This is disconcerting! A new study from the University of Toronto reported in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence showed that 35% of adults with dyslexia had suffered some form of physical abuse prior to the age of 18 years. Only 7% of the non-dyslexic group reported similar abuse. That a five-fold difference!

From the press release:

Our data do not allow us to know the direction of the association. It is possible that for some children, the presence of dyslexia and related learning problems may place them at relatively higher risk for physical abuse, perhaps due to adult frustrations with chronic learning failure” said study co-author, Stephen Hooper, professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and Associate Dean and Chair of Allied Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “Alternatively, given the known association between brain dysfunction and maltreatment, it could be that the experience of physical abuse may also contribute to and/or exacerbate such learning problems, secondary to increased neurologic burden.

Link to study.

This study does not determine if there is a causal or a correlation relationship, its is still a problem to be concerned about.

  • Posted on 3. July 2014
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  • Categories: Research
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