MP brands dyslexia a 'fiction'

The Labour MP makes his comments in an online column

A Labour MP has claimed dyslexia is a myth invented by education chiefs to cover up poor teaching methods.

Backbencher Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley, describes the condition as a "cruel fiction" that should be consigned to the "dustbin of history".

He suggests children should instead be taught to read and write by using a system called synthetic phonics.

But Charity Dyslexia Action said the condition was "very real" to the 6m people in the UK affected by it.

Writing in a column for website Manchester Confidential, Mr Stringer said millions of pounds was being wasted on specialist teaching for what he called the "false" condition.

To label children as dyslexic because they're confused by poor teaching methods is wicked. Graham Stringer MP

Mr Stringer claims the reason so many children fail to be taught to read and write properly is that the wrong teaching methods are used.

"The education establishment, rather than admit that their eclectic and incomplete methods for instruction are at fault, have invented a brain disorder called dyslexia," said the MP.

"To label children as dyslexic because they're confused by poor teaching methods is wicked.

"If dyslexia really existed then countries as diverse as Nicaragua and South Korea would not have been able to achieve literacy rates of nearly 100%.

"There can be no rational reason why this 'brain disorder' is of epidemic proportions in Britain but does not appear in South Korea or Nicaragua."

He claims the "fictional malady" has also been wiped out in West Dunbartonshire where the council has introduced the synthetic phonics system of teaching, also known as linguistic phonics.

It is concerning that an MP does not recognise dyslexia, which affects 10% of his constituents... British Dyslexia Association spokeswoman

Currently, 35,500 students are receiving disability allowances for dyslexia at an annual cost of