A PPLEFORD S CHOOL
FACT SHEET
Dyslexia in Girls
Are girls less likely to
have dyslexia?
There are many controversial issues
surrounding the term dyslexia. One of the
major controversies in the dyslexia world is
whether dyslexia is equally distributed between
girls and boys, men and women, or whether
there is a gender bias.
For many years it was considered that there
were more dyslexic boys than there were
dyslexic girls. In broad terms, such thinking
arose from the observation that many more
boys than girls were referred to dyslexia
centres, reading centres or reading clinics. The
ratio of boys to girls varied from one centre to
another but figures of between three times to
four times as many boys as girls were reported.
Critics of such studies, whilst accepting the
figures as indicating the number/percentage/
ratio of boys to girls referred, questioned
whether there might be some referral bias
which resulted in more boys than girls being
referred. Thus, they questioned whether
referral figures in themselves threw any useful
light on the issue of gender differences in the
incidence of dyslexia.
Several important studies over the last 20 years
have thrown light on whether or not there is a
gender difference in the incidence of dyslexia.
A study by Dr Sally Shaywitz, co-director of
The Center for the Study of Learning and
Attention Disorders at Yale University,
involved 445 Connecticut children who were
studied from the time they entered kindergarten
until they reached third grade ie nine years of
age. The researchers found that the schools
identified more than four times as many second
grade (8 year old) boys as girls being dyslexic
and more than twice as many third grade boys
as girls were said to have reading problems.
However, when the researchers independently
tested the children, they found equal numbers
of boys and girls in both grades with reading
difficulties.
A second study by Dr Frank Wood, a professor
of neuropsychology and director of The
Dyslexia Program at Bowman Gray University
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, involved
485 children in the Winston-Salem-Forsyth
County schools. Dr Wood, Dr Rebecca Felton,
Associate Director of the Dyslexia Program,
and their colleagues tested the children in the
first grade and again in third grade. They
found no difference in the reading abilities of
boys and girls. Dr Wood commented that he
and his colleagues were shocked when their
research project showed that there was no
difference. “This contradicts decades of
conventional wisdom” Dr Wood said.
A third study by Dr Richard Olson and Dr John
De Fries at the University of Colorado in
Boulder reached the same conclusion after
studying over 400 pairs of twins, looking for an
inherited component of dyslexia. Essentially
they found no differences by gender in the
occurrence of dyslexia.
However, lest it be thought that these are the
definitive studies answering the question of a
gender difference in the incidence of dyslexia,
a more recent large scale research project
suggests the contrary ie that boys are more
likely to be dyslexic than girls. Research from
the universities of Warwick, Coventry and
Kings College, London examined four previous
large-scale studies of reading in 9,799 children
aged 7 to 15 years of age who had been given
standard reading tests in both Britain and in
New Zealand. The research studies indicated
that between 18% to 22% of the boys were
dyslexic compared to 8% to 13% of the girls.
This research has the advantage over certain
previous research evidence in that the studies
did not rely on children who were already
known to be having learning difficulties, as was
the case in some previous studies.
The finding that there is a higher percentage of
boys than girls suffering from dyslexia is
consistent with other findings and with research
studies that indicate that in general boys show a
higher incidence of learning difficulties across
the board than girls.
Thus, the evidence from differing research
studies leads to different conclusions. No
doubt future research studies will continue to
address this taxing problem.
Despite the details of this controversy, several
points can be made about the gender difference
issues. Firstly, it appears to be likely that there
are many girls whose learning difficulties and
dyslexia in particular have not been and still
are not adequately recognised. The fact that
many more boys are referred because of
reading/literacy difficulties is likely to be
because of the way that they express their
frustration ie in an outwardly directed fashion
as contrasted with girls who, some research by
Hales and others has suggested, tend to
internalise their feelings and not draw undue
attention to themselves in class.
Appleford School, Shrewton, Nr Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 4HL
Telephone: (01980) 621020 Fax: (01980) 621366 Email address: [email protected]
www.appleford.wilts.sch.uk
Of course, the likely effect of this referral
artefact is that there are numbers of girls who
are not getting “a fair crack of the whip” so to
speak. To offset this, it has been noted by
Shaywitz and others that girls tend to
neurologically process language in a better and
more sophisticated way than boys.
Perhaps what is needed is a definitive study of
adult dyslexia to assess whether this process is
in operation since, if it is, a reasonable
expectation would be that there would be
significantly fewer women dyslexics than men
dyslexics. It is clear that in what purports to be
an egalitarian society it behoves all teachers to
be on the look out so that the literacy problems
of girls are not left undiagnosed and untreated
so that they do not struggle alone with their
literacy problems.
As is well known and obvious, difficulties of
literacy in childhood tend to be associated with
a range of problems in adulthood including a
reduced level of educational qualifications, a
lower level of vocational and career progress
and a compromised mental health status.
Symptoms which identify the
dyslexic girl include:
• She seems more intelligent than her reading,
spelling or written work suggest.
• She reads very slowly and hesitantly.
• She reverses letters - ‘b’ for ‘d’, ‘p’ for
‘q’, etc.
• She turns letters upside down - ‘n’ for ‘u’,
‘m’ for ‘w’, etc.
• She reads letters in the wrong order - ‘left’
for ‘felt’, ‘act’ for ‘cat’, etc.
• She reads words backwards - ‘on’ for ‘no’,
‘was’for ‘saw’, etc.
• She writes letters in the wrong order - ‘chidl’
for ‘child’.
• She has difficulty with rhyme.
• She may have been a late or poor talker and
may still have immature speech.
• She may have been a late walker and may
still not be well coordinated.
• She may have difficulty with short-term
memory.
• She may have been late learning to tell the
time or tie her shoelaces.
• She may have difficulty putting things in the
right order.
• She may have difficulty knowing left
from right.
• She may not be able to concentrate well.
• She may be poor at copying from the board.
• She may be poorly organised.
• There may be a family history of late reading
or poor spelling.
Not all children will show all of these
symptoms.
For nearly twenty years Appleford School has
provided high quality education for dyslexic
girls. With appropriate teaching many of our
girls have gone on to achieve their ambitions
and to become happy, fulfilled adults after an
unpromising start.
The Assessment Process:
Now there is a new opportunity for parents
worried about their daughter’s education and
developmental progress. Appleford School can
now offer parents a specialist, professional
assessment service for the diagnosis of
dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD, dyspraxia and
other coordination difficulties, autism,
Asperger’s disorder and speech and language
disorders including semantic-pragmatic
disorder.
Parents can opt for a complete, multidisciplinary assessment encompassing all of the
above or a targeted assessment of one or more
conditions. All the available research indicates
that the earlier a girl’s difficulties are diagnosed
the more optimistic the outcome for the child.
So, it is sensible to have your daughter assessed
as early as possible.
These assessments are conducted by some of
the leading practitioners in their fields in the
U.K.
Professional Staff
Dr. Peter Gardner
B.A., DipPsych., M.A., Ed.D., A.F.B.Ps.S.,
M.I.Mgt., F.Inst.D.Chartered Psychologist
Peter gained an Honours Degree in Psychology
from Nottingham University, a postgraduate
diploma in Academic Psychology from
University College London, a Master of Arts
Degree in Therapy and Counselling from
Antioch College, U.S.A. (London Branch) and
a doctorate from the University of Bristol.
He has been a lecturer in a number of
universities and was a tutor at the Child
Guidance Training Centre, London, responsible
for post-graduate training of educational
psychologists on a British Psychological
Society – and Department of Education and
Skills – accredited course.
He is a Chartered Educational Psychologist, a
Chartered Forensic Psychologist and a
Chartered Counselling Psychologist of the
British Psychological Society. He is a Full
Practitioner Member of the British
Psychological Society Division of
Neuropsychology. He is a registered
Psychotherapist (United Kingdom Council for
Psychotherapy) and was a committee member
of the Psychology and Psychotherapy
Association.
Much of his work is legal work, including the
preparation of detailed court reports and
submission of oral evidence, working for
Crown Courts, Magistrates Courts and
Guardian ad litem panels.
He acted as an expert witness in the
precedent-setting Phelps v London Borough of
Hillingdon education negligence case in the
High Court in July 1997 and was described by
Mr. Justice Garland as “particularly well
qualified, careful and fair.” His legal work is
split roughly 50:50 between Claimant and
Defendant work.
He is a founder of both Appleford School and
of Daneswood, Shipham, near Cheddar, a care
home for young adults with severe, profound
and multiple learning difficulties, which is
registered with and approved by CSCi.
Contact
To make an appointment for your child or you
to be assessed, please contact:
Appleford School
Elston Lane
Shrewton
Salisbury
SP3 4HL
Tel:
Fax:
e-mail:
website:
01980 621020
01980 621366
[email protected]
www.appleford.wilts.sch.uk