AN EXPERT has provoked anger after questioning the scientific status of dyslexia.

Durham University's Professor of Education, Julian Elliott, argued that the term was largely an "emotional construct".

Campaigners condemned his comments, insisting that dyslexia is a "real condition" affecting millions of Britons.

Writing in the Times Educational Supplement, Professor Elliott described how he was "berated" by students after giving a lecture "questioning the scientific status of dyslexia".

"I recognised that an appeal to logic or science was insufficient," he said.

Construct

"Dyslexia persists as a construct largely because it serves an emotional, not a scientific, function."

Experts have failed to agree what it is, and being diagnosed as dyslexic makes virtually no difference to the treatment that the individual requires, he wrote.

Professor Elliott dismissed the commonly held view that dyslexics were more intelligent.

He said: "It is hardly surprising that the widespread, yet wholly erroneous, belief that dyslexics are intellectually bright but poor readers would create an impassioned demand to be accorded a dyslexic label."

Children's needs must continue to be addressed and their abilities must not be assessed purely on their literacy levels, he said.

"But we certainly don't need spurious diagnoses of dyslexia to achieve such ends."

'Little confidence'

After 30 years in the field he had "little confidence" in his ability - or the ability of others - to diagnose it, he said.

The British Dyslexia Association said his remarks were "inflammatory".

The charity's chief executive, Professor Susan Tresman, said educational psychologists or trained teachers had no problems spotting the condition.

She told the TES: "Dyslexia survives as a term because it is a real condition. I know of so many individual cases which completely refute what he is saying."

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said the problem exists for thousands of people, whatever it is called.

"Dyslexia may or may not be the correct name for the problem," he said.

Suffered

"But there are undoubtedly many thousands of children and adults whose education has suffered as a result of their difficulty with word recognition.

"Rather than arguing about whether it exists, we need to find a way to cure it so that these sufferers are no longer so seriously disadvantaged."

Up to six million Britons are believed to suffer from the brain disorder that disrupts reading and writing.

Famous dyslexics include Sir Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Sir Richard Branson and Princess Beatrice, who recently spoke about her condition.

She had been struggling to read books that her younger sister, Eugenie, was managing.

Beatrice, 17, said last month that she wanted to use her position to help other people with dyslexia.

"That was one of the reasons that I came out publicly to let people know that I am dyslexic," she said.

"It was a problem that I know is helped by more people knowing about it."

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