Dyslexia: A History

Description

In 1896 the British physician William Pringle Morgan published an account of “Percy,” a “bright and intelligent boy, quick at games, and in no way inferior to others of his age.” Yet, in spite of his intelligence, Percy had great difficulty learning to read. Percy was one of the first children to be described as having word-blindness, better known today as dyslexia. In this first comprehensive history of dyslexia Philip Kirby and Margaret Snowling chart a journey that begins with Victorian medicine and continues to dyslexia’s current status as the most globally recognized specific learning difficulty. In an engaging narrative style, Kirby and Snowling tell the story of dyslexia, examining its origins and revealing the many scientists, teachers, and campaigners who put it on the map. Through this history they explain current debates over the diagnosis of dyslexia and its impact on learning. For those who have lived experience of dyslexia, professionals who have supported them, and scholars of social history, education, psychology, and childhood studies, Dyslexia reflects on the place of literacy in society – whom it has benefited, and whom it has left behind. Dyslexia: A History Cover Half Title Page Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION: What’s in a Word? Dyslexia in Historical Perspective A Brief History of Dyslexia The Aims of This Book Conceptualising Dyslexia and Its History The Structure of This Book PART 1: Foundations Chapter 1: Dyslexia Discovered: Word-Blindness, Victorian Medicine, and Education (1877–1917) The Education Act of 1870, ‘Feeble-Mindedness’, and the Context for Dyslexia’s Emergence From Stuttgart to Edinburgh: Turning Attention to Congenital Word-Blindness Dyslexia Defined: Refining Understandings of ‘Congenital Word-Blindness’ ‘All Very Curious’: Word-Blindness in Newspapers, Periodicals, and the Popular Press Chapter 1 – Key Points Chapter 2: Dyslexia Goes Global: Psychology, Childhood, and Trans-Atlanticism (1925–48) Samuel T. Orton, Strephosymbolia, and Early Psychological Research on Dyslexia in the United States Female Pioneers and the First Instruction for Reading Disability: Anna Gillingham, Bessie Stillman, and Edith Norrie Cyril Burt, the Heritability of Intelligence, and Early Scepticism of Word-Blindness Anxiety and Adaptation: Growing Up Word-Blind in the First Half of the Twentieth Century Chapter 2 – Key Points PART 2: Evidence Chapter 3: Dyslexia Discussed: The Foundation and Work of the Word Blind Centre (1962–72) Setting the Stage: Alfred White Franklin, the Word-Blindness Conference, and a New Dyslexia Centre The Foundation of the Word Blind Centre: Sandhya Naidoo and an Evidence Base for Dyslexia Dyslexia’s Demographics: Socio-economic Class and the Work of the Word Blind Centre The Closure of the Word Blind Centre: Loose Ends, Legacies, and Future Directions for Dyslexia Chapter 3 – Key Points Chapter 4: Researching Dyslexia: From the Discrepancy Definition to Cognitive Neuroscience (1964–2009) The Foundations of a New Dyslexia Science (1960–70) Epidemiology and the Isle of Wight Study (1964–74) The Rise of the Psychological Perspective on Dyslexia (1970–80) Phonological Deficits and the Demise of the Discrepancy Definition (1980–90) The Dawn of Genetic Approaches to Dyslexia (1980s–) Studies of Children at ‘Family Risk’ of Dyslexia (1990–) Testing the Causal Hypothesis (1990–) Dyslexia and the Brain (1990–) Dyslexia in the Twenty-First Century (2000–) Chapter 4 – Key Points PART 3: Recognition: The Example of Britian Chapter 5: Tackling Dyslexia: Class, Gender, and the Construction of a Dyslexia Infrastructure (1962–97) An Emerging Dyslexia Landscape: The British Dyslexia Association and the First Dyslexia Organisations (1960s–80s) Worried Mothers? Women, the Dyslexia Movement, and Helping Children Adapt to Literate Society Middle-Class Bias? Socio-economic Class, Gender, and Early Criticism of the Dyslexia Community Left Behind? Dyslexia, Demography, and Reading Difficulties Outside of the Dyslexia Community Chapter 5 – Key Points Chapter 6: Dyslexia Legislated: Literacy, Policy, and the Achievement of Official Status (1962–2010) Raising the Issue: The Word Blind Centre and Initial Efforts to Achieve Political Recognition for Dyslexia (1962–70) From Thatcher to Warnock: Dyslexia, Its Discontents, and Continued Frustration (1970–87) From Thatcher to Blair: Neoliberalism, ‘Dispelling a Myth’, and the Pathway to Government Recognition (1987–97) Dyslexia and the Law: Dyslexia, Legal Provision, and Disability Rights to the Equality Act (2010) Chapter 6 – Key Points PART 4: Legacies Chapter 7: Dyslexia Today and Tomorrow: Discourses of Dyslexia in the Twenty-First Century Dyslexia in Popular Culture: Dyslexia as Limitation, Gift, and Comedy (1980s–Present) Dyslexia Debated (Again): The Return of the Dyslexia ‘Myth’ (2005–Present) Dyslexia, the Social Model of Disability, and the Rise of the Neurodiversity Paradigm (1998–Present) Dyslexia Tomorrow: Identity, Self-determination, and the Future of Dyslexia Chapter 7 – Key Points Conclusion Timeline: Fifty Key Dates Notes Bibliography Index