Wynford Dore's "Dyslexia: The Miracle Cure"

[julia]

Another excellent Bad Science article by Ben Goldacre, in which he exposes the British media's love affair with Wynford Dore and his dodgy "miracle cure" for dyslexia:

www.badscience.net/

Goldacre has this to say about rugby/"Strictly Come Dancing" star Kenny Logan's promotion of Dore on umpteen TV shows:

He is paid for some of his promotional work for Dore, but he does not declare this fact to journalists or TV producers when he spreads his message of Dore miracles to the nation (”if journalists ask whether he is paid he confirms it,” says Dore, “but he does not volunteer it when it does not seem an issue.”).

Thanks to the services of top publicists Phil Hall Associates it wasn't particularly surprising that the public was unlikely to hear a discouraging word about Dore. Not for the first time it was bloggers who did the woo-friendly journalists' work for them by revealing that both the Australian and British branches of Dore's empire were in financial difficulties.

Wouldn't it be nice if Kenny Logan donated a few quid to the Dore employees who suddenly found themselves out of work?

[hyppydylan]

Oh Goody,

I can start my own 'Dyslexia Cure Company' now that the opposition has gone down.

My evidence for my 'cure'?
My sons' 17 year old friend had been 'tested' by the LEA at 8 and 15 and the tests all concluded that he was an acute dyslexic.

I was told about it by him two months ago and, just out of interest, asked what words or letters he could and couldn't recognise.
Obviously, he said he didn't know and when I asked why he said (and I quote) "I never got taught to read coz I got bored at school and played up."

I wrote out the alphabet (upper and lower case) and got him to copy it out about ten times in the same way that I was taught to in infants school.
He copied it out and while he did I got him to say the letters. He's quite an intelligent lad really when it comes to concepts but he just couldn't read or write.

We then got a book from one of my shelves (Dickens, A Chritmas Carol) and I had him place a card under a line of text and sound out the words phonetically, (as I was taught) and then write out the text he had just read.
I have to say the look of utter wonder on his face as he discovered he could actually read was one of the best things I have ever seen.

Over the next two weeks we did this exercise for a couple of hours, four times a week with a little help on the longer words and a little praise for doing well.
He's now finished the book, has read two others and is almost a different kid..

Now, obviously he was mis-diagnosed with dyslexia and that, I think, is the major problem with this condition.
Lazy or incompetent teaching coupled with a willingness to label a child as 'Special Needs' if they are difficult or disruptive and therefore obtain higher funding from the government for the school make it too easy for this type of thing to happen. Meanwhile, the children who really do have this condition don't get the proper help they need.

I 'cured' him of it with a little one to one teaching, some positive feedback and praise and I suspect that the 'success' stories of this company are due to exactly the same scenarios where the client wasn't in actual fact dyslexic at all.

Where do you think I should open my first clinic?

[starx]

Well done hun, i really am proud of you :)x

[hyppydylan]

Ta muchly and one x back at you

[mischiefmonkey]

Hmmm.

Mixed feelings.

Undeniably the evidence and marketing are indeed suspect at best, but the Dore program made an incredible difference to my eldest son.

It's been about six/seven years now but when I met Winford I found him very sincere, perhaps to the point of evangelicalism. The descriptions I've read of the company now are quite different to my experience. Though I was involved during the early years when he just had a floor in a building in Kenilworth and was subsidising the program.

The problem with dyslexia, whether it is really dyslexia or another problem, is that you get no help from the schools. Unless you can get your child statemented - and because of the financial implications the LEA's don't like to statement children - the schools don't get any extra funding. Thus a child who is having problems is a burden and blot on their SATS and league table status rather than a child needing extra help. Teachers get very little education regarding special educational needs. In my LEA dyslexia isn't recognised as a specific learning difficulty, yet they mention it in their literature. If you go to the British Dyslexia Institute they will recommend differentiated teaching methods and ways teachers can help a dyslexic child. Unfortunately this is too much bother for your average school. And it doesn't help if your SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) is a waste of space that thinks it's OK to show upto parent's evenings stinking of booze.

While the schools are failing children, parents are going to look elsewhere. Luckily for eldest, Dore worked for him. His IQ was way above average. Reading was never a major problem - although it could leave him very tired. It was writing that was the problem. He went from having the writing skills of an eight year old at the age of 13 to having the writing skills of a 12 year old in a year. Not a 100% 'cure' but enough to be functionally literate. More importantly, literate enough to apply for, gain and complete the coursework and exams on his apprenticeship.

I'm not endorsing Dore. It is possible something 'clicked' for eldest, with no help from Dore. But I do wonder if it would be worth doing proper trials to find out if the program works, at least for some.