In my last post, I discussed the debate among dyslexia tutors and other educational professionals concerning the labeling of dyslexia as a “disability”. As I mentioned, some dyslexia tutors dislike this label because it seems to imply that dyslexics are unable to learn to read, write and spell. In fact, this is far from the truth; with dyslexia tutoring using the proper approach, dyslexics can, and do, succeed in learning to read, write and spell.
Instead of calling dyslexia a “disability”, many dyslexia tutors prefer to call dyslexia a “learning difference”. For a dyslexia tutor, this label seems to be more accurate, because while a dyslexic student may have a hard time acquiring written language in the standard way that it is taught, they can definitely acquire it when trained through dyslexia tutoring that uses a proven method. So, if a student needs a different approach to learning, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this learning difference should be labeled a “disability”. With dyslexia tutoring, a dyslexic student can definitely succeed with written language.
Peter