This article is written by a dyslexic scholar in opposition to the psychological discourse on dyslexia. The methodological approach adopted is ordinary language philosophy; I argue that dyslexia is a paradoxical concept. As such, dyslexia as a concept lacks clarity and cohesion. The alternative concept of Lexism (the Othering of and discrimination…

Academic and practice-based research constructs specific learning difficulties as a collection of lifelong, within-person conditions that negatively affect learning and daily functioning. Investigation has historically adopted a medical model, specifically a neurodeficit perspective. Conversely, neurodiversity has emerged as a concept that seeks…

Lexism (the Othering of dyslexics) currently lacks a clear definition. In this conceptual article, I argue that Lexism does not require any such definition; indeed definitions generally can be unhelpful. To understand Lexism I provide examples of how we might use the concept in a series of hypothetical cases. Exemplars avoid the need for…

Differentiation of speech is predictable from abilities to discriminate the speed at which a sound reaches its optimum amplitude (rise time). This study investigated whether rise time identification of an affricate-fricative continuum would be impacted upon by dyslexia. Children between 10 and 14 years old identified sounds along a continuum of…

Students in higher education (HE) are required to complete a variety of writing tasks for coursework and examinations. However, for some students writing presents a major challenge. In the UK, the availability of tools for specialist assessors to help identify difficulties with the quality of written composition is limited. The aim of this study…

The present study explored whether phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA) and visual attention (VA) independently predict word and pseudoword reading accuracy in native Arabic-speaking children from grades 4 and 5. A total of 141 participants took part in the study, and were divided into two groups of readers with (n = 30) and…

Parents'/carers' experiences of their children's dyslexia were explored in a mainstream secondary school in England. Interviews were undertaken with the parents/carers of young people at Hilltop View School, a secondary school in south-west England. Bourdieusian concepts of field, habitus and practice were powerful in underpinning analysis using…

We predicted that Arabic-speaking children with specific learning disabilities in reading (dyslexia) and spelling (in writing) benefit from a visuomotor-based intervention programme for the development of letter knowledge and the improvement of word and pseudo-word decoding as well as spelling (dictation). It was predicted that the mediation of…

In this article I mount an attack on the problematic conceptions of literacy that lie behind the Standards and Testing Agency's 2015 "Interim Teacher Assessment Frameworks at the End of Key Stage 2" and the "Key Stage 2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Tests." I employ an object of comparison (a philosophical method),…

It may be thought that gaining a place at university confers self-belief on students with dyslexia; after all, they have succeeded in their academic studies. Our research explored self-efficacy beliefs in university students with and without dyslexia. An Academic Self-Efficacy Scale and a Sources of Academic Self-Efficacy Scale were completed by…

This article considers policy and practice in relation to dyslexia provision in Northern Ireland since the 2002 Task Group Report. Using interviews with original and current stakeholders, this research, funded by SCoTENS (Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South), examined the extent to which recommendations have been met in the…

This article explores teachers' experiences of dyslexia and classroom interventions via lesson observations and semi-structured interviews. These experiences were analysed through a Bourdieusien lens, based on Jenkins's "levels of interaction", to delineate power relationships inherent in classroom interactions, teachers' interactions…

Despite the widespread use of Orton-Gillingham (OG) based approaches to dyslexia remediation, empirical support documenting its effectiveness is lacking. Recently, Chia and Houghton demonstrated the effectiveness of the OG approach for remediation of dyslexia in Singapore. As a conceptual replication and extension of that research, we report…

This article explores the possibility that "dyslexics" can be thought of as being "othered" and defined by the social norms and educational practices surrounding literacy; which can be termed "Lexism". As such the author, Craig Collinson, a postgraduate academic support officer at Edge Hill University, presents "Lexism" as a new concept that…

This article, written by Assistant Professor Noel Chia from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Professor Stephen Houghton from the Centre for Child and Adolescent Related Disorders, University of Western Australia, reports an empirical evaluation of a one-year Orton-Gillingham instruction based…