Dyslexia - how real is it?

[Martinus]

Here's a question for people who either have kids or work with kids. Back when I was at school, we had maybe 1 or 2 people in a class of 30 who were diagnosed dyslexic - still I remember many kids struggling with spelling (and naturally, getting worse marks for that).

Now, from my friends who have school-age kids, I understand it's much more common these days, with about 20-30% of kids getting diagnosed with dyslexia meaning that if they misspell something in a written paper, they don't get their marks reduced etc.)

So a question here is - how real is this, or how much of it is just parents trying to get their kids an "easy mode" pass through school?

[Fate]

No clue how real it is, but there's certainly an incentive to fake it. At my university dyslexic students were allotted double the normal amount of time to take all examinations.

[The Brain]

I have never encountered special rules for dyslexic people but then I'm an old coot.

[Jaron]

There are certainly always people willing to take advantage of the system, but dyslexia itself is very real.

[Martinus]

There are certainly always people willing to take advantage of the system, but dyslexia itself is very real.

That's not what I meant, sorry. I do not question the existence of dyslexia as a handicap, I am just asking how real is the frequency with which it is being diagnosed, i.e. how many of the people who claim to have it really have it, and how many are just lazy/dumb and can't spell properly.

[Jaron]

Most things are overdiagnosed nowadays. Its easier than accepting that some people are just born crazy.

[CountDeMoney]

So a question here is - how real is this, or how much of it is just parents trying to get their kids an "easy mode" pass through school?

Thing is, dyslexia is a little more concrete to diagnose than, say, ADD or Asparagus Syndrome or any of the milieu of possible personality disorders that may or may not exist in a kid as an excuse to jack him up on Ritalin because Mommy and Daddy don't want to deal with him.

Dyslexia is a bit easier to recognize.  Either the little shit can recognize letters and write, or he can't.

Back in elementary school, I remember a classmate I had in third grade named Mark;  motherfucker wrote everything upside down.  Wrote perfectly, just had to do it upside down.  Now that brother was dyslexic.  Can't fake that shit.

[Martinus]

So a question here is - how real is this, or how much of it is just parents trying to get their kids an "easy mode" pass through school?

Thing is, dyslexia is a little more concrete to diagnose than, say, ADD or Asparagus Syndrome or any of the milieu of possible personality disorders that may or may not exist in a kid as an excuse to jack him up on Ritalin because Mommy and Daddy don't want to deal with him.

Dyslexia is a bit easier to recognize.  Either the little shit can recognize letters and write, or he can't.

Back in elementary school, I remember a classmate I had in third grade named Mark;  motherfucker wrote everything upside down.  Wrote perfectly, just had to do it upside down.  Now that brother was dyslexic.  Can't fake that shit.

Yeah, but then there are little shits who are all "OMG man Im teh dslyectic lol so u cnat do anything 2 me if I rite like these, lol."

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, but then there are little shits who are all "OMG man Im teh dslyectic lol so u cnat do anything 2 me if I rite like these, lol."

Those get figured out pretty quickly.
There's a difference between dyslexia and laziness, just like there's a difference between Tourette's and a really bad mood.  Or Narcolepsy and being a black person.

[Martinus]

Yeah, but then there are little shits who are all "OMG man Im teh dslyectic lol so u cnat do anything 2 me if I rite like these, lol."

Those get figured out pretty quickly.
There's a difference between dyslexia and laziness, just like there's a difference between Tourette's and a really bad mood.  Or Narcolepsy and being a black person.

Or Asperger's and being an asshole.

[Josquius]

I've moderate dyslexia. Apparently Einstein did too even (checking up though this is challenged). Its pretty common and doesn't really stop you if you're capable, its only a slight hindrance.

The dyslexic kids at school who got a lot of special treatment seemed to have a lot of other things wrong with them too, they would have been bottom of the class even without it.

[Norgy]

Most things are overdiagnosed nowadays. Its easier than accepting that some people are just born crazy.

I find that I agree with my Calimexican friend here.

Nowadays, being slow and being stupid earns you an ADHD diagnose.

I am all for equality and opportunity for all, but even here in Socialist Paradise, we should at some point realise that not all children will become prime ministers.

[CountDeMoney]

Most things are overdiagnosed nowadays. Its easier than accepting that some people are just born crazy.

"Not all children are smart and clever, got that?  Kids are like any other group of people: a few winners...a whole lot of losers."
--G. Carlin

[The Brain]

People just have different profiles. The sum of talents is constant.

[DontSayBanana]

Overdiagnosed, and used overmuch as an excuse. I've got a similar issue with numbers transposition, but I just go back and recheck everything I wrote down to make sure it matches and 99 times out of 100, I catch the mistakes.