Misconceptions about dyslexia among professionals risk children being misdiagnosed

The researchers from our School of Education are calling for standardised assessment procedures guided by evidence and set by government.

Dyslexia myths

Almost half of dyslexia professionals in the study believed at least one unproven indicator for dyslexia, which could lead to children being misdiagnosed.

In the survey of 275 dyslexia professionals, the most common myth – which is not backed up by solid evidence – was that people with dyslexia read letters in reverse order, believed by 61% of specialists.

Just over 30% of professionals also believed that letters jumping around is a key feature of dyslexia. However, there is currently no evidence to show that either of these are reliable indicators of dyslexia.

Diagnosis decisions

The survey targeted a range of UK professionals involved in assessing students for dyslexia, such as dyslexia specialists, specialist assessors and educational psychologists. They were asked about the assessments they used, how they make their decisions on diagnosis and what they believe to be indicators of dyslexia.

Although over 75% of professionals used assessments which are recommended by the Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) Assessment Standards Committee, more than 82% of respondents also used additional measures. A further 71 different measures were listed by participants, indicating that there are many different tests used by professionals during the assessment process.

Official policy

In the UK, there is currently no official policy guidance on defining and identifying students with dyslexia or other learning difficulties. Instead, the onus of developing diagnostic procedures and standards relies heavily on various independent professional organisations.

The researchers are calling for evidence-based knowledge to be built into the assessment procedures and for this to be guided by government policy.

It's estimated up to one in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia.

Find out more

• The study, funded by the British Educational Research Association (BERA), is published in Annals of Dyslexia and involved researchers from Durham University and National Taiwan Normal University.
• Read more about Dr Johny Daniel’s research.
• Our School of Education is ranked 65th in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024. Visit our Education webpages for more information on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.