Dyslexia and prison link disproved

Poor reading skills have been mis-diagnosed as dyslexia

Dyslexics do not represent a higher than average proportion of the prison population, say researchers.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge say they have disproven suggestions that prisoners are more likely to have dyslexia than the general population.

Instead, Dr Michael Rice of Darwin College, says that a higher incidence of reading difficulties reflects the deprivations of prisoners' backgrounds.

"My research suggests that dyslexia accounts for no more cases than might occur by chance, and that most prisoners' reading problems are associated with social disadvantage?" said Dr Rice.

Speaking at the British Dyslexia Association's international conference on Saturday, Dr Rice said that some previous research of dyslexia among prisoners had been flawed.

Low attainment

Among the problems with earlier research, he said, was the assumption that dyslexia is the "unique cause of low reading attainment" - and the understating of the impact of environmental influences.

There were suggestions that earlier research had compared levels of reading problems in prison with the general population - rather than looking at the social groups from which prisoners were most likely to be drawn.

And there were claims that prisoners were identified as dyslexics, when they should have been classified as people with poor reading skills.

The belief that the condition was particularly common among prisoners had prompted education initiatives specifically designed to tackle dyslexia.