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Louisa Moats, one of the world's leading experts on reading disabilities, has come out in support of the term "Dyslexia", countering the widely reported view of two well-known and respected researchers, Julian Elliott and Elena Grigorenko.
In the last couple of years Elliott and Grigorenko have been arguing that it is time to do away with the D word. In their recent book, The Dyslexia Debate (Cambridge University Press, 2014), they object to the word because many misunderstandings, false claims, and myths are associated with it. However, Louisa Moats argues that dyslexia is much more meaningful than other terms such as "reading disability", not least because dyslexia is not solely a problem with reading but has its roots in difficulties with language. Reading, writing and spelling are language-based skills and the manifestations of dyslexia are in language-dependent functions, including the ability to parse the speech sounds in words, link them to an alphabetic symbol system, establish automatic word recognition, distinguish word meanings, and comprehend the complexities of academic language. And, says Moats, the best remedy for all language-based reading difficulties is structured language teaching.
Moats also points out that the term dyslexia has been in use for about 100 years now and is therefore a very useful index into a treasure trove of interdisciplinary scientific research, books and articles that summarise that research, advocacy and support organisations that assist parents and families, and legitimate therapeutic interventions.
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