Dyslexia
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Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia refers to a cluster of symptoms, which result in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words. Dyslexia affects individuals throughout their lives; however, its impact can change at different stages in a person’s life. It is referred to as a learning disability because dyslexia can make it very difficult for a student to succeed academically in the typical instructional environment, and in its more severe forms, will qualify a student for special education, special accommodations, or extra support services. 40
Dyslexia is a common disorder that causes people to have difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and hinders the development of reading skills. The brain-based learning disability specifically impairs a person’s ability to read. These affected individuals typically read at levels significantly lower than expected despite having normal intelligence. "Unfortunately, people assume that if you read poorly that correlates with having a low IQ. This study confirms that dyslexic children can be typically smart and can have strong IQs. The reading disability is not a global effect on entire brain function,” says Dr. Gruen. 5
Millions of children worldwide are affected by dyslexia, a language-based learning disability that can include problems in reading, spelling, writing and pronouncing words. The International Dyslexia Association says there is no consensus on the exact number because not all children are screened, but estimates range from 8 percent to 15 percent of students. 17
The impact that dyslexia has is different for each person and depends on the severity of the condition and the effectiveness of instruction or remediation. The core difficulty is with word recognition and reading fluency, spelling, and writing. Some dyslexics manage to learn early reading and spelling tasks, especially with excellent instruction, but later experience their most debilitating problems when more complex language skills are required, such as grammar, understanding textbook material, and writing essays. 40
Dyslexia (pronounced: dis-lek-see-ah) is a type of learning disability. A person with a learning disability has trouble processing words or numbers. There are several kinds of learning disabilities; dyslexia is the term used when people have difficulty learning to read, even though they are smart enough and are motivated to learn. The word dyslexia comes from two Greek words: dys, which means abnormal or impaired, and lexis, which refers to language or words. 23
There is no evidence that children with dyslexia see differently from other children. The root cause of dyslexia lies in a difficulty processing sounds–not visual information. While it is true that children with dyslexia tend to reverse similar letters, such as "b" and "d," for a longer time than typical children, it is important to remember that nearly all children reverse letters in the early stages of reading and writing development. Letter reversals in children with dyslexia are a result of slower literacy development and do not indicate that they "see" the letters any differently from typical children. 38
Dyslexia has been around for a long time and has been defined in different ways. For example, in 1968, the World Federation of Neurologists defined dyslexia as "a disorder in children who, despite conventional classroom experience, fail to attain the language skills of reading, writing, and spelling commensurate with their intellectual abilities." According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, dyslexia is a learning disability that can hinder a person’s ability to read, write, spell, and sometimes speak. Dyslexia is the most common learning disability in children and persists throughout life. The severity of dyslexia can vary from mild to severe. The sooner dyslexia is treated, the more favorable the outcome; however, it is never too late for people with dyslexia to learn to improve their language skills. 12
In contrast to language problems, visuo-spatial-motor factors of dyslexia appear less frequently (Robinson and Schwartz 1973). Approximately 5% of the individuals identified as dyslexic have a visuo-spatial-motor problem that interferes with sequential organization, scanning, and the perception of temporal and spatial cues. Although visuo-spatial-motor confusion is common in young children who are just learning to read, these problems do not tend to account for severe and persistent reading difficulties unless the child has missed so much basic reading instruction that he cannot get caught up. Assessment of visual, spatial, and motor capacities should be included in the diagnosis of any coordination or orientation disorder; however, there is no scientific evidence that interventions such as neurological and sensory organizational training, laterality training, dominance training, balance beam, or reflex inhibition will significantly accelerate reading performance. 8
That is, predicting the outcome for a person who has the gene and determining if the person will have the disorder is still not possible. The next steps of the research will examine other variations including deletions or changes in this particular gene family. The investigators will also examine brain imaging in children and adults given reading tasks and then see how that relates to DCDC2 variations. Ultimately, identifying dyslexia genes may provide opportunities for early identification of the disorder and help to distinguish dyslexia from other learning disabilities. 5
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. 31
The NINDS and other institutes of the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Mental Health, conduct research on dyslexia. Current research avenues focus on developing techniques to diagnose and treat dyslexia and other learning disabilities, increasing the understanding of the biological basis of learning disabilities, and exploring the relationship between neurophysiological processes and cognitive functions with regard to reading ability. 4
It is neurobiological in origin, meaning that the problem is located physically in the brain. Dyslexia is not caused by poverty, developmental delay, speech or hearing impairments, or learning a second language, although those conditions may put a child more at risk for developing a reading disability (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). 31
It is a specific learning difficulty affecting a person’s ability to deal with text, and often numbers as well. Dyslexia is estimated to occur in about 8% of the population. Similar to color blindness, it is a permanent disability which needs continuous support through schooling, but which is often accompanied by strengths in areas such as creative work physical co-ordination and empathy with other people. 30
A telltale sign of dyslexia is reversals. People with this kind of problem often confuse letters like b and d, and words like �won� and �now.� A popular theory is that reversals are caused by a neurological deficit. 16
Dyslexia runs in families. If a parent has a history of reading struggles, each of his or her children has a strong chance of having a reading challenge as well. Children who struggle with learning to talk as preschoolers also are at higher risk for dyslexia. The presence of either or both of these factors should prompt close monitoring of a child’s reading progress, and assessment as soon as a problem becomes evident. 22
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While it is unfortunate that letter reversals were ever promoted as an indication of dyslexia being visual, it is not scientifically valid to totally discount the relationship between dyslexia and vision which includes many other visual problems that can make reading difficult for some dyslexics.
This “throw the baby out with the bath water” attitude towards all previous data about dyslexia when a new fact emerges and claims that this is the cause of dyslexia has never been supported for all dyslexics.
The idea that dyslexia has a single cause is not ever going to be proven because dyslexia is better described as a syndrome. Different dyslexics have different problems. It is well known that any listing of the many problems associated with dyslexia seldom will all apply to a particular dyslexic .
There is a subset of dyslexics that I call visual dyslexic who report many different visual problems that make reading difficult. No longer is the American Optometry Association claiming that dyslexia and vision are not related as they did in the past. The latest fMRI studies are back to looking at the differences in the visual centers of the brain and how they are different for dyslexics.
While poor science protocol has raised doubts about most studies about dyslexia and vision there have been recent studies in France where dyslexics with and without phonological problems were compared where strong differences in visual processing were seen in the dyslexics with no phonological problems.
I sell visual dyslexia glasses at dyslexiaglasses.com for which I claim : for the dyslexic that can describe a visual problem that makes reading difficult the See Right dyslexia Glasses will remove that problem. Dyslexics have a higher rate of poor depth perception than the general population and the optometry industry are unable to restore normal depth perception for those dyslexics while the See Right Dyslexia Glasses do restore normal depth perception for them as well as removing all described visual problems that make reading difficult.