Articles

Dyslexia is a learning disability involving difficulties with different forms of language. These can include problems with reading, spelling, understanding spoken language and/or expressing oneself in speaking or writing.

Dyslexia, like other learning disabilities, is not related to intelligence. An unexpected gap exists between a person's academic achievement and their intellectual ability (which in some cases may be very high).

People with dyslexia may have talents in many areas, in addition to their areas of difficulty. Each person's pattern of strengths and weaknesses is unique to them. In other words, no two dyslexics are alike. That is why assessment is very important.

Common Signs of Dyslexia:

Early signs

• difficulty learning to talk
• difficulty listening and following directions
• difficulty remembering
• difficulty pronouncing words correctly or expressing ideas clearly

In school

• difficulty learning the alphabet
• difficulty sequencing letters or numbers
• difficulty rhyming
• difficulty with sequence and memory for words
• difficulty learning to read, write and spell

A dyslexic may show some or all of the above signs.

Most persons with learning disabilities have some degree of dyslexia, such as problems remembering how words are spelled. In addition they may have difficulties in some of the following areas:

• understanding time and estimating the amount of time tasks take
• coping with several simultaneous tasks
• efficient preplanning
• making inferences from their errors and adjusting what they do as a result
• interpreting language figuratively rather than literally
• organizing spoken or written language, tasks through time, belongings
• remembering important language, spatial information or social information
• writing neatly, especially under time pressure
• doing tasks involving numbers, doing arithmetic or mathematics

Phonological Awareness

Extensive studies have shown that children diagnosed with dyslexia consistency differ from other children in an ability called phonological awareness. Phonological awareness involves the ability to notice, think about, and manipulate the individual sounds in word. Rhyming is an early activity encouraging the development of phonological, or phoneme awareness.

A phoneme is the smallest sound portion of a word, smaller than a syllable. Children have to be able to hear and distinguish phonemes in words before they can attach letters or letter combinations to them.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Diagnosis of dyslexia is based on a comprehensive assessment that may include tests of: intellectual ability, expressive and receptive language (both oral and written), academic achievement in reading, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, handwriting and composition. Recommendations for educational remediation should be contained in a written report.

Appropriate remedial programming for dyslexia may include the following:

• direct instruction of language skills and concepts.
• systematic, step-by-step sequential teaching of the alphabetic phonic system of language
• multisensory instruction, involving seeing, listening, touching and doing

Dyslexia is something that people are born with, and in many cases there appears to be a family history. Differences in the organization of the brains of dyslexics is being documented by ongoing research.

Dyslexia is not outgrown, but with appropriate education, understanding and time, many dyslexics learn to read and write, and go on to develop their special abilities and talents. They may be very successful in their chosen careers. A number of well-known scientists, artists, athletes and business and political leaders have dyslexia.

Adapted from information in monographs of the International Dyslexia Association, 1993/95 and the definition of dyslexia adopted by the IDA Research Committee and National Institute of Health, 1994; and in Dyslexia: An Introduction for Parents, Teachers and/or Individuals with Dyslexia, LDA of Canada, 1991.