DYSLEXIA : ONE OF THE MOST COMMON LEARNING DIFFICULTY

• What Is Dyslexia?

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• In General, Dyslexia is the type of leaning difficulty, in which child is having difficulty in reading, understanding and interpreting the words.
• It’s the one of the most common learning disability.
• The children with dyslexia are generally smart and normal in IQ level only the difficulty is that, they are slow in reading, writing and understanding the letters and words in compare to other children.

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• It’s otherwise known as Reading disorder or Alexia.
• Each year OCTOBER is celebrated as DYSLEXIA AWARENESS MONTH in all over the world, to spread the awareness about dyslexia and the success stories of dyslexic people.

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• CAUSES OF DYSLEXIA
• Generally Dyslexia can be caused by impairment in brain’s ability to process phonemes.

1. Any past family history of Dyslexia or any other learning disability.
2. Exposure of drugs, Alcohol, Nicotine or any other caffeine substance during pregnancy period.
3. Premature or Low birth rate.
4. Any traumatic injury during pregnancy.
5. Any brain injury to child after birth.
6. Sometimes dyslexia can occur to child if mother is suffering from depression during pregnancy.

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7. The other cause of dyslexia is improper brain functioning due to interruption in brain areas which are responsible for learning and memory. (Mainly Broca’s area)

• Signs And Symptoms Of Dyslexia

Like any other neurological condition, dyslexia is also having its particular sign and symptoms.

1. Dyslexia is commonly seen in children between 3 to 15 years.
2. The symptoms generally appear during school times as it’s a learning disorder.

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1. Cognitive symptoms include;

•  Difficulty in reading (including read a loud)
• Difficulty in understanding
• Difficulty in memorizing
• Difficulty in finding and matching words and letters
• Difficulty in writing
• Difficulty in coping words from board.

1. Auditory signs includes:

•  The child is unable to recall and understand what he/she hears.
• The child is having difficulty in remembering sequences of words, letters or any other command.
• The child uses the wrong word or similar word instead of appropriate word during study as he/she knows what to say or write still he/she can’t find appropriate word.

1. Subtle Signs include –

• Due to inability to cop up with normal child, the dyslexic child can feel low self esteem or lack of self confidence.
• Sometimes, the child escapes the learning activities or avoid to go to school.
• In dyslexic child, the emotional symptoms are as important as academic and other symptoms.

• Types Of Dyslexia

There are mainly 6 types of dyslexia.

1. Primary Dyslexia (Most common type)
2. Secondary or Developmental Dyslexia
3. Visual Dyslexia
4. Auditory Dyslexia
5. Trauma Dyslexia
6. Dysgraphia

• Assessment And Diagnosis Of Dyslexia

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• Assessment and Diagnosis both are important in dyslexia.
• You can’t find whether the child has dyslexia or not without doing proper assessment.

1. Assessment Of Dyslexia

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• The assessment plan of dyslexia depends on what kind of difficulties the child is facing.
• Each child is suffering from different type of challenges.
• The assessment plan can prepared according to child’s needs.
• The plan can be prepared by experienced team which includes school teacher, Parents, Special Educator, Clinical Psychologist and sometimes behavioural therapist.
• Each assessment plan focuses on testing 5 areas mainly.

1. Cognition or Intelligence
2. Sensory or Motor Functioning
3. Academic Performance of child
4. Communication Skills
5. Health and Development al skills

• Once assessment has completed successful ly the further diagnosis can done.

2. Diagnosis Of Dyslexia

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• Diagnosis of dyslexia is little bit difficult.
• Dyslexia can not be diagnosed properly until the child starts to go to school.
• The diagnosis can mainly focus on 3 criteria, which are following:

1. Auditory
2. Visual
3. Kinesthetic

• Sometimes the child with dyslexia can perform very well in proper positive environment.
• There are some particular diagnostic tests which can be done to clarify that the child is having dyslexia or not.

1. Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children ( WISC)
2. Kaufman Assessment Battery For Children (KABC)
3. Stanford – Binet Intelligence Scale
4. Peabody Individual Achievement Test Revised (PIAT)
5. Test For Visual Perception (TVPS)
6. Test For Auditory Perception ( TAPS)

• Treatment

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•  The Treatment can be done according to child’s need.
• The plan can be set by the team of clinical psychologist, special educator, Behavior therapist, physiotherapist with the help of school staff and parents.
• Clinical Psychologist can help child to cope up with normal routine, though this is true that dyslexia can’t get cured 100% but it can be managed with proper care.
• The special educator can help the child to identify, understand and recall and also helps the child to fulfil his/her academic needs.
• School staff and parents also plays an important role in treating the child with dyslexia.

So, here is some needful information about dyslexia which can help parents and caregivers to understand the dyslexia. Read more on How to cop up with Learning Disabilities?

• Dyslexia can be managed, do not fear about it.
• Learn to deal with dyslexia and manage dyslexia positively because “Every Child Is Special”.