The Three Educational Faces of Dyslexia: Identification and Remediation in the Orthographic Phase

Abstract

Frith defined a her 3-phase and 6-step psychological model of dyslexia. The three phases were named Logographic, Alphabetic and Orthographic in which sometimes the steps in reading and at other times spelling were in the lead. Using this model, it was possible to consider what teachers would experience when meeting dyslexic pupils in the different phases and resulted in being able to identify three different educational faces. In the process of this research the dyslexic characteristics were more clearly illustrated and identified in the written work of dyslexics rather than in their reading. What they wrote displayed in concrete terms their knowledge of the alphabetic system and the structure of words. Many able readers were identified who found it almost impossible to write a legible, coherent and correctly spelled script at any age but the poorest spellers were able to read much more than they could write. It was found that nearly 20% of pupils in a range of schools had dyslexic-type spelling problems but these were generally ignored if they could read adequately. In this publication the subject is the Orthographic face and what teachers may do to help.