Congenital Word Blindness Research Articles

O percurso de um acontecimento discursivo – a polêmica em torno da dislexia

Para melhor compreender o confronto de dois posicionamentos discursivos em torno do tema “dislexia”, com os objetivos específicos de compreender quais são os acontecimentos discursivos e como se constrói a memória discursiva dessa polêmica, pesquisamos seu percurso histórico, cuja gênese data do final do século XIX. Os resultados dessa pesquisa confirmam duas afirmações de Maingueneau (2005[1984]): uma a respeito da noção foucaultiana de raridade e redundância dos enunciados, pois os enunciados recentes sobre o tema reproduzem os presentes no primeiro texto sobre dislexia, então chamada “cegueira verbal congênita”; e outra sobre a falta constitutiva do discurso primeiro a partir da qual o discurso segundo se constitui: em um dos seus primeiros textos, Hinshelwood, considerado o “pai” da dislexia, explicita a falta constitutiva de seu posicionamento: a falta de rigor científico.

A psychological inquiry into the nature of the condition known as congenital word-blindness.ByLucy G. Fildes.Brain1921; 44: 286–307.WithA neurological appraisal of familial congenital word-blindness.ByArthur L. Drew. From Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.Brain1956; 79: 440–60

From the first descriptions of ‘word blindness’ in the late nineteenth century, the nature of dyslexia has generated debate. Alastair Compston examines two papers from the Brain archives, from 1921 and 1956, that helped to inform current views by providing evidence that dyslexia is a specific disorder unrelated to intelligence.

From aphasia to dyslexia, a fragment of a genealogy: An analysis of the formation of a ‘medical diagnosis’

Having a difficulty with reading, or being unable to read, has not always been a medical problem. In the late nineteenth century, physicians such as (Broadbent 1872; Hinshelwood 1895) became interested in identifying particular bodies with reading difficulties. This article is focused around the question of ‘how’ reading difficulties were formed as a concern for medical researchers. It shall be suggested that the existence of acquired word-blindness as a legitimate medical diagnosis had established the inability to read or difficulty with reading as a medical concern, albeit with a different aetiology. This constituted the practical conditions and established a vocabulary that made congenital word-blindness a technically feasible diagnosis. The medical concern for a difficulty with reading was in most cases a concern with how this difficulty could be overcome. The clinical criteria that were negotiated for congenital word-blindness seem to have been negotiated in relation to rationalities of government concerned with capitalising the population. This article forms part of part a wider project to use analytical concepts drawn from Michel Foucault to help map a genealogy of dyslexia.

Respecting the Importance of Science and Practice: A Pragmatic View

Kavale and Forness set out to explain why the LD field lacks integrity. They say Hinshelwood's study of congenital word-blindness (p. 258) and Strauss and Werner's research on brain injury (p. 251) represented an important start on building a foundation for a credible profession. But these scientific efforts came to a standstill when parents and practitioners took over, leaving the field in an arrested state of development. Without a fully developed, legitimate construct of learning disabilities, say Kavale and Forness, the field became a partial vacuum into which rushed the illogical and irrational forces of politics-specifically, narrow-minded advocacy, Marxist ideology, and anti-Newtonian philosophy that often conflicted with and undermined the LD field's auspicious beginnings. The most prominent manifestation of politics in the LD field, we're told, is advocacy, which is described by Kavale and Forness as quintessentially liberal in motive. It is captured for the authors in the notion of entitlements, which may be illustrated by the simple formula: more students produce more dollars for more programs and teachers. Ironically, this point is also made by Wang and Walberg (1988), outspoken critics of special education in general and the LD field in particular. Such thinking, according to Kavale and Forness, inadvertently subverted the field's in two ways: (a) by failing to support continued funding of the scientific study of LD and (b) by arguing for more service, rather than greater understanding. Advocacy, write Kavale and Forness, has changed the parameters of LD to include a new class of student with low intelligence. In doing so, [it] contorted [LD's] basic character and undermined its scientific integrity (p. 251). Kavale and Fomess's solution: More money for the scientific understanding of the biophysical mechanisms responsible for LD. Below we take issue with Kavale and Forness's

Dyslexia: a hundred years on

The first case of developmental dyslexia was reported by Pringle-Morgan in the BMJ on 7 November 1896.1 Pringle-Morgan, a general practitioner, and Hinshelwood, an ophthalmologist also writing at the turn of the century,2 speculated that such difficulties with reading and writing were due to “congenital word blindness,” and for many years the dominant view was that dyslexia was caused by visual processing deficiencies. There is still continuing interest in the role of visual factors in the aetiology of dyslexia, especially in low level impairments of the visual system.3 4 However, most research suggests that these are not its cause. The most widely accepted view today is that dyslexia is a verbal deficit5 and can be considered part of the continuum of language disorders. Indeed, converging evidence supports a specific theory, that dyslexic readers have phonological (speech) processing deficits. Dyslexia tends to runs in families, and the relatives …

Dyslexia — Is It a Disease?

NEARLY a century has passed since the first published observation that some otherwise normally intelligent children have specific difficulty learning to read. The intervening years have seen both an intense search for the mechanism of this disorder and an ongoing debate about whether it exists. There have been a number of developments in this field since I last discussed these issues.1 The disorder was first termed "congenital word blindness" by British ophthalmologists, and for several decades it was assumed to be primarily visual. Then, in the 1930s, the American neurologist Samuel Orton called attention to the frequent association between reading . . .

Dyslexia: Evolution of a concept

It was recognized at a relatively early stage of medical history that injury or disease of the brain in adult patients could cause a loss of a specific cognitive skill such as the ability to name objects or the ability to read. Indeed observations of this type were often employed as an argument in favor of localization of function in the brain. Thus specific anomia or "loss of memory for words" was clearly described in the 16th century and the syndrome of alexia without agraphia was identified in the 17th century. But neither physicians nor educators were as quick to recognize that children might also suffer from specific cognitive disabilities as a consequence of congenital or early acquired disease. It was only in 1853 that the Dublin otologist, William Wilde, published his observations on children who were "dumb, but not deaf," i.e., suffering from specific language disability. As we know, developmental dyslexia went unrecognized until the end of the 19th century when Morgan published his famous case report. As so often happens, once the attention of physicians was called to the condition, they immediately observed it in their practice and a steady stream of papers on dyslexia appeared in the English and German medical literature between 1900 and 1910. Somewhat later, clinical psychologists recognized dyslexia as a distinctive condition and attempted to relate its occurrence to more basic defects in visualization, auditory perception and associational processes. On the other hand, educators were less ready to accept the real existence of "congenital wordblindness" as a clinical entity.

Congenital Wordblindness (Dyslexia) in Children

Congenital Wordblindness (Dyslexia) in Children

"CONDITIONS SOMETIMES MISTAKEN FOR MENTAL DEFECT".

Mental defect is a state of both intellectual retardation and social incompetence. In considering the differential diagnosis of mental defect, it becomes necessary to review conditions where only one of these factors may be present. But since intellectual retardation can be simulated by specific defects of visual, auditory and speech functions, it is also necessary to bear these further conditions in mind. Hence in differentiating mental defect, attention must be paid to three separate groups: conditions characterized by intellectual inadequacy alone, specific defects which may simulate intellectual inadequacy, and conditions characterized by social incompetence alone. Conditions characterized by intellectual inadequacy alone include uncomplicated intellectual retardation, dullness, and backwardness. Specific defects impairing visual, auditory and speech functions include congenital blindness, congenital word-blindness, congenital deafness, congenital word-deafness, elective mutism, delayed development of speech and congenital motor aphasia. Where social incompetence is the outstanding feature there is a risk of mistaking for mental defect, behaviour which is primarily delinquent, convulsive or psychotic in character.

Reading Disability; Progress and Research Needs in Dyslexia

This book is the report of a symposium on dyslexia with a postconference review supplement. The symposium, which convened at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions last year, had participants well qualified to speak for their respective disciplines. They were concerned, among other factors, with dyslexia as a neurologically based phenomenon, perceptual difficulty, and dysfunction of the interpretive integration. The symposium was deliberately organized at the level of basic research rather than clinical orientation. This procedure has naturally limited, to a degree, the usefulness of the book to those who are generally concerned with research on dyslexia. It is of considerable importance to be aware of the different and confusing senses in which the concept of dyslexia is employed by the various participants; to mention a few: specific dyslexia, congenital dyslexia, congenital word-blindness, and strephosymbolia. Also, there are more questions as to the validity of claims than there is agreement of

Learning Difficulties among Children of Normal Intelligence

failure, especially in the field of mental malfunction. Following the longestablished practice of the medical profession for avoiding embarrassment because of professional ignorance, we gave mysterious names to our problems. The neurologists helped us by offering as causes or explanations such items as congenital word blindness, caused by lesions in Broca's convolutions, and strephosymbolia or lack of unilateral brain domi-

Review of Specific dyslexia (“congenital word-blindness”): A clinical and genetic study.

Review of Specific dyslexia (“congenital word-blindness”): A clinical and genetic study.

Specific Dyslexia (Congenital Word Blindness): A Clinical and Genetic Study

Specific Dyslexia (Congenital Word Blindness): A Clinical and Genetic Study

Differential diagnosis of oligophrenia.

IN THE diagnosis of mental deficiency, dependent as it is not only on medical and psychological criteria but also on social standards, the defect must be distinguished from a considerable number of other conditions. These may conveniently be classified under the headings of intellectual defects of a less ominous nature, specific defects of a visual, auditory, or speech nature, and behavior defects in which the aberrant conduct is likely to be confused with mental defect. The following arrangement may serve to indicate the extent of these conditions: I. Intellectual defects Educational defectiveness Dullness Backwardness Specific defects Visual defects Blindness Visual cerebral injury Congenital word blindness Auditory defects Deaf-mutism High-tone deafness Congenital word deafness Speech defects Mutism Delayed development of speech Congenital motor aphasia Behavior defects Delinquency Maladjustment Adolescent instability

DEVELOPMENTAL APHASIA: Also known as Congenital Word-blindness and sometimes referred to as Alexia or Dyslexia

DEVELOPMENTAL APHASIA: Also known as Congenital Word-blindness and sometimes referred to as Alexia or Dyslexia

The Syndrome of Visual Alexia with Colour Agnosia

Cases showing alexia which is not part of a general visual agnosia or of a speech disorder (letter or word blindness, cécité verbale pure) are uncommon and deserve careful study for a variety of reasons. The conception of word blindness as loss of visual memories due to a localized cerebral lesion (Hinshelwood, 1917) has been challenged by later investigators who aimed at a more general analysis of impairment of cerebral functions. The application of the principles of Gestalt psychology has introduced new aspects into the study of word blindness. Investigations into acquired word blindness, apart from their psychological and neuro-pathological interest, are of value for the understanding of congenital word blindness which has been found to be a condition of considerable practical importance. It was the investigation of cases of acquired word blindness which led Hinshelwood to the first full description of the congenital disability.

VISUAL FUNCTIONS IN STREPHOSYMBOLIA

Children who make little or no progress in learning to read during their first two or three years in school quite naturally are often referred to the ophthalmologist, and some of them undoubtedly need corrective lenses. However, many, if not the majority, of them have adequate vision and in reality present neurologic problems. One owes a considerable debt to two English ophthalmologists—Morgan, who described the first case of congenital word blindness in 1896, and Hinschelwood, who published a small monograph on this subject in 1917. In his report Hinschelwood included several cases of acquired word blindness, as well as a group of the congenital type, and emphasized the striking parallelism between them; because of this likeness, he ascribed the occurrence of the syndrome in children to a failure of development of the cerebral cortex in the neighborhood of the angular gyrus. In 1926 I studied several cases of delay in

Mental Habits in Reading

The problem of retardation in reading has been attacked from various angles. Extreme cases have usually been used for investigation. Diagnosis has been based on objective tests which measure the degree of skill acquired at certain stages of progress. Attempts have been made to understand the causes of deficiencies by the measurement of eye-movements, of perception spans, and of attention factors. The fact still remains that even in the later elementary-school grades some children are retarded in reading, not as a result of congenital word-blindness or mental or perceptual defectiveness, but because of failure to acquire the proper mental habits in reading. The hypothesis of the study described in this article was that these readers are deficient in the mental processes required for forming relationships and associations or for discriminating between meanings. It was expected that, through a comparison of two groups of readers, one group of superior readers and the other of retarded readers, a more complete method and technique of diagnosis might be developed and that, through an analysis of this comparison of performance, further guidance in remedial training might be given. The ensuing material is based on a year's study of two groups of readers in Grade VII of the Tappan Junior High School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, which was made during the school year 1930-31. The chief criterion for division of the pupils in this grade was retardation in reading. Pupils having a reading grade below the standard, 7.0, were placed in Group II; those superior or above the standard, in Group I. The Sangren-Woody Reading Test and the Gates Silent Reading Tests were used to determine reading grades and also to determine the medians for the two groups. At the beginning of the study the reading grade for Group I was 8.8 in the Sangren-Woody test and io.o in the Gates test: for Group II the median was 6.5

The "sight reading" method of teaching reading, as a source of reading disability.

I feel some trepidation in offering criticism in a field somewhat outside of that of my own endeavor but a very considerable part of my attention for the past four years has been given to the study of reading disability from the standpoint of cerebral physiology. This work has now extended over a comparatively large series of cases from many different schools and both the theory which has directed this work and the observations gained therefrom seem to bear with sufficient directness on certain teaching methods in reading to warrant critical suggestions which otherwise might be considered overbold. I wish to emphasize at the beginning that the strictures which I have to offer here do not apply to the use of the sight method of teaching reading as a whole but only to its effect on a restricted group of children for whom, as I think we can show, this technique is not only not adapted but often proves an actual obstacle to reading progress, and moreover I believe that this group is one of considerable educational importance both because of its size and because here faulty teaching methods may not only prevent the acquisition of academic education by children of average capacity but may also give rise to far reaching damage to their emotional life. The sight reading method (or “look and say” of the English) has been credited with giving much faster progress in the acquisition of reading facility than its precursors and this statement I will not challenge if the measure of accomplishment be the average progress of a group or class. Average progress of large numerical units, however, makes no allowance for the study of effect in individual, particularly if certain of them deviate to some degree from the others in their methods of acquisition and therefore in their teaching requirements. To the mental hygienist whose interest is focused on the individual and his problems rather than on group progress the results as determined by average accomplishment are of little value whereas the effect of a given method on the individual child is all important. Outstanding cases of so-called “congenital word blindness”—a complete inability to learn to read—have been recognized and studied for a number of years at first chiefly by physicians. It has also been recognized by teachers and

"WORD-BLINDNESS" IN SCHOOL CHILDREN

The material included in this preliminary report has come from several sources but was assembled chiefly during an experimental clinic held by members of the Iowa State Psychopathic Hospital Staff in Greene County, Iowa, in January, 1925. Among those children who were reported to the clinic by their teachers as dull, subnormal, or failing or retarded in school work was a fairly high proportion whose chief difficulty was in learning to read. Two of these would fit Hinshelwood's criteria of true congenital word-blindness, and one of these two cases (M. P.) also gave bizarre written productions. Because of his striking disability, M. P. was admitted to the State Psychopathic Hospital, and his case was there studied more thoroughly than was possible in the clinic. The results of this study are here reported in full. Observations suggesting an explanation of one of the factors in this case are recorded from other