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Developmental dyslexia is a condition related to
poor reading. Children with dyslexia have difficulty learning to read due to one or
more information processing problems such as visual perceptual or auditory perceptual
deficits. Many but not all children with dyslexia have difficulty with reversals of
numbers, letters or words. New research points the way to specific methods of instruction
that can help anyone learn to read well no matter what the underlying problem may
be. Following the links will provide interesting new information as well as
extremely effective solutions for all types of reading problems including developmental
dyslexia.
What is dyslexia?
Children who have an average or above IQ and are reading 1 1/2 grades or
more below grade level may be dyslexic. True dyslexia affects about 3 to 6 percent of the
population yet in some parts of the country up to 50% of the students are not reading at
grade level. This means that the reason for most children not reading at grade level is
ineffective reading instruction. The dyslexic child often suffers from having a specific
learning disability as well as being exposed to ineffective instruction.
Children may have dyslexia or a learning disability if they have one or
more of the following symptoms:
- Letter or word reversals when reading. (Such as was/saw, b/d, p/q).
- Letter or word reversals when writing.
- Difficulty repeating what is said to them.
- Poor handwriting or printing ability.
- Poor drawing ability.
- Reversing letters or words when spelling words that are presented orally.
- Difficulty comprehending written or spoken directions.
- Difficulty with right - left directionality.
- Difficulty understanding or remembering what is said to them.
- Difficulty understanding or remembering what they have just read.
- Difficulty putting their thoughts on paper.
Children with dyslexia do not exhibit these symptoms due to poor vision
or hearing but because of brain dysfunction. The eyes and ears are working properly but
the lower centers of the brain scramble the images or sounds before they reach the higher
(more intelligent) centers of the brain. This causes confusion as well as frustration for
the learner.
When a child is having difficulty learning, a comprehensive
neurodevelopmental exam is important. This includes testing of hearing, vision,
neurological development, coordination, visual perception, auditory perception,
intelligence, and academic achievement.
Often, perception problems can be helped with simple exercises which
either help to improve a specific problem or teach techniques to compensate for a problem.
These often can be done at home. In a few cases, a referral to an educational or speech
therapist may be helpful.
What causes dyslexia and reading
problems?
The main reasons for reading problems are:
- Ineffective reading instruction
- Auditory perception difficulties
- Visual perception difficulties
- Language processing difficulties
Over 180 research studies to date have proven that phonics is the BEST
WAY to teach reading to all students. They also have shown that phonics is the ONLY WAY to
teach reading to students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Unfortunately, 80% of our nations schools do not use an intensified
phonics approach for reading instruction. They either use the whole word (see & say)
approach or a cursory use of phonics along with the whole word method.
While most people can learn to read using the whole word approach, it is
not the best way to learn. It teaches through memorization of word pictures and guessing.
Unlike Chinese or Japanese which are picture languages, the English language is a phonetic
language. With the exception of the United States which dropped phonics in the 1930's, all
other countries that have a phonetic language, teach reading through phonics.
There are only 44 sounds while there are about 1 million words in
English. These facts readily explain why having to memorize 44 sounds as opposed to
memorizing hundreds of thousands of words is the most efficient way to learn to read.
Reading and writing is simply "talking on paper." Children
learn to talk by imitating sounds and then combining the sounds to form words. The brain
is programmed to learn language in this fashion. Therefore, the most efficient way to
learn to read is through phonics because it teaches children to read the same way they
learned to talk.
Children and adults who do not learn to read through an intensive
phonics program often have one or more of the following symptoms:
- Below grade level reading achievement
- Slow reading
- Poor comprehension
- Fatigue after reading only for a short while
- Poor spelling skills
- Lack of enjoyment from reading
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