Having grumbled about the articles in June's Woman and Home, I was intersted to read the article about Kenny Logan who, because he is dyslexic, only learned to read and write as an adult. Most of the adults I work with, as an adult literacy teacher, have some degree of "dyslexic tendency" and his article captures very well the frustration and embarrassment suffered by adults with poor reading skills - it's brilliant that Kenny has spoken about it publicly because it may help others see that they are not alone.
However, Kenny apparently had what the article calls "a breakthrough treatment". This is very misleading - dyslexia is not an illness that can be "treated" - it is much more complex than that. The Dore programme which he used is controversial. It claims to be a "drug free" treatment - this is nonsense in so far as it implies that there is a medical treatment for dyslexia - there is not!!! Many people would not be able to afford the programme (it costs about £1700) or to find a Dore practitioner near them.
But everyone should have access to Adult and Community Education classes where there are very highly trained and professional adult literacy teachers(though not, I suspect, paid the kind of money that Dore charge)who have a wealth of experience. These classes are usually free or very reasonably priced. The students who go to them are treated with respect and understanding for their difficulties - it's not like school where they may have been made to feel stupid.
I have taught several adults to read from scratch and have helped many others to improve their reading and writing skills - no-one is asked to pay for the classes and we would never turn anyone away who genuinely wanted to learn.
It would have been nice if W&H had included a little information on the work that is being done in the real world - and perhpas (dare I say it) if there had been a little more investigative journalism, rather than an advert for a method that has no proven scientific basis.
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