the use of the term and concepts associated with it may do more harm than good. That is certainly the view of many of the leading academics.
Daniel : David, why do you say that the cut-off point to acquire language perfectly is 12 months!!??
moira : i was furious to hear that it was my problem because i didn't sing or speak to my baby - maybe i could be categorised as a depressed mother - and i have to tell you that i constantly speak sang read talked to my babies from day one
David Mills : That is a slight misunderstanding. There is no cut-off point to acquire language. What has been discovered is that children are born everywhere with the ability to later replicate any sound they hear, but they lose this ability, not suddenly at 12 months, but progressively between the ages of 8 and 12 months. It is thought that in this first 12 months the brain lays down hard-wired connections which are later used to replicate sounds heard in the first 12 months. If the hard-wire connections are not laid down it appears to be very hard to create them after the first year or so of life. But I am only a journalist and if you are really interested in this area you need to read books like the ‘Scientist in the Crib’ by Alison Gopnik
jim t : Not sure if I agree with everything in the programme but thank you for a most challenging and stimulating programme.
David Mills : Thanks jim t. I've told all the people taking part in the programme that they would all find something they won't like, but my hope is that what each individual doesn't like is different to the next individual. In trying to put together a consensus, an important one, it is not possible to satisfy everyone, but hopefully everyone will agree with most of what we've said.
Adrian : Why has the concept of dyslexia been so widely accepted by people so easily?
David Mills : Adrian, I think for a long time all sorts of people have struggled to help children with reading problems without ever really knowing what was causing them. I think the concept of dyslexia - letters floating around and a condition which affected particularly intelligent children - was very convenient. It was untrue but it undoubtedly helped a lot of people cope with a problem that they could not otherwise understand. Now we DO understand the cause we can move forward and provide real help to the children with reading difficulties. That's the point of the documentary.
claire sweeney : have you considered that this programme may be very demoralising to not only dyslexic children but also there parents
David Mills : If dyslexic children and their parents listen to the programme and what it is really saying then it can only be good news for them. It is suggesting that there are real solutions for the problems they are facing and that we all need to push to get these solutions made available. The only people who will suffer as a result are those who have not actually listened to what it is saying. It is, except perhaps for older adult reading-disabled people, a good news story.
jojo1 : I got the impression that the Dyslexia Institute is well aware of the findings and will be putting these findings into practice which should alleviate the worries of parents whose children have been diagnosed as dyslexic?
David Mills : Exactly! I am incredibly impressed by the way the Dyslexic Institute is coping with the great deal of new information it is receiving and shifting its role accordingly. All too often organisations have a tendency to bury their heads, but the Dyslexic Institute is, to my total admiration, totally running with it. A great number of people will benefit as a consequence.
Daniel : Could David please explain in one sentence exactly which myth about Dyslexia that he successfully debunked with this program?
David Mills grins
David Mills : Well what people have seen it tell me is: 1) that it's not a visual problem. 2) That it is not a problem of physical co-ordination. 3) That it is not a condition for more intelligent children. 4) That there is no difference between dyslexic children and other poor readers and how intelligent dyslexic children receive no more benefit from help with their reading than low IQ poor readers.
All : What's next for you in the world of Producing Factual thingies?
David Mills : Heh, a good question. There is a lot of emerging evidence on what influences children's intelligence as they grow older - it is a fascinating area and Claire (my wife) and myself are hoping to write a book about it and maybe make a television documentary about it.
Chat Ed : Our half hour with David is now up. Thanks for coming David, it was an extremely interesting chat.
Mini IQ : Thanks for such an interesting and enlightening programme David
mike1471 : david, thank-you for highlighting the need for schools to take a realistic approach to alternative teaching methods, however, you underlying argument is flawed.
Harry : Yes thanks
David Mills : Goodbye everybody, I'm sorry if there hasn't been time to answer your questions. I would stress that all that I have discovered over the past 9 months while making this programme is potentially very good news indeed for everyone with a reading problem and their parents. I know just how desperate this can be. I have been delighted to be able to report really encouraging news. Good night and thanks for joining me.
Harry : You're a dude thanks again
Karen Pluckrose : thank you david
mez : Bye david
Carly : byebye
David Mills leaves the room
