- Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.
- It does not affect the individual’s intelligence. Having dyslexia does not mean that your child’s ability to learn is below average.
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Have you noticed that your child is having difficulties reading, late talking, remembering or naming letters, and spelling?
This might be because he or she has dyslexia.
Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.
It does not affect the individual’s intelligence. Having dyslexia does not mean that your child’s ability to learn is below average.
According to the British Dyslexia Association, dyslexia is actually about information processing.
Signs and symptoms of dyslexia
The signs of dyslexia often look different depending on age.
According to American Brain Foundation, in young children, it can show up as a delay in talking, reversing sounds in words and trouble remembering colors, letters, and shapes.
Children may also struggle to remember nursery rhymes or songs.
Once they enroll in school, signs often include reading below grade level, avoiding activities that involve reading and experiencing difficulty answering questions, sequencing events, and sounding out unknown words.
Sometimes, dyslexia is not diagnosed until someone grows into a teenager or an adult.
In those cases, symptoms can include reading slowly, mispronouncing or misspelling words, and experiencing difficulty with memorisation and activities that require it, such as learning a foreign language or solving math problems.
Teens and adults with dyslexia may also have trouble grasping jokes and wordplay or summarising a story.
Causes
Dyslexia can be genetic and research has suggested that a number of inherited genes may predispose someone to develop this brain disorder.
Other risk factors include low birth weight, being born premature, and exposure to substances during gestation that affect brain development.
According to the American Brain Foundation, the specifics of what causes dyslexia are still unclear, but Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) show that dyslexia connects to brain structure.
"For people with dyslexia, wiring in the left-brain hemisphere makes processing written language difficult."
Treatment
There is currently no cure for dyslexia.
In some cases, dyslexia treatment does not come from medical intervention but from modifying learning methods and environments to better fit an individual's needs.
According to American Brain Foundation, there is however no one-size-fits-all approach.
Educational methods including one-on-one support, structured study time, multi-sensory approaches and immediate feedback can help a student build word recognition and reading comprehension.
A specially trained interventionist will often use multi-sensory approaches, incorporating hearing, touch, and sight with language practice.
Other classroom accommodations may include oral exams, extra time, reduced course load, or smaller class size.
For individuals with dyslexia, support at home is also beneficial. A parent can help their child build vocabulary, language fluency, reading comprehension, and confidence by reading aloud.
Audiobooks may also help individuals of all ages further develop these skills.