Dyslexia as a Neurodevelopmental Disorder and What Makes It Different from a Chess Disorder

Gorka FragaGonzález; Iliana I Karipidis; Jurgen Tijms

doi:10.3390/brainsci8100189

Dyslexia as a Neurodevelopmental Disorder and What Makes It Different from a Chess Disorder

Brain Sci. 2018 Oct 19;8(10):189. doi: 10.3390/brainsci8100189.

Authors

Gorka FragaGonzález^{1

2

3}, Iliana I Karipidis^{4

5}, Jurgen Tijms^{6

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands. gorka.fragagonzalez@uzh.ch.
² Rudolf Berlin Center, 44401 Amsterdam, The Netherlands. gorka.fragagonzalez@uzh.ch.
³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland. gorka.fragagonzalez@uzh.ch.
⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland. iliana.karipidis@kjpd.uzh.ch.
⁵ Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. iliana.karipidis@kjpd.uzh.ch.
⁶ Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jurgentijms@gmail.com.
⁷ Rudolf Berlin Center, 44401 Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jurgentijms@gmail.com.
⁸ IWAL Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jurgentijms@gmail.com.

Abstract

The convenience of referring to dyslexia as a neurodevelopmental disorder has been repeatedly brought into question. In this opinion article, we argue in favor of the current diagnosis of dyslexia based on the criteria of harm and dysfunction. We discuss the favorable clinical and educational outcomes of a neuroscience-informed approach of dyslexia as a disorder. Furthermore, we discuss insights derived from neuroimaging studies and their importance to address problems related to developmental dyslexia.

Keywords: disorder; dyslexia; neurodevelopmental.