DYSLEXIA: An Overview
by Rosh Vettiveloo

The Chambers Pocket 20th Century Dictionary, defines the term “dyslexia” as a “great difficulty in learning to read or spell, not caused by a lack of intelligence”. The word dyslexia has its origins in Greek words “dys” which means “bad” and “lexis” which means “a word”. One definition, which I feel most aptly describes this specific learning difficulty is the definition provided by the World Federation of Neurologists (1968). Dyslexia is “a disorder manifested by difficulty in learning to read, despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and socio-cultural opportunity. It is dependent upon fundamental disabilities which are frequently constitutional in origin”.

What this means is that, dyslexics are individuals who have an average or above average intelligence quotients. They are also people who have had opportunity to be schooled. But, what makes learning to read and spell difficult for them is a deficit with language processing. It is therefore, no fault of the individual dyslexic. A dyslexic person is not lazy or stupid and neither is the condition a “put-on” one.

A British survey showed that 5-10% of all children are dyslexics, making it the single most common learning disorder in children today. Individuals with dyslexia have neither profound sensory or neurological disabilities nor do they present with serious visual or auditory impairments.

More often than not, they show no signs of difficulties in other areas of the curriculum, for example in understanding concepts in Mathematics, Science, Economics, Art or Geography. They only have trouble with dealing with the language aspects.

A very small percentage of dyslexics have some problems with numerics too, in addition to the reading, writing and spelling problems. This is known as dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is not as common as dyslexia.

To date, there is still no known cause for dyslexia. Many arguments have been put forth as to whether it is neurological or cognitive (learning) in nature. Though the cause is not known, many other aspects of this learning difficulty have been established. It has been agreed upon, by all parties that all dyslexics have phonological and language process deficits. Phonological deficit is a defect in processing the various sound patterns within language.

Dyslexia can be divided into two main categories- Acquired Dyslexia and Developmental Dyslexia.

A person, who has been diagnosed as having Acquired Dyslexia, is someone who was not born with this learning difficulty. As the term itself suggests, this person would have acquired the problem as a result of some trauma to the brain. This trauma can be the result of a stroke or an accident, having caused some damage to certain parts of the brain especially the part that controls language. Prior to the trauma, this person would have had full knowledge of language – reading, writing and spelling.

Developmental Dyslexia is characterised by the fact that there is no prior knowledge of language, spelling rules and grammar. They are born with it. This group of dyslexics have normal development in every other aspect of cognitive (learning) development. This form of dyslexia is not caused by trauma to the brain, hence, the term developmental.

The difficulties that dyslexics face are wide and varied, depending on which part of the reading process is affected. Some dyslexics have problems that are visual in nature while others may have trouble interpreting what is said to them. Some problems are related to language decoding while others have encoding difficulties. Language decoding deficits are problems related to understanding or perceiving spoken or written language. Language encoding difficulties involve deficits in trying to express one’s self via writing or speaking.

It is vital, therefore, that before trying to help remediate a dyslexic, the complexities and specific areas of difficulties are identified and isolated. No two dyslexics will present the same deficits. Each has his own unique combination of difficulties, which must be identified before remediation can be effectively carried out.

As far as academics are concerned, there are no limits as to how far a dyslexic can go. If remediated properly by a dyslexia specialist, the sky is the limit, as it is for all of us. Remediation for dyslexia is not a short process and there is no short cut to remediation. But, once equipped with techniques and methods of coping with this learning difficulty, having dyslexia will no longer be a stumbling block for any individual’s academic potential.

DYSLEXIA: Signs & Symptoms
by Rosh Vettiveloo

Now, that dyslexia has been explained, it seems most appropriate to examine some signs and symptoms of dyslexia. However, it is vital to note that not every dyslexic will display all of the signs and that only a thorough diagnostic assessment can tell us if a particular child is actually dyslexic or not.

As young children, many dyslexics display speech delays or coordination problems. Some dyslexics would have difficulties such as mis-pronouncing words, have articulation difficulties or are unable to express themselves effectively, this should be taken seriously and not brushed aside. These could be early signs of problems with encoding language, discussed in the previous article. (Language encoding is the use of language to communicate or to express one’s self, either using speech or by writing)

Starting to walk late and clumsiness are also early signs. At around two to three years of age, where normal children would have developed a general preference for hand dominance, dyslexics are often found to be ambidextrous.

Some dyslexics will display directionality problems too, as they get older. Difficulties such as distinguishing left from right and top to bottom are quite typical. Sequencing problems will also evident. They find learning concepts such as the days of the week or telling the time difficult to grasp. Basic skills such as tying shoelaces and buttoning a shirt are also skills they find difficult to master.

Another characteristic worthy of mention is the fact that they have poor handwriting skills. Hence, their work is often untidy. Difficulties in understanding written and/or spoken directions also occur. Sometimes when they are told to do something, they end up doing something else because there is a breakdown in the processing of what they hear and what they perceive.

Then, there are the reversal problems, where b/d or whole word confusion occurs. Sometimes the reversals are not limited to only b/d but mirroring of other letters of the alphabet too. When reading, some children omit certain words or substitute them with another word.

Some dyslexics have great trouble in remembering what is said to them and what they have just read. Putting thoughts down on paper is also another challenging area for a dyslexic.

Alongside these difficulties in reading and spelling, many face articulation problems. Their speech may be halted and not fluent with constant use of words such as “euhm” and “uh”. Another typical feature is conversations being incoherent or going “off-tangent”.

Vision related problems are common too. Many a time, tasks such as copying, from the blackboard and whiteboard, prove to be big obstacles and they loose track of where they are copying from. Some will completely refuse to carry out the copying task. When reading, a dyslexic child may lose where they are reading on a particular page. Others complain of seeing the words start to swim around a page. Sometimes dyslexics have difficulties in dealing with the contrast of black print on a white page.

There is a lack of organisation skills in some cases. They are often easily distracted by different activities and have trouble concentrating on a specific task, especially in the classroom situations. Often, they will wander away from their seat to look at something, which has caught their eye. These children are considered to be disobedient by teachers because they do not sit still when told to do so. Inability to complete an activity is another trait many have.

In school, teachers often label children with specific learning difficulties with terms such as “lazy”, “stupid”,” clumsy”, “irresponsible” or “daydreamers”. It is my belief that the reason they start to daydream or “space-out”, in the classroom situation, is because their brains get tired of the overload of the information. Therefore, the daydreaming occurs spontaneously, often without the child himself realising it.

In my experience, once a dyslexic has been properly remediated by a dyslexia specialist, the occurrence of daydreaming reduces dramatically. Their power of concentration increases by leaps and bounds once taught how to deal with the large amounts of information being fed to them.

Being a dyslexic has its advantages too. The positive side is that they are 3 dimensional thinkers. Give a dyslexic some electronic gadget to fix and without looking at the instruction sheet, they will complete the task. They are able to see in their minds what most of us can only hope to imagine. They are hands-on people. They need to manipulate and experience things with their hands.

Their vivid imaginations make them highly creative individuals having great hidden talents in drawing, painting or music. They make great architects and inventors. They make talented actors and movie producers, artists and scientists.

Many great people throughout history, have been dyslexics – Alexander Graham-Bell, Albert Einstein, Mozart, Beethoven, Picasso, Madam Curie, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Cruise & Steven Spielberg just to name a few.