Dyslexia Matters: A Celebratory Contributed Volume to Honour Professor T.R. Miles

231 Pages·1994·4.014 MB·English

Dyslexia Matters
Dyslexia Matters
A Celebratory Contributed
Volume to Honour
Professor TORM. iles
Edited by Gerald Hales, PhD
Chartered Psychologist and Research Fellow,
Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University
W
Whurr Publishers Ltd
London
@ 1994 Whurr Publishers Ltd except for Chapter 10 0 Michael Thomson
First published 1004 by
W'hurr Publishers Ltd
1% Compton Terrace, London N1 ZL", England
Reprinted 1995 and 2003
AU rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, elec-
tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior permission of Whurr Publishers Limited.
This publication is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way
of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated
without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed upon any subsequent purchaser.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
ISBN 1-897635-11 -7
Photoset by Stephen Cary
Printed and bound in the UK by Athenaeum Press Ltd,
Gateshead, Tyne & Wear
Foreword
It has given me great joy over the very many years I have had the good
fortune to be associated with Professor Emeritus T. R. Miles. Tim has
always been my friend and mentor, and provided support and encour-
agement when the going was tough and when the struggle to make
dyslexia a recognised and respected concept seemed to take a long
time. Tim saw his first case of dyslexia in 1949 and was able, as Profes-
sor of Psychology at the University of Wales, Bangor, to approach this
with an unbiased and uninhibited mind. This was the first of many
many other cases who have been seen with understanding and compas-
sion.
In the 1960s Tim served on the Invalid Children’s Aid Association
Committee which was responsible for setting up the Word Blind Centre
at Coram’s Fields in London, and also hosting the eight founder Dyslex-
ia Associations who launched the British Dyslexia Association.
Tim and his wife Elaine were responsible for the formation of the
Dyslexia Unit at the University of Wales in Bangor. This Unit and the
one at the University of Aston were the first attempts to make dyslexia
academically respectable. Many teachers have taken their MEd at Ban-
gor with a special input on dyslexia, thereby benefiting untold numbers
of children. Tim is an active Vice President of the British Dyslexia Associ-
ation and he has always been willing to visit local associations and share
his knowledge with them.
His many publications, some written with Elaine, have provided a
fund of help and information.
On travels Tim has provided a strong arm when needed and relax-
ation with music. Together with Elaine he has shared many joys and cel-
ebrations and provided comfort during the vicissitudes of life.
Conferences, meetings and parties have always seemed brighter for his
presence and I hope there will be many years of like occasions.
I am delighted and very privileged to be asked to take part in this
tribute to Tim and I wish him many more years to continue doing all
the things he does so well. I recently saw a quote in the magazine of
V
vi Dvslexia matters
Maryland Associates for Dyslexia Adults and Youth Inc. which I am sure
they will not mind me using as it is so applicable to Tim:
History occurs because men and women stir themselves to cbange
tbeir communities.
Marion Welchman, MBE
(the mother from Bath)
Tim Miles retired as Head of Psychology Department at the University
College of North Wales, Bangor, in 1987. Because it was he who in 1963
founded the Department and was its first Psychology Chair, his retire-
ment marked a milestone of considerable significance and regret for his
colleagues. Happily though, we have not yet had to forego his company
or active contribution; he and his wife, Elaine, out of their base in the
Department’s Dyslexia Unit, continue an output of prolific brilliance.
Tim’s career has been distinguished and varied from the outset. He
obtained First Class Honours in psychology and philosophy at Oxford
where in 1946 he also captained the University tennis team. In addition
to his valuable work on dyslexia, with which this volume is primarily
concerned, his interests have been wide ranging. The titles of some of
his books, other than those on dyslexia, give an indication of his diversi-
ty: Religion and the Scientific Outlook (1959), Eliminating the Uncon-
scious (1966), Religious Experience (1970), Conceptual Issues in
Operant Psychology (1978) (with P. Hanem) and Bilingualism in
Caernarfonshire (1953). He had a much-quoted paper entitled ‘On
Defining Intelligence’ in 1957, and he has also written on gestalt theory
(Encyclopaedia of Philosophy) and on Gilbert Ryle (Oxford Compan-
ion to the Mind). The interest in gestalt theory was partly stimulated by
the fact that Elaine and he were responsible for translating Albert
Michotte’s La Perception de la Causalit4 into English. More recently
they have translated Michotte’s Les Complements Amodaux. Tim has
even published an experimental paper on skill in sport.
Those of us who have had the privilege of working with Tim in Ban-
gor will always think of him with fondness. He is a man of famous gen-
erosity and principle and, above all, of humanity. Whoever one is, one
can rely on a reception from Tim that will be open-hearted and courte-
ous; his international reputation as a scholar affects him not one whit.
There is no pomposity in a man who can fairly boast, as he does, of hav-
ing played for the UCNW staff against students in no less than six sports
-
tennis, golf, cricket, squash, table tennis and hockey!
His knowledge of dyslexia is encyclopaedic; his colleagues in that
field will attest to his stature. For those of us not involved in dyslexia,
however, his contribution has been no less significant. In particular, he
Foreword vii
has done a great deal to clarify some of psychology’s knottier issues. His
incisive approach to conceptual analysis is one that is needed more
than ever in our discipline. It is something to celebrate, then, that there
is promise of still more to come from Tim; nothing is ended; all his
responsiveness and curiosity are in full flow
Fergus Lowe
Professor of Psychology and Head of Department
University College of North Wales
Preface
It is an obvious statement that the majority of history is made by a
minority of people. Indeed, some of the greatest developments in
human history have come about because one person became so con-
vinced that the rest of the world was wrong that the idea was pursued
long after the accepted wisdom of the day suggested it should be for-
gotten.
The story of dyslexia is not that of a one-man crusade against all the
odds, but it would not be unfair to describe it as a few-people crusade
against very many of the odds. Among those few people, the name of
Tim Miles must be 'writ large'. Without his efforts to introduce the idea
as an academically respectable concept, his research to discover the
details of how to proceed, his writings to disseminate all the knowledge
he has gained, and his constant help, advice and encouragement of
countless individuals, organisations and dyslexic people, the story of
our learning would have been much diminished.
Dyslexia is an invisible handicap. It is not alone in that, for there are
many invisible difficulties, and in many cases sufferers and their families
and supporters have had to work very hard to obtain things like official
recognition, help, treatment and funding. However, dyslexia is fairly
unusual in that the professionals have also had to struggle to obtain
those things! Many respected academics, practitioners and professional
people have spent many years being told that they were chasing rain-
bows, investigating something that did not exist and was the figment of
the imagination of the pushy parents of dim children.
This arose because for a long time people would use as evidence for
this point of view the fact that there was nothing to see in dyslexia
except the symptoms. At long last, that situation is beginning to change.
We are now learning more and more about the differing constructions
in the brains of dyslexic people, and how the construction and migra-
tion of neurons affects development. We stand on the threshold of
exciting times indeed: we know wbat happens to the dyslexic person;
we are now beginning to unravel bow it happens, and slowly but surely
we shall move forward towards an understanding of wby it happens.
viii
Preface ix
That, though, is for the future. This book is about the present and is
compiled especially to honour the name and work of Tim Miles, who
contributed so fulsomely to the past. Tim graduated with a first class
honours degree from Magdalen College, Oxford, in the 1940s - in fact,
he was a student in the first year of there ever being a psychology
degree at Oxford. Although he did well, there was a little time for relax-
ation: a little known fact about Tim was that he was captain of the Uni-
versity tennis team and played at Wimbledon in 1946 and 1948!
Tim took up his first appointment at The University College of North
Wales, Bangor, in 1949. In his early years he also did voluntary work in
North Wales Child Guidance Clinics and trained as an educational psy-
chologist. It was after this that he founded the psychology laboratory
and set up an honours degree course. In 1963 he was invited to set up
a Word Blind Centre in London; this was quite a year in Tim’s life, for in
this same year he graduated PhD and was appointed as Professor of Psy-
chology at Bangor.
Tim did stalwart work in many areas in the cause of dyslexia, setting
up the unit at Bangor and serving on the Kershaw Committee in the
1970s and the working party of the Department of Education and Sci-
ence in the 1980s. He was appointed a member of the Council of the
Royal Institute of Philosophy in the 1970s, has given an invited lecture
at the Royal Institution and is a scientific member of the Rodin Remedi-
ation Academy. He retired from the University in 1987 and was appoint-
ed Professor Emeritus.
This book, then, is to honour Tim and all his work; but it is not
about Tim. It is about dyslexia and dyslexic people, although many of
the contributors mention Tim, his work and the effects of that work. I
suspect that many of them could not avoid doing so. Tim would not
want a eulogy, but something far more practical and useful. The idea of
the book was the brainchild of Ved Varma. He was in contact with Tim
and carried out some of the early spadework to ensure its viability. He
and I discussed the project on a number of occasions, and eventually I
was invited to become the Editor. I was honoured to be asked, and
acknowledge here how much easier it was because of Ved’s early prepa-
ration.
So, you have in your hand Dydexiu Mutters. This is an intentionally
ambiguous title, and you are welcome to take it more than one way. It
contains a number of chapters, all written by eminent and highly exper-
ienced professionals in the field, aimed at everyone who has contact
with dyslexia. The main works are split into five sections. Part I com-
mences with a foray into thought-provoking territory in I! Aaron’s chap-
ter, which discusses the idea that there are many different kinds of
reading disabilities and developmental dyslexia is only one of them.
Gordon Stanley then reminds us that reading is a complex skill and
involves many separate processes: he discusses in particular visual
Dyslexia matters
X
deficit models. Finally in this fmt section, Drake Duane reports on neum-
biological patterns, detailing some of the many correlations between
dyslexic symptoms and brain and neurological construction and func-
tion.
Part I1 narrows the focus, considering the specific nature of dyslexia.
Here Rod Nicolson and Angela Fawcett first present the results of a
study they have recently completed which they believe is the most wide-
ranging analysis of the skills of dyslexic children yet performed. Then
Nick Ellis reviews some of the work concerning cognitive psychological
descriptions of dyslexia, a programme of research started by Tim Miles
17 years ago. Finally, Che Kan Leong looks deeply into symbol process-
ing in less skilled readers.
In Part I11 we examine matters surrounding the identification of
dyslexia. Peter Gardner presents a model for diagnosing dyslexia in the
classroom; Tim himself considers the whole rationale for diagnosis; and
Martin Turner argues the case for a psychometric approach to dyslexia,
stating that skilled cognitive performances can and should be mea-
sured. Part 1v delves into the complexities of the educational manage-
ment of the dyslexic child. Here, Michael Thomson looks at some of the
practical and theoretical issues arising from the ways in which dyslexic
children respond to specialised teaching; Steve Chinn considers the
educational, social, parental and political factors which affect the design
of provision for dyslexic children; and the section closes with a chapter
by Jean Augur, arguing that very early training in some activities help to
build firm foundations for later training. Jean sadly died in the summer
of 1993, but the fruits of what she achieved live on in many ways, and
we are particularly proud to have this final contribution from her.
The last section looks outward, considering some of the matters not
usually regarded as part of the mainstream provision for dyslexic peo-
ple. So, here, Colin Wilsher considers some unconventional treatments,
claiming that there is no particular merit in being deemed conventional
and no slur in being labelled unconventional. In this section I have con-
tributed a chapter myself, presenting some data and some thoughts
about the effects of being dyslexic on wider aspects of the individual’s
personality and place in society. Finally, Margaret Hubicki offers some
fascinating and highly practical advice in the field of dyslexic people
learning musical skills.
In particular, we hope that the labourers ‘at the coal-face’ - the
teachers, befrienders, parents and supporters - will find in this volume
information to support their work, explanations to clarify what they see
happening, and hope that research and development still continue
apace.
That last item is what I would like to think you will get from this vol-
-
ume hope. Hope that, as we move towards the new millenium, we
can see a development of future provision for dyslexic people. In the
Preface xi
work involved in turning this project into a reality I owe a debt of
thanks to many people. These range from Ved Varma, whose idea it was,
through CoIin Whurr who advised me on many things, my secretary
Wendy Morgan who particularly helped me to communicate with every-
one, to my wife Margaret who put up with me while I was doing it. I
must record my particular gratitude, of course, to all the authors who
contributed, sticking (mostly!) to some very tight deadlines that I foist-
ed on them. Finally, to Tim himself; the entire book is really one big
‘thank you’, of course, but you will notice that in his still busy life he
has written a chapter himself. The real thanks are due to him for every-
thing he has done, and I hope that this book contributes to enabling
the work to be taken forward into the future.
Dr Gerald Hales
Milton Keynes, December 1993