The Gomer Pyle Award of the Day goes to this video, from the NCLD, which does a textbook job of framing a mis-statement about vision and dyslexia. Take a look at the 50 second mark of the video:
Done as an on-the-street-interview of selected New Yorkers in True/False answer format, the interviewer poses the statement: “Poor Vision is a Type of Dyslexia”. The woman chooses “False” and the interviewer comments: “You are absolutely right. Poor vision on its own isn’t a type of dyslexia.”
Uh … yeh, but who ever asserted that poor vision on its own is a type of dyslexia? Although we’ve heard this meta-myth elsewhere, at this point in time it does come as a bit of a surprise.
…. reason being, the NCLD itself ran a nice article by a developmental pediatrician not long ago indicating the role that vision plays in learning which is factual and to the point (see here).
Guess in this instance, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing at NCLD. Hmm … is that a sign of dyslexia? Shame of it is, there are alot of really good informational pieces on the NCLD website. This just isn’t one of them, and it serves to perpetuate the myth that vision has little if anything to do with reading and learning difficulties. In addition to re-reading Dr. Walhof’s fine piece, the NCLD editorial team should take a look at this new Position Paper on Optometric Care of the Struggling Student from the American Academy of Optometry. Is it any wonder why the public continues to be con-fused?
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