In the Netherlands, dyslexia is defined simply:
>>It literally means that learning to read is very difficult, despite good approaches, and without clearly identifiable causes.
>>At the same time, “dysorthography” literally means being unable to learn to spell and write error-free, despite a good approach and without a clear cause.<<
The Netherlands association – Sprankel – goes on to say:
>>Dyslexia and dysorthography usually occur together and are often mentioned in the same breath. In fact, the term dysorthography is not often used anymore and the serious spelling problems are also included under the heading of dyslexia. From now on we only use the word ‘dyslexia’ to indicate both.<<
A study by the Dutch Ministry of Education revealed that at 30% of primary schools, between 10 and 19% of the students have a dyslexia statement. At 40% of pre-vocational schools, 20% of final exam students had such a statement. However, another study showed that only about 5% of minority ethnic children were found to have dyslexia. This could be down to many factors, for instance shame, cultural bias, or language interference.
Potentially, it is the discrepancy between minority ethnic children and other children in the Netherlands that led Minister Jet Bussemaker and State Secretary Sander Dekker, without any specialised diagnostic training themselves, to conclude that the 10-20% dyslexia figure among Dutch schoolchildren was too high. However, it is closer to the truth to say that they were simply measuring the findings against an “international norm” of 10%; and that they believed that “there is a group of students who got the dyslexic statement in an ‘improper’ manner in order to abuse the extra facilities given to dyslexic students”.
A Mother Talks About The Netherlands and the UK
See for instance:
>>sprankel.be/leerproblemen/dyslexie#vraag1
>>link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11881-018-0155-0
>>nltimes.nl/2016/12/22/many-dutch-kids-registered-dyslexic-education-minister
