What Is Dyslexia?
Depending on the educational jurisdiction, the term 'Dyslexia' may or may not be used to define a disability in reading. Some educational jurisdictions refer to Dyslexia as a type of learning disability pertaining to reading. However, Dyslexia is often described as a reading disorder or a disability affecting reading or the impairment of the ability to read. Typically, those with Dyslexia have a normal intelligence. The prevalence of Dyslexia has been estimated to occur in between 5-10% of the population. Dyslexia symptoms can range from mild to severe.
Categories Affected by Dyslexia
Reading
Dyslexics will often confuse letters (b for d, p for b etc.) and say words backwards (tac for cat) and will often omit simple words in sentences. Word and letter reversals are common as are the omissions of small words and parts of words. Their ability to see the sequence in words or sentences is somewhat scrambled. Their visual and phonetic memory is extremely weak which causes the deficits in reading.
Writing
Writing is often delayed in dyslexics. The ability to write follows the same patterns as reading, some words are written backwards and d's and b's are often confused. For some dyslexics, printing is easier than written script, yet for others, the opposite will hold true. Sometimes you'll notice 'mirror writing', this is not at all unusual for dyslexics.
Spelling and Grammar
Although some dyslexics are good spellers, it often isn't the case with many. Again, you'll notice word and letter reversals in spelling. Weak memory and instability with phonics hampers the ability to spell correctly. The ability to spell is often due to a good memory and understanding of phonetics which are often weak in the dyslexic student. Note, the ability to spell correctly improves over time. Grammar needs to be taught to dyslexic students to help with such items as capitalization, run on sentences and standard punctuation. Although it's seen as a weakness, it can be compensated for.
Spatial Orientation
Left, right, front and back and areas of directionality are a weakness among dyslexics. Many will get lost easily in large buildings, new locations and the poor sense of directionality will cause some confusion. They don't seem to have an intuitive sense for right or left or North, South, East and West. Improved strategies to compensate will help improve spatial awareness and dirctionality issues over time.
Math/Time
Although disabilities in math are referred to as Discalculia, dyslexics will often reverse numbers in mathematical operations and have difficulty telling time and remembering the difference between quarter past or a quarter to, of course digital watches certaintly help!
Speech/language
Many dyslexics were late talkers and most will have some type of speech disturbance but this too is compensated for over time. In some cases, speech therapy will be required. It will often take the dyslexic person longer to respond to a question/statement due to the processing time required to understand what you have said or asked. This of course improves when distractions and extraneous background noise is eliminated. In fact, you'll find that dyslexics can be easily distracted and a good strategy is to keep background noise and distractions to a minimal. This also helps with the ability to concentrate which is also another weakness among dyslexics.
Summary
Although Dyslexia can't be cured, with the right teaching strategies, ongoing support and confidence building, the dyslexic child can certainly learn. Many dyslexics go on to college or university and become very adept at compensating for some of the deficiencies. Like most learning disabilities, early intervention is key to success. Remember, there are a lot of famous people with Dyslexia! Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Tom Cruise, Harry Belafonte, John F. Kennedy, George Washington, Hans Christian Andersen, and Agatha Christie just to name a few. Or see the full list.
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