Misdiagnosed dyslexia

Introduction

Children can have a big problem in school if their problem with dyslexia is not detected in time. Unfortunately, this condition is one of the most frequently misdiagnosed. For those who do not know what dyslexia is, it is a condition that creates problems with learning.

Misdiagnosing

Misdiagnosis can happen because of several reasons. The first occurs when their medical problem is detected as their lack of effort. People with this problem may be named as sloppy, but there is a way to see if the patient is suffering from dyslexia. This can be done with the help of the teacher.

People with dyslexia do not have any problems when they express themselves orally. Written tests are troubling for them, but oral help them express their intelligence.

The second reason is attention deficit disorder because sometimes dyslexia can be mistaken for attention deficit disorder, which happens because the symptoms are very similar. The difference between these two conditions is the auditory information. Patients with dyslexia get overloaded with auditory information, but these problems are produced by the problems in sound processing among those with attention deficit disorder. They have problems hearing the speaker, hearing higher background sounds, and many other hearing problems.

The biggest problem for those with this disorder is the non-contextual information. Depression can also be detected as dyslexia since patients with depression can have problems with learning and sadness.

Asperger’s syndrome or PDD-NOS can also be confused with dyslexia, which happens because of the problems caused by late talking, gaucheness, shyness, and sensory memory problems. Problems with auditory and visual processing are something dyslexia patients suffer from, but they can also help in misdiagnosing. These problems can lead to avoiding visually busy and loud surroundings, as well as to missed social clues.

The last possible cause for misdiagnose of dyslexia is mild retardation, which is one of the most common causes of misdiagnose. No matter how good cognitive abilities they may show, they are confused for mentally retarded. If this happens, the people from the surroundings may not treat the problem right, and they see it as a situation in which they cannot be helpful.

Some teachers say that it doesn't matter if they do not notice dyslexia in their class and that the child with dyslexia would be in the same position even if the teacher knew about the problem.

Dyslexia is misdiagnosed because of the uninformed (about dyslexia) parents, untrained teachers, and programs at the Universities that have a narrow question range in dyslexia.

When children suffer unexpected problems with decoding, this is usually referred to as developmental dyslexia (hereafter referred to as dyslexia). Dyslexia is a common learning disability with an estimated prevalence of 3-7% of the population.

The fact that researchers have not been able to reach consensus about what constitutes dyslexia, may lead to inconsistency in the operational definitions of the measures used to assess dyslexia, which in turn jeopardizes the validity of these assessments.
As this has potential negative consequences for children in need of remedial reading instruction, the purpose of this study was to examine the procedures for assessing dyslexia, including diagnostic criteria and test battery used.
Participants were 118 employees (responsible for dyslexia assessment) at Educational-psychological services (EPSs) in South-Eastern Norway who answered a survey consisting of 19 questions about assessment procedures in their school district.
Results showed that a majority (102) of the EPSs emphasized findings from one test battery (Logos) in the assessment work. Further, 71% of participants reported that schools in their school district used a reading assessment which does not have enough documentation of psychometric properties.
The finding that students are relatively often diagnosed in 6th grade, seems to suggest that there is a need to strengthen the focus on early intervention which might be best achieved through increased system work and innovation directed towards schools and municipalities.
A report from the Norwegian Ombudsperson for children, shows that special needs education for students suffering from learning difficulties, including reading difficulties, is not always systematic and intensive enough. Research has also revealed gaps in teachers’ knowledge about dyslexia. This suggests that more focus on dyslexia is needed in the teacher education curriculum. Also, in Norwegian teacher education, there is a need for a stronger focus on special educational needs and assessment practices.

The lack of a unified construct of dyslexia can lead to inconsistencies in assessments and interventions. If all participants do not share a common understanding of what dyslexia is, or there is no consensus among researchers on how it could be identified in educational contexts, this has potential serious consequences for students who need remedial reading instruction. This is especially pertinent considering the importance of early intervention. Therefore clinicians, schools and researchers need to cooperate in developing tools with good psychometric properties and based on recent research on dyslexia.

✓ Fact confirmed: Assessment of Dyslexia – Why, When, and with What? Anette Andresen & May-Britt Monsrud; 03 Aug 2021