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Asked by dubocs to Michael, Anna R on 14 Apr 2015.
Question: hello I am a French teacher. sorry for my bad English. In my classrooms There are more and more pupils with disorders like dyslexia. Can we explain this fact ?
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Anna Remington answered on 14 Apr 2015:
I can’t speak specifically about dyslexia, but there is a similar increase in autism rates (which I know more about) so I’ll answer based on that!
Many people are worried about the rising rates of these conditions. In fact it is likely that this is related to better awareness, and not that the traits are actually becoming more common. This improved awareness means that teachers and GPs are better at spotting the characteristics of autism, dyslexia and other conditions, so children who previously would not have received a diagnosis are now getting one. It’s likely that these children always had the same traits and difficulties in the classroom, they just weren’t identified formally.
Changes in the way that we diagnose various conditions over the past few years may also be having an impact on the rates as it changes who is (and isn’t) included in a particular clinical group.
Comments
dubocs commented on :
Thank you for your answer. So you think there is no relation with the fact that pupils spend more time in front of a screen than a book. Or that reading teaching old methods where better than the current one?
Sue commented on :
There’s no evidence to link increased screentime with increased rates of diagnosed conditions. And moreover, there’s no plausible scientific theory by which this could take place (particularly not in the time frame we’re considering).
Instead, technologies provide huge benefits especially to children with difficulties such as dyslexia, ADHD and autism. This can include specific learning supports, enhancement in areas of difficulty and ways to integrate with neurotypical peers. For some excellent, balanced summaries check out the work of Kevin Durkin here:
https://pure.strath.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/kevin-durkin%28570945d1-9177-4201-8c9c-314b52ae2975%29/publications.html
especially this one
https://pure.strath.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/turn-off-or-tune-in-what-advice-can-slts-educational-psychologists-and-teachers-provide-about-uses-of-new-media-and-children-with-language-impairments%283d5dc634-ed17-45be-8197-ff01b50d7e38%29.html
Anna R commented on :
I totally agree with Sue – technology does a lot to help individuals with these conditions.
I just wanted to add one thing. Recently there have been some articles in the media about this issue. They suggest that technology is causing people to become “borderline autistic”. These articles are not based on any research, but because the title is scary it has spread like wildfire! We need to be very careful when reading stories like that. And before acting on any suggestions, we should check to make sure that the claims someone is making are based on evidence (not just a hunch).