Dyslexia
From Wiki4CAM
Dyslexia or developmental reading disorder is a learning problem which involves an impairment in the brain's ability to translate written images received from the eyes into meaningful language. It is the most common learning disability in children, affecting 5 percent or more of all elementary-age children. It is not caused by vision problems, but rather with the brain's ability to recognize and process symbols. Dyslexia may occur in children with normal vision and normal intelligence. Children with dyslexia usually have normal speech, but often have difficulty interpreting spoken language and writing. Treatment for dyslexia may involve a multisensory education program. Emotional support of the child on the parents' part also plays an important role. [1] [2]
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Causes
Children with dyslexia may have trouble rhyming and separating the sounds in spoken words. These abilities appear to be critical in the process of learning to read. A child's initial reading skills are based on word recognition, which involves being able to separate out the sounds in words and associate them with letters and groups of letters. More developed reading skills require the linking of words into a coherent sentence. Because DRD children have difficulty connecting the sounds of language to the letters of words, they may consequently have difficulty understanding sentences.
Most children with dyslexia have normal intelligence, and many have above-average intelligence. The disorder is a specific information processing problem that is not connected with the ability to think or comprehend complex ideas. Dyslexia may appear in combination with developmental writing disorder and developmental arithmetic disorder. All of these processes involve the manipulation of symbols to convey information. These conditions may appear singly or in any combination. Other causes of learning disability and, in particular, reading disability, must be ruled out before a diagnosis of DRD can be made. Cultural and educational shortfalls, emotional problems, mental retardation, and diseases of the brain (for example AIDS) can all cause learning disabilities.
Symptoms
Dyslexia can be difficult to recognize before the child enters school, but some early clues may indicate a problem. If the young child begins talking late, adds new words slowly and has difficulty rhyming, he or she may be at increased risk of dyslexia. Once the child is in school, dyslexia symptoms may become more apparent. It includes (a) the inability to recognize words and letters on a printed page (b) reading ability level well below the expected level for the age of the child and (c) children with dyslexia commonly have problems processing and understanding what they hear. They may have difficulty in comprehending rapid instructions, following more than one command at a time or remembering the sequence of things. Reversals of letters (b for d) and a reversal of words (saw for was) are typical among children who have dyslexia. Reversals are also common for children age 6 and younger who don't have dyslexia. But with dyslexia, the reversals persist. Children with dyslexia may fail to see (and occasionally to hear) similarities and differences in letters and words, may not recognize the spacing that organizes letters into separate words, and may be unable to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word.
