Identification and Overidentification of Specific Learning Disabilities (Dyslexia) in Greece

Abstract

The present study analyzed identification procedures and explored the possibility of dyslexia overidentification in Greece. Data from various institutional sources provided evidence that the prevalence rate of dyslexia in the school population, aged 6–18, was slightly higher than 1%. Compared to the corresponding percentages from the United States (approximately 5.5%) and an arbitrary estimation of 5% of a Greek legal document, the dyslexia rate was much lower, thus excluding the possibility of an overidentification problem on a national scale. Nonetheless, the relevant worries expressed by Greek governments seem to be partly justified by the phenomenon of a disproportionate percentage of students with dyslexia in secondary schools, when compared with that in elementary schools. This seems paradoxical, considering that the inadequacies in supportive special education services are much greater in the secondary-level education system. This finding was analyzed in terms of the legal and social actualities of Greece. Finally, a comparison between the Greek situation and the specific learning disabilities reality in the United States revealed differences regarding the issue of identification as well as similarities in the social factors that lead to distortions of the diagnostic procedures.