Dyslexia in kids is caused by poor educators: Dutch researchers

The increase in dyslexia diagnoses in the Netherlands has less to do with more kids having something wrong with them than it has to do with poor education, according to professor Anna Bosman at Radboud University in Nijmegen. She's studied the dyslexia phenomenon since 2007 and concluded that dyslexia is a result of poor education, AD reports.

According to Bosman, unnecessarily many kids are diagnosed with severe reading and aritmetic difficulties, while there is in fact nothing wrong with them. "They simply don't practice enough." she said according to the newspaper, "Children need the spelling rules properly in their heads." They need teachers drilling them in class, the old fashioned way, Bosman said.

The same goes for problems with mathematics. It's a lack of basic skills: addition, subtraction, knowing the multipication tables. Bosman did a study in which 50 pupils were given intensive mathematics training for six weeks. All participants' math skills improved by an average of 1.5 school years. "Almost all pupils are able to acquire these skills."

According to Bosman, if a pupil has difficulty with reading or math, the problem is almost always looked for in the child. "We forget to check whether good education was provided." Bosman said. Her studies show that when children are taught scientifically based methods, they progress in leaps and bounds. "I even wonder whether dyslexia exists."