Brainduck says:

I've been covering the collapse of DORE in Australia and the UK, details here: http://brainduck.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/doreshut/
and more on DORE background & 'research' here: http://brainduck.wordpress.com/tag/dore/.

It's an interesting if murky tale of the misuse of lawyers to enforce nothing but positive press coverage, despite research so bad that I can take it apart as a humble undergrad.

The collapse is rather nasty - there's a lot of desperately upset clients & staff who had nothing to do with the shady marketing side of things. DORE were taking new customers, at £2000 up-front, right until they closed.

Brainduck says:

Blogged the sorry tale of the collapse here: http://brainduck.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/doreshut/
there's more on my blog about the 'research' and company activities.

Chris Tregenza says:

One of the problems of the whole Dore situation was that it polarized people and a lot of the people, scientists included, stopped trying to find answer and started attacking their opponents. A lot of this is down to Wynford Dore's personality, and yes, calling your book "Miracle Cure" was bloody stupid as I wrote about at the time [ http://www.myomancy.com/2006/11/scientists_resi ] .

But Wynford was not the only one at fault. Several senior dyslexia researchers repeatedly stated, on TV and radio, that Dore could never work. They did this with no more evidence that Wynford Dore had who was claiming it always worked.

The anecdotal evidence that some people going through the program did see a massive reduction in symptoms (such as myself) was dismissed out-of-hand by the Anti crowd whilst Dore jumped on it claiming it as proof. Neither side demonstrated much open-minded scientific curiosity.

Both sides also resorted to cheap stunts. Dore wheeled out his daughter at every opportunity. Whilst the Anti's organised group resignations to prevent research being published.

It is interesting to note that one or more of the scientist who took part in that stunt have a long relationship with Dyslexia Action. A commercial firm dressed up as a charity that has never published any research on the effectiveness of its treatment program. See [ http://www.myomancy.com/2007/09/2088 ] and [ http://www.myomancy.com/2007/02/who_are_dyslexi ] for more details.

One last point to mention in response to Brainduck's comments:

Whilst there are plenty of reasons to criticise Wynford Dore, the fact that the business stayed open taking money to the last minute is not one of them. This is standard business practice and is supported by professional Administrators because continuing to trade gives them the best chance of being able to sell the company as a going concern. Only once the Administrators have decided that it cannot continue to operate should it cease to trade. Unfortunately there are always unlucky customers who hand over their money just before this happens.

Chris

P.s. On a completely different note. Thank you to Mind Hacks for mentioning Match It For Pratchett. I run the website and all publicity is greatly appreciated.

nevermind says:

I am now receiving treatment that is well below
the threshold of scientific proof for one of the
incurables. I was forced to stop mainstream drug treatment because of side effects. I refuse to
lay back and say OK doc I give up my life to
your all encompassing control and scientific
methodology. I have nothing against drug
treatment I was just not going to let myself
continue to get worse just to please the nice
friendly doctor. Mine is no "miracle cure"
but so far so good.

Just the title "Miracle Cure" would have forced
me to look elsewhere if I had dyslexia. As myomancy/Chris has said people on both side of the issue seem to be acting like hucksters.
One is accepted and one is not. The sanctimony
of scientists kinda makes me sick sometimes.

That said,
there are plenty of frauds and quacks out there
and anyone going for any alternative treatment
needs to step lightly because it is a minefield.