Managing dyslexia is understanding dyslexia: implicit functional and structural approaches in the articles by Cameron and his critics

Abstract

A recent series of articles concerning dyslexia has highlighted several problematic areas in the conceptualisation of the disorder, and in the approach that should be taken to remediating reading difficulties. Cameron (1997), among others, has advocated an intervention-based approach to the problem, that can be categorised as a functional approach. This contrasts with the structural approaches adopted by his mainly psychometrically-oriented critics. Two problems emerge on consideration of the latter approach: a problem concerning how to operationalise the structures implicated in dyslexia, and a problem of how to separate the putative entity of dyslexia from other reading problems. In fact, for the psychometric approach, both issues are intimately tied with the incredibly problematic notion of intelligence testing. The current paper briefly outlines the problems faced by the psychometric view of dyslexia, and offers a more thoroughgoing functional analysis of the disorder than suggested by Cameron (1997).