It is said that approximately 10% of the population has dyslexia. According to Sir Jim Rhodes, who wrote the Rhodes Report on the condition in 2009, it is a “learning difficulty that primarily affects skills related to reading and spelling words accurately and fluently”. Importantly, this definition also emphasizes that dyslexia occurs across the full range of intellectual abilities. So does the way we teach, research and practice science end up missing out on the potential contributions of society as a whole? In conversation with Chris Smith, himself a dyslexic and a professor at Imperial, London Sarah Rankin, a scholar at the College, has written a very convincing explanation of why she thinks this way, and in the process points out that until we invented reading and writing, we didn't have dyslexia. You probably didn't even know…
Sara – As an academic, if you want to be a scientist working in a university and doing research in a lab, obviously all that research is very practical. You're doing an experiment and you have to test a really exciting hypothesis and communicate it. And the way we communicate is a very formal process, which requires writing scientific papers. And it has to be written in a very prescriptive way. One of the things we're trying to say in this paper is that if you're dyslexic, this can be difficult. And that's certainly true for me too. Because we're not doing very well with text as a means of communication. We prefer to talk or use more visual methods of communication. When someone says to me, “Yeah, write that down,” that's a big deal for me. And then you go back to school and you study science and you understand science and you're excited about science, and then you don't do practicals and you have exams where you actually have to write an essay about something like that. I found myself in a situation like this. like that. And I think writing an essay in terms of evaluating someone's abilities as a scientist completely misses the point of what it means to be a scientist.
Chris – But how good of a course horse is Sarah? I totally get your point. And I completely agree with you too. If you're talking about something that could be covered in detail in an essay, but math isn't graded that way. Physics is often not appreciated as such…
Sara – Well, I don't think it's appreciated that way. But if you look at GCSE, it is assessed with literacy. Because they decide to create a whole story to make it more interesting. Now I have to read a long passage. And for those of us who are dyslexic, we don't want to read them all. We don't care about that. We just want to work on math or biology.
Chris – But you explained the problem to me with incredible clarity and made me completely understand where you were coming from. And mastering expressive English is extremely powerful. So why not get some software that allows you to speak into a dictaphone, communicate your thoughts that way, and actually have the computer write the text for you? Because, obviously, if you have a gap, Because then, that's not something to say very clearly.
Sarah – Yes. So it's a stylistic thing. I'm used to speaking to different audiences. I have spent my entire career working with schools and doing outreach work. I mean, I'm used to speaking on multiple levels, but scientific writing requires a very prescriptive style of writing. And every magazine is a little different. It's a psychological thing. I think we've basically been told in school that we're stupid and lazy. Because we have all these ideas. You know, ideas can come out of us that are ridiculous, but it puts things together in a two-dimensional, linear way. That's my problem.
Chris – Is it the same for everyone with dyslexia, or is the fishbowl of information that everyone swims in a little different? So even though you're trying to say, “Okay, I'm going to do this in a dyslexia-friendly way,” there's actually no single, simple, dyslexic-friendly way. It will vary a little from person to person. Do we just need more flexibility in how people communicate their science? Is that what you're advocating?
Sarah – Yes. I'm looking for more flexibility. To give a concrete example, I run a master's level science course at Imperial, but we don't offer exams. <笑> There are no exams for students! And we offer different types of evaluations. Sometimes students have to write their 2000 words, but sometimes they have to create an infographic. Other times I would say, “Well, let's create this complex science. How are we going to engage patients and elementary school students to understand this complex science?” And what we really want to evaluate is not the recall of knowledge. We want to assess the ability to utilize knowledge and the ability to use knowledge to innovate.
Chris – So how much talent do you think is being lost due to the rigid way we operate at the moment?
Sara – Well, if you just look at GCSE levels, these are the exams you take when you're 16 years old. At that point, 10% of students will have conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, and autism. Some people may not have been formally diagnosed. And we know there is a huge gap in achievement at that point. And today, if you get a B, many schools won't allow you to go on to A-levels. So if you're not allowed to do your science A-levels because you got a B, you're going to lose those people. And she found that only 3% of A-level students have a tangible learning difference. And that compares to 15 to 20 percent in the general population.
Chris – So the system you're advocating could potentially lead to massive dropouts, attrition. yes. So where do those who leave go and what do they end up doing? Are these potentially talented people who can make meaningful contributions to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? Where will they go instead?
Sarah – For example, at the Royal College of Art, which is just around the corner from Imperial University, 49% of students have a specific learning difference. Art requires great concentration. That's because in the art field, you can enter art school with a portfolio, take basic courses, and get a portfolio of your work. As a result, many of these students end up working in creative industries such as architecture. And it is believed that this is because a person with dyslexia is very good at this kind of her 3D understanding of the world.
