The dyslexia debate: life without the label

Gibbs, S.; Elliott, J.

doi:10.1080/03054985.2020.1747419

The dyslexia debate: life without the label

Gibbs, S.; Elliott, J.

Authors

S. Gibbs

Professor Joe Elliott joe.elliott@durham.ac.uk
Principal

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the problematic use of the term dyslexia. Noting that there are no unambiguous objective diagnostic criteria for ‘dyslexia’, in part because this term is understood in multiple ways, we discuss its relevance for informing educational assessment, intervention and resourcing. We conclude by highlighting how current approaches to dyslexia diagnosis and remediation typically fail to serve the needs of large numbers of struggling readers. In their place, we advocate ‘Response to Intervention’ as an ethically and educationally justified approach to tackling severe reading difficulties, but also highlight continuing challenges to its effective implementation.

Citation

Gibbs, S., & Elliott, J. (2020). The dyslexia debate: life without the label. Oxford Review of Education, 46(4), 487-500. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2020.1747419

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 12, 2020
Online Publication Date	Aug 13, 2020
Publication Date	2020
Deposit Date	May 5, 2020
Publicly Available Date	Aug 20, 2020
Journal	Oxford Review of Education
Print ISSN	0305-4985
Electronic ISSN	1465-3915
Publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	46
Issue	4
Pages	487-500
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2020.1747419

Files

Published Journal Article (1.5 Mb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.