THE HEADLINE “Affluent are learning to exploit exam benefits for dyslexic pupils” had particular resonance for me this week. I’m the mother of two dyslexic sons and I am making a programme on dyslexia for the new series of Am I Normal, which returns to Radio 4 next month.

New figures show a 43 per cent increase in the number of GCSE and A-level papers where pupils were given special help during exams; for example, an adult reading out the questions or writing down the answers. One might applaud this, were it not for the fact that in some schools – mainly independent – 29 per cent get extra exam help, compared with 6 per cent in other schools with a similar pupil profile. The actual incidence of dyslexia (from mild to severe) is between 5-10 per cent.

How things have changed in the 15 years since my eldest son was in primary school. Back then, the headmaster told me firmly that dyslexia did not exist except in the minds of wittering middle-class parents such as myself. Only when he had an 11-year-old nonreader on his hands did he reluctantly admit that there might be a genuine problem. Dyslexia is now no longer viewed as an unwanted label. Many parents welcome it, primarily because it attracts additional teaching support. And some parents clearly play the system.

We’ve gone from denied to abnormal and now, so commonly is dyslexia encountered, it is regarded as a variant of normal (in children at least).

This normalisation of dyslexia reflects some of the recent genetic findings about the condition. It has been known for years that there is a substantial inherited element to the disorder and other learning difficulties, such as dyscalculia (the numeracy equivalent).

Some geneticists suggest that learning difficulties are just the low end of a normal variation in ability. The same genes that confer ability also confer learning difficulty. Thus the genes that let me string a sentence together are also those that mean my younger son will never read a novel. On the other hand, he has outstanding map-reading skills of a kind denied to his mother.

One particularly intriguing finding is that in countries where a national curriculum is imposed, heritable learning problems such as dyslexia seem to contribute more to differences in academic performance than in those countries where every child has a different school-learning environment.

In our rush to identify the abnormal with early screening for dyslexia, we are undoubtedly scooping up the normal but slow, too. But better this than consigning children to the educational misery of old – even if the system is abused.

Times recommends

• What took place in 2010...
• Can you really cure a hangover?
• Video: How to do glamorous smoky eyes