Finally the children and their families who have come to the Institute for consultations, together with those of student age and other adults, some of whom will recognise themselves in these pages, are those to whom I owe the most: they have trained, schooled and groomed me to know what was needed. James Boswell: The Lge ofDrJobnson for 6 April 1775. The nature of the enterprise The nature of dyslexia is much clearer than it used to be. There may one day be hard, physical criteria for its detection, given, for example, that it is now possible using specimens of sweat or hair to test how much zinc has been absorbed by the body. But until then we must continue to use behavioural measures that are, by their very nature, imprecise, even slippery. For this reason it is necessary, in assessing individuals for dyslexia, to use measurement resources to their utmost. The path to precision has meant that qualitative observation and comment long ago ceased to be adequate, by themselves, as a mode of assessment. A psychological test is rather like an experiment. The person giving the test is exposed to the possibility of learning something new. Indeed the decision to administer a test implies that the outcome is not wholly predictable. In this sense the psychological assessment of dyslexia seeks to escape from subjectivity and the bias of prejudices. This quest, of course, is that of science itself.
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