Dyslexia is a learning disability that manifests primarily as a difficulty with written language, particularly with reading and spelling. It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction.
Evidence suggests that dyslexia results from differences in how the brain processes written and/or verbal language. Although dyslexia is the result of a neurological difference, it is not an intellectual disability. Dyslexia occurs at all levels of intelligence; sub-average, average, above average, and highly gifted.
According to the findings of a University of Hong Kong study, dyslexia affects different structural parts of children's brains depending on the language they read. The study focused on comparing children that were raised reading English and children raised reading Chinese. Using MRI technology researchers found that the children reading English used a different part of the brain than those reading Chinese. Researchers were surprised by this discovery and hope that the findings will help lead them to any neurobiological cause for dyslexia.
Causes:
A learning disability is a condition that produces a gap between someone's ability and his or her performance. Most people with dyslexia are of average or above-average intelligence, but read at levels significantly lower than expected. Other types of learning disabilities include attention difficulties, an inability to perform well at writing skills and an inability to perform well at math skills.
The cause of dyslexia seems to be a malfunction in certain areas of the brain concerned with language. The condition frequently runs in families.
Symptoms:
Dyslexia can be difficult to recognize before your child enters school, but some early clues may indicate a problem. If your young child begins talking late, adds new words slowly and has difficulty rhyming, he or she may be at increased risk of dyslexia.
Once your child is in school, dyslexia symptoms may become more apparent, including:
* The inability to recognize words and letters on a printed page.
* A reading ability level well below the expected level for the age of your child.
Children with dyslexia commonly have problems processing and understanding what they hear. They may have difficulty comprehending rapid instructions, following more than one command at a time or remembering the sequence of things. Reversals of letters (b for d) and a reversal of words are typical among children who have dyslexia. Reversals are also common for children age 6 and younger who don't have dyslexia. But with dyslexia, the reversals persist.
Children with dyslexia may fail to see (and occasionally to hear) similarities and differences in letters and words, may not recognize the spacing that organizes letters into separate words, and may be unable to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word.
Diagnosis:
Dyslexia diagnosis involves an evaluation of medical, cognitive, sensory-processing, educational and psychological factors. Your doctor may ask about your child's developmental and medical history as well as your family medical history.
Your doctor may also suggest that your child undergo:
* Vision, hearing and neurological evaluations. These evaluations can help determine whether another disorder may be causing or contributing to your child's poor reading ability.
* A psychological assessment. This can help determine whether social problems, anxiety or depression may be limiting your child's abilities.
* An evaluation of educational skills. Your child may take a set of educational tests and have the process and quality of his or her reading skills analyzed by an expert.
Treatment:
There's no known way to correct the underlying brain malfunction that causes dyslexia. Dyslexia treatment is by remedial education. Psychological testing will help your child's teachers develop a suitable remedial teaching program.
Multisensory approach
Teachers may use techniques involving hearing, vision and touch to improve reading skills. Helping a child use several senses to learn — for example, by listening to a taped lesson and tracing with a finger the shape of the letters used and the words spoken — can help him or her process the information. The most important teaching approach may be frequent instruction by a reading specialist who uses these multisensory methods of teaching.
You can help your child learn by reading to him or her often and helping your child pronounce letters and spell out words. If your child learns best by hearing new information first, listen to books on tape with him or her and then read the same story in written form together.
If your child has a severe reading disability, tutoring may involve several individual or small-group sessions each week, and progress may be slow. A child with severe dyslexia may never be able to read well and may need training for vocations that don't require strong reading skills. Children with milder forms of dyslexia often eventually learn to read well enough to succeed in school.
Evidence suggests that dyslexia results from differences in how the brain processes written and/or verbal language. Although dyslexia is the result of a neurological difference, it is not an intellectual disability. Dyslexia occurs at all levels of intelligence; sub-average, average, above average, and highly gifted.
According to the findings of a University of Hong Kong study, dyslexia affects different structural parts of children's brains depending on the language they read. The study focused on comparing children that were raised reading English and children raised reading Chinese. Using MRI technology researchers found that the children reading English used a different part of the brain than those reading Chinese. Researchers were surprised by this discovery and hope that the findings will help lead them to any neurobiological cause for dyslexia.
Causes:
A learning disability is a condition that produces a gap between someone's ability and his or her performance. Most people with dyslexia are of average or above-average intelligence, but read at levels significantly lower than expected. Other types of learning disabilities include attention difficulties, an inability to perform well at writing skills and an inability to perform well at math skills.
The cause of dyslexia seems to be a malfunction in certain areas of the brain concerned with language. The condition frequently runs in families.
Symptoms:
Dyslexia can be difficult to recognize before your child enters school, but some early clues may indicate a problem. If your young child begins talking late, adds new words slowly and has difficulty rhyming, he or she may be at increased risk of dyslexia.
Once your child is in school, dyslexia symptoms may become more apparent, including:
* The inability to recognize words and letters on a printed page.
* A reading ability level well below the expected level for the age of your child.
Children with dyslexia commonly have problems processing and understanding what they hear. They may have difficulty comprehending rapid instructions, following more than one command at a time or remembering the sequence of things. Reversals of letters (b for d) and a reversal of words are typical among children who have dyslexia. Reversals are also common for children age 6 and younger who don't have dyslexia. But with dyslexia, the reversals persist.
Children with dyslexia may fail to see (and occasionally to hear) similarities and differences in letters and words, may not recognize the spacing that organizes letters into separate words, and may be unable to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word.
Diagnosis:
Dyslexia diagnosis involves an evaluation of medical, cognitive, sensory-processing, educational and psychological factors. Your doctor may ask about your child's developmental and medical history as well as your family medical history.
Your doctor may also suggest that your child undergo:
* Vision, hearing and neurological evaluations. These evaluations can help determine whether another disorder may be causing or contributing to your child's poor reading ability.
* A psychological assessment. This can help determine whether social problems, anxiety or depression may be limiting your child's abilities.
* An evaluation of educational skills. Your child may take a set of educational tests and have the process and quality of his or her reading skills analyzed by an expert.
Treatment:
There's no known way to correct the underlying brain malfunction that causes dyslexia. Dyslexia treatment is by remedial education. Psychological testing will help your child's teachers develop a suitable remedial teaching program.
Multisensory approach
Teachers may use techniques involving hearing, vision and touch to improve reading skills. Helping a child use several senses to learn — for example, by listening to a taped lesson and tracing with a finger the shape of the letters used and the words spoken — can help him or her process the information. The most important teaching approach may be frequent instruction by a reading specialist who uses these multisensory methods of teaching.
You can help your child learn by reading to him or her often and helping your child pronounce letters and spell out words. If your child learns best by hearing new information first, listen to books on tape with him or her and then read the same story in written form together.
If your child has a severe reading disability, tutoring may involve several individual or small-group sessions each week, and progress may be slow. A child with severe dyslexia may never be able to read well and may need training for vocations that don't require strong reading skills. Children with milder forms of dyslexia often eventually learn to read well enough to succeed in school.
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