Dyslexia In Children and Adults
The term Dyslexia means difficulty with words. "Dys" means "difficulty" and "lexia" means "words." In common terms the word Dyslexia means a disorder in psychological processes associated with reading, language processing, and learning.
A person suffering from this disorder experiences difficulty reading, writing, with letters, words, and numbers, as well as reversing letters and words. It is estimated that 10 to 15% of the children suffer from Dyslexia.
Children with Dyslexia are confused with letters and numbers and often learn to think in pictures and images instead.
There are three types of Dyslexia:
Development dyslexia
Trauma dyslexia
Development dyslexia is caused during the early stages of fetus development and is hormonal in nature. This Dyslexia decreases as a child grows up and is mostly found in boys rather than girls.
Trauma Dyslexia occurs if the part of the brain that commands reading and writing abilities is injured.
Primary Dyslexia does not change with age and is a malfunction in the left side of brain.
Causes of dyslexia are often hereditary in nature and are not caused by any emotional trauma.
Children with Dyslexia face problems at school and this negative experience at school often causes behavior problems. The child gets frustrated due to lack of achievement and hence they abstain from going to school. Dyslexic people may have some exceptional strengths. He/She may learn computers before others of similar age, and may be brighter in sports, and possess great creative abilities. Having Dyslexia doesn't mean that the person is dumb or mentally disturbed, they may be average or above average in intelligence.
Learning disabilities affect about 5 percent of all school-age children in public schools in the United States. The majority of schoolchildren who receive special education services have deficits in reading, and dyslexia is the most common cause.
Signs of Dyslexia are:
1. Delayed Speech
2. Late establishing a dominant hand
3. Trouble memorizing their address, phone number, or the alphabet.
4. Dysgraphia (inability to perform the act of writing
5. Extreme difficulty learning cursive writing
6. Slow choppy inaccurate reading
7. Terrible with spelling
A complete psychological evaluation should be done on your child if you suspect the disorder, special education personnel can carry out the evaluation. The evaluation should include: a developmental, medical, behavioral, academic and family history, a measure of general intellectual functioning (IQ testing), testing on oral language, memory, auditory processing, visual processing, visual motor integration, phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, word recognition, decoding, spelling, reading, reading comprehension, written expression, and handwriting (would be done by an occupational therapist).
Adult Dyslexia
Adults with Dyslexia may hide reading problems, spell poorly, and avoid writing. These adults often have good creative skills, though. Many adults with Dyslexia are unemployed. They have difficulty in finding a proper job due to their inability. This makes them lose their self confidence.
The following the some most common signs and symptoms of dyslexia.
Spelling: This is one of the most common signs of dyslexia. Not only will someone have trouble spelling difficult words but simple words will be challenging as well. Often times words will be spelled just as they are spoken. For example: "nock" instead of "knock" or "serch" replaces "search"
Comprehension: Dyslexia isn't limited to spelling and math. People also have trouble with their comprehension skills. For example they may have difficulty following directions as well as repeating words that are spoken to them. This is specifically important when it comes to reading comprehension.
Direction: People who are dyslexic will have trouble with their directional awareness. Not only will they confuse "left" and "right" or "up" and "down". But following maps and compasses are a challenge as well.
Interchanging letters: Many times numbers like "16" will become "61" or a "b" may turn into a "d"
Math: Adults with dyslexia have trouble understanding basic math, which includes putting numbers in their proper sequence. Many times people will reverse numbers; it may also be hard for them to count to 100.
Dyslexia is a treatable learning disability - however it's important to take action as soon as possible.
Articles
| Pub. Date | Topic | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2011-07-29 | Dyslexia: Linking Reading to Voice Recognition | National Science Foundation |
| 2010-10-22 | Dyslexia - The Hidden Disability | iansyst Ltd |
| 2010-04-08 | No Link Between Dyslexia and Lack of Musical Ability | Inderscience Publishers |
| 2009-12-17 | Dyslexia Study Uncouples Reading and IQ | Yale University |
| 2009-08-26 | Dyslexia in Learning - Harnessing the Power of Dyslexic Creativity | Richard Whitehead |
| 2009-08-26 | Dyslexics in the Classroom | Richard Whitehead |
| 2009-08-26 | Dyslexia in the Workplace: Disability or Talent? | Richard Whitehead |
| 2009-03-13 | Dyslexic Children Should Be Diagnosed Early | Pediatrics / Children's Health |
