With class sizes the way they are is it fair that a disproportionate amount of time is spent with less able students?
Dyslexia or just dumb?
- Thread starter Castiel
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With class sizes the way they are is it fair that a disproportionate amount of time is spent with less able students?
that depends entirely to what extent they are struggling.
The reason my son's disabilities got picked up was because his reading age and writing age were years behind what they should be, and amongst the worst in the class at the time it was identified
If a child is still managing to achieve the average reading / writing age and "struggling" then it cant be that hard for them.
if they are just as many years behind those with learning disabilities in the class, and aren't dyslexic, then what is holding them back. It has to be something ? Could be environmental, i.e. the parents etc.. In which case yes they do need help but perhaps aren't going to benefit from the same type of help as the dyslexics would.
pretty much sums it up tbh...
Why should 'Dyslexics' be given special help in class above kids who are just plain thick...
Someone with high ability all around is great, someone with low ability all round is just thick, someone with say high maths ability but who has difficulty spelling apparently needs a special label. If kids are struggling then, whether dyslexic or not, extra help should be provided.
Its a fuzzy area at best and broad as you've rightly pointed out, testing isn't particularly accurate and yet any kid who happens to get given this label is afforded extra time in exams. If 30mins extra time might be required by some participants in an exam then really it should be given to all. It might well also help some kids who don't perform well but don't fit into the 'dyslexic' bracket and the all round smart kids can simply leave the exam early if they chose.
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This is the pattern across the whole "system" though is it not? You get help for x but not y and z. Is it fair people are discriminated against purely because science has yet to discover why they can not reach an arbitrary potential. Of course not but we have to work on what we do know rather than what we don't.
Kids arent just "plain thick"
There is far more to it than that. A reason why they struggle so much more than other kids.
Same as there is a reason why some find it so much easier.
You can say the reason for this is "because they just are" but the whole reason why dyslexia and other learning disabilities are being so much common, is because we are getting so much better at understanding why these variations occur, and what causes them, and crucially how to spot them.
Not because parents are on some deranged mission to get their kids special treatment.
I'm guessing kids aren't smart or intelligent either?
Everyone is the same?
Seriously not everyone has 'Dyslexia' some kids are thick just as some kids are smart.
no such thing as "just thick kids"
Crucial part is the just
What causes them to be less intelligent than the other kids in the class.
I dont think we as a race fully understand that yet. Same way we dont fully understand the reason why people like Einstein can be so much more intelligent than average human beings, the reason why mozart could play the piano like a profficient experienced adult, as a child.
why though ?
How do you advance medical science when you just take these things as being that way "because they just are"
Think further. Medical science has discovered so much already, like why certain ethnic groups are more prone to certain diseases than others etc..
You'd never progress anything if, for example, you just wrote off the wrote the earth off as rotating the sun because it just does ...
Crucial part is the just
What causes them to be less intelligent than the other kids in the class.
I dont think we as a race fully understand that yet. Same way we dont fully understand the reason why people like Einstein can be so much more intelligent than average human beings, the reason why mozart could play the piano like a profficient experienced adult, as a child.
why though ?
How do you advance medical science when you just take these things as being that way "because they just are"
Think further. Medical science has discovered so much already, like why certain ethnic groups are more prone to certain diseases than others etc..
You'd never progress anything if, for example, you just wrote off the wrote the earth off as rotating the sun because it just does ...
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Hardly... you're arguing over the semantics of a throwaway comment.
Anyway here is my point re-phrased.
Some kids aren't as bright as others.
Not all of the non-bright kids have 'Dyslexia'.
We should really be helping any struggling kids whether labeled 'Dyslexic' or not.
erm you might want to look into something called genetics...
Variation within a species isn't purely down to medical conditions that require treatment/investigation. We as a species come in various shapes and sizes and have varying abilities simply due to the genes we've inherited and the environment we grow up in.
Agreed
My son is in a group of other children with Special Education Needs, all of whom have varying different learning difficulties, some of them dont have dyslexia at all and suffer from others.
Unsurprisingly, most of the under achievers in the class were the ones that have been diagnosed as having learning difficulties
The ones that are bottom of the class, and don't have special education needs, are doing badly because they are not learning. They are put in a class taught by a teacher who is specificly chosen to deal with the problematic disruptive children, so do receive more help. Just in a different way.
But this type of child wont benefit from 1 to 1 tuition the same way children with learning difficulties do.
Its naive to assume that because disruptive children don't get 1 to 1 tuition, they are being neglected compared to the children with learning difficulties.
Oh yes of course, we totally 100 % understand the human genome and cannot possibly learn any more.
While your at it, can you prescribe some treatment for dyslexia ?
Oh thats right ,you cant because its not a medical condition. Its a disability.
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There is a government strategy in place for those who do fall behind not necessarily if they have any developmental disorder but if they are failing in class. I believe there is three levels to it from help from assistant teachers, teaching in small groups and one to one.
Individuals with dyslexia require certain strategies as outlined by their deficits.
I really doubt people will actually listen to the evidence when they quite obviously have already made their mind up!
As for why should children with dyslexia get help but children who are just underachieving (compared to a "normal" value) do not - well it is simple really - if child x is underachieving because that is his/her potential then no amount of extra help will raise that potential - if child y is underachieving because they have dyslexia then research has shown time and time again that with extra help they can raise the standard of their achievements. You put your money where you know evidence has shown it can impart benefit - not assume that all people have the talent to go to Oxbridge and throw resources at them to reach that standard. The goal of education is surely to aid people to realise their potential and where you have a demonstrated thing that impedes that goal and it has been shown to be surmountable then you fund it.
Indeed. It is time some accepted that they or their children, and in many cases both are just thick and there is no cure.
You can't fake dyslexia because there is no agreed definition or test for it.
Report out yesterday says that over half of 'special needs' children are misdiagnosed (and yes I know that doesn't just apply to dyslexia).
link
My point still stands, any child who is falling behind should get extra help.