Dyslexia

Dyslexia may affect time perception as well as speech and reading, and may hinder learning in other academic areas. 10-20% of Americans may suffer from Dyslexia - the obstacle to learning is a continuing factor serving to segregate and bewilder those who labour to overcome it.

Dyslexia is a medical condition, such as diabetes. It cannot be outgrown, but can be treated. Dyslexics can be taught many cognitive processing skills, such as long/short term auditory or visual memory, to help them cope with their disability. Therapy can and does help dyslexics improve their ability to read, write, and spell.

The Following is the research definition of dyslexia used by the National Institutes of Health and the International Dyslexia Association (Nov. 12, 2002): Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition, and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.

Early problems (grades 1 through 3) with letter recognition, letter sounds, and letter writing are signs of dyslexia. If your child seemed bright before entering school, and is having difficulties in early reading instruction, have him tested for dyslexia. These problems, if left untreated, can mushroom into major reading and/or comprehension problems. In addition, spelling and writing may be affected. An early diagnosis will prevent a loss of self-esteem, many hours of homework-tension at home, and future struggles in learning to read.

Probably the worst thing you could do to a dyslexic child is retain them or hold them back a grade. These children have average to above average intelligence and will suffer tragic loss of self-esteem when they 'fail' a grade. If, instead, you are able to make classroom modifications for the child, it will often promote a feeling of being “able” and give them the confidence and desire to push through difficulties and see success.

Surprisingly, most teachers have not been trained about dyslexia and often mistake the symptoms of poor processing skills as laziness, unwillingness to try, lack of motivation, etc. If you are in doubt about a whether or not your child, or yourself, may have dyslexia PLEASE don’t rely on teachers to give you advice. They are just unable to do so in most cases.

MY STORY: My own high school tested me for dyslexia only after my mother fought with them on the issue for quite a while. I believe I was in 12th grade. I was given a test for very young children, which included a puzzle, putting like shapes together, reading a short simple sentence and answering one question about that sentence in a one sentence answer, and placing shapes in mirror image to each other. I felt so degraded, embarrassed, and humiliated there, putting blocks with shapes on them in order as my classmates walked through the nurse's office! Needless to say, over the years I had taught myself tricks to cope with some of my very basic dyslexic tendencies and was able to correct my mistakes on this age-inappropriate test almost as soon as I realised I had done them, therefore I passed the young children’s test with flying colours! They said I was lazy, not dyslexic. But, when in college, a teacher spotted it in the first week and had me tested. I received an age-appropriate test this time and was not only diagnosed professionally with dyslexia, but they were able to tell me exactly which kind I had - diseidetic dyslexia, and give me more strategies, tricks, and support to cope with it. They were very helpful and as a result I became successful at school for the first time. When I realised that I could try things I’d normally have avoided and do fairly well on them, my confidence began to rise. It motivated me to go back to the basics and re-teach myself how to read using the suggestions and strategies I had learned at the college. My son was very young and we began to read together several times a day. We both love the time together and I was able to read very basic books without being embarrassed. As he became a very strong reader, so did I!

The Dyslexic Institute of America suggests you read to your child on their grade level, discussing content and meaning with them. This is especially true of students in the upper grades with subjects of history, science, etc. This aids the acquisition of higher-level vocabulary words that the student would be unable to decode, but would be well able to understand. Remember that the printed material your child is able to read easily is probably not going to significantly increase his/her vocabulary because it is below their grade level.

There are three main types of Dyslexia, each with its own specific symptoms and causes:

• Dyseidetic Dyslexia

A type of dyslexia associated with differential brain functions located in the Angular Gyrus of the left pariental lobe of the brain. A person suffering from this type of dyslexia will have poor sight-word recognition, contributing to an overall slow and laborious reading experience. Irregular words are both sounded out phonetically (laugh = log) and spelled phonetically (ready = rede). Dyseidetic Dyslexics often are, as a result of their condition, more advanced in reading than in spelling.

Diseidetic dyslexia is often inherited, and because the dyslexic is a person with an average to above average I.Q., you would have expected him/her to do well in school. Also, dyslexia, as with many other inherited conditions, can and does skip people in families, so that one member may have the condition while his/her siblings may not.

• Dysphonetic Dyslexia

A type of dyslexia associated with differential brain functions located in the Wernicke's Area of the left temporal and parietal lobes of the brain. A person suffering from this type of dyslexia relies on sight recognition to read, being unable to sound out unknown words. During reading, words are either known or not known, and are often substituted or skipped when trouble arises. Words are learned by rote memorization, and cannot be spelled by their sound. Ear infections can cause some problems.

• Dysphoneidetic Dyslexia

A type of dyslexia associated with a combination of differential brain functions in the Angular Gyrus and the Wernicke's Area. A person suffering from this type of dyslexia will have weak visual-motor skills, and is often the most difficult to treat.

Dyslexia is not an indicator of low intelligence. In fact, people with dyslexia usually possess at least average intelligence, and most often surpass such a standard.

A few famous people with dyslexia:

* Henry Winkler - Fonzie from Happy Days

* Lin Oliver - One of the two founders of SCBWI and writer of the semi-autobiographical middle grade books called Hank Zipzer, about a young boy with dyslexia

* Walt Disney - Fired from the Kansas City new paper for not being creative, he was also labeled as slow as a child.

* Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Enterprises

* Hans Christian Anderson - Had difficulty in reading and writing but for years people have cherished his wonderful stories.

* Winston Churchill - This statesman could be called academically disadvantaged. He failed grade eight, did terrible in math and generally hated school.

* Albert Einstein - He could not talk until the age of four. He did not learn to read until he was nine. His teachers considered him slow, unsociable and a dreamer. He failed the entrance examinations to college but finally passed the after an additional year of preparation. He lost three teaching positions and then became a paten clerk.

* Thomas Edison - His teacher though him to be mentally ill. His mother withdrew the child from school and taught him herself.

* Agatha Christie - Had a learning disability called dysgraphia, which prevented an understood or legible written work. As a result, all material had to be dictated to a typist/transcriptionist. "I, myself, was always recognized . . . as the "slow one" in the family. It was quite true , and I knew it and accepted it. Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. My letters were without originality. I was . . . an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day. The popular idea that a child forgets easily is not an accurate one. Many people go right through life in the grip of an idea which has been impressed on them in very tender years. I have learnt that I am me, that I can do the things that, as one might put it, me can do, but I cannot do the things that me would like to do." - Agatha Christie,

Some other writers with dyslexia:

Sally Gardner; Scott Adams, the cartoonist of “Dilbert”, Jeanne Betancourt, author of "My Name is Brain Brian"; Steven Cannell, television writer & novelist; John Corrigan, novelist; Fannie Flagg, author of "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe"; Gustave Flaubert; Patricia Polacco, a children's author and illustrator; Elizabeth Daniels Squire, author of mystery novels; Victor Villaseñor; W.B. Yeats, Poet, playwright, essayist, critic, short story writer, and autobiographer; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Terry Goodkind; Eileen Simpson; Edgar Allen Poe; John Irving; Lynda La Plante; Robert Scheer; Thomas Thoreau; Sarah Miles; Sylvia Moody

Resources for this text include the National Dyslexic Institute of America