13,000 Students With Dyslexia: Normal Intelligence, Not a Lack of Effort
Around 13,000 students in Hong Kong have dyslexia. That number already sounds large, yet many more children stay unseen: about 70 percent are only found during primary school and get support in secondary school; but by university, only about 1 percent of students are diagnosed with dyslexia.
The number keeps shrinking not because children recovered, but because of how little support they received along the way. The Education Bureau places dyslexia under "Specific Learning Difficulties" (SpLD), and the definition is clear: these students have significant difficulties in reading, writing, mathematics and motor coordination, yet they have normal intelligence, normal sensory function, and they are not lacking learning opportunities.
So here is the point: difficulty with reading and writing is simply not a lack of effort.
References
- Hong Kong Learning Support Services Centre statistics: about 13,000 students in Hong Kong have dyslexia; about 70 percent are found during primary school and supported in secondary school; only about 1 percent are diagnosed at university. (These figures show the support gap that dyslexic students face, supporting the holistic view that environmental support changes the path of a child.)
- Education Bureau. Definition of "Specific Learning Difficulties" (SpLD): significant difficulties in reading, writing, mathematics and motor coordination, while the student has normal intelligence, normal sensory function and is not lacking learning opportunities. (The official definition clearly shows that dyslexia is unrelated to intelligence, supporting the "do not label" argument.)
- Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529. (The need to belong is a fundamental human motivation, supporting the holistic view that peer acceptance changes the path of a child.)
