Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Dore Evangelism

EoR has been bemused by the Dore program's incursions into Australia before. Now The Times has published an article purportedly by a spokesman for the Dore people, rugby player Kenny Logan: "How T Tackled 30 Years of Shame". EoR won't bother you with the full story (it's pretty standard stuff: "my life was a misery until I discovered the [insert quackery of choice] therapy program which was a miracle in every aspect of my life"), but there are one or two interesting points. EoR could be accused of being overly suspicious, but the whole thing reads like a press release from the Dore people themselves, and he really wonders whether Kenny Logan actually wrote it.

Research suggests that poor development or damage to the cerebellum can impair development of the language skills necessary for learning to read and write, but it doesn’t affect intelligence.


That's either written by the Dore people, or Mr Logan copied it out of their propaganda.

And it’s not just young people. An 83-year-old woman went on the course saying: "All I want to do is read before I die". She can now speak three different languages.


That's the same story Wynford Dore himself tells on their propaganda DVD in virtually the same words. Who's channelling whom here? Chris Tregenza at Myomancy is also suspicious of Mr Logan's motives:

Kenny Logan is now 34 and at the end of his playing career so I wonder if Kenny is promoting himself to help him onto the pundit circuit or if he is being paid by DDAT / Dore? The Times article certainly implies that he was dealing directly with Wynford Dore which isn't normal for DDAT customers.


These sort of unproven approaches rely heavily on testimonials, and Dore USA has an amazing two from "professionals", one of whom is Kenny Logan. Well, he's a "professional" in the sense that he's a professional rugby player. Certainly not a health or learning professional. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's like getting a professional electrician to solve your plumbing problems. When EoR visited the site, the first paragraph had him also thinking he had dyslexia, and needed Dore's help immediately:

Copy here to describe Professionals. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diem nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut lacreet dolore magna aliguam erat volutpat. Ut wisis enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tution ullam corper suscipit lobortis nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis te feugi facilisi.


EoR's brain is going! Everything he tries to read seems like junk Latin!

The Dore program, however, is not a money-making exercise. It seems it's a charity:

We have subsidised everybody who has gone through the programme around the world - had we charged the full cost of providing this service folk would have had to pay substantially more than they have up until now. If the similar tests were conducted at a private hospital to those we carry out it would cost in excess of £5,000, just for the tests alone.


Yes, there are some tests undertaken at the beginning of the program, but the bulk of it seems to be things like standing on a wobble board or catching a ball. This claim of losing money seems to be stretching bounds of credulity.

Mr Logan is also discussed at I Speak of Dreams.

4 comments:

  1. Liz here from I Speak of Dreams

    More quotes from Kenny Logan:

    "Dore said that dyslexia can be 'cured' with exercises to stimulate this part of the brain."

    "My spelling and reading are not 100 per cent perfect, but I have been given the foundation to build upon.

    To make the best of this, I have started to have a personal tutor to help fill in the gaps in my education. It is so great to know that, this time around, I am actually learning something. "

    Poor fellow. If Mr. Logan had had effective teaching in the late 1970s (when he started school) his dyslexia would have been compensated for.

    As you may know, I have a child with dyslexia. She has had effective remediation and support throughout her school career, and will enter university in the fall.

    My job as a parent has been to find (and pay for) the remediation, and to help her keep her self-concept intact.

    I feel sorry for the parents who fall for the Dore program -- it is a boatload of money for naught.

    BTW, do read The Fleecing of the Autism Community for a father's take on the harm such shams do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is more to dyslexia than mere reading or spelling. If this was the only problem with my child I would be exstatic and help him myself. Good teaching of dyslexic children now is patchy to say the least, in 1970 is was unheard of. Mildy dyslexic children can be remediated, and off to Uni they go, but what about the rest. What about, poor short term memory, visual, auditory,and verbal processing, dyspraxic symptoms , attention problems. And there's another rugby player, at it. Scott Quinnell and fnd his family. Are they making it all up aswell. Why are you so sceptical and call people liars? Scott Quinnell has worked for a Dyslexia charity for 5 years, but now you will claim that he too has been paid by Dore, no doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. EoR didn't call anyone a liar, anonymous. Are your sure you read the post first?

    Is Scott Quinnell a liar? EoR doesn't know, and he doesn't care. Is Scott Quinnell qualified to discuss the effectiveness of dyslexia treatments? Apparently not.

    Why testimonials are not proof

    Why parents think these things work

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel sorry for the parents who fall for the Dore program -- it is aIs boatload of money for naught.

    Is Liz from I Speak of Dreams qualified to discuss the effectiveness of Dore? As you shouldn't knock it, if you haven't tried it-Apparently not.

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.