Spotting the signs and getting help is the key Photo Attitude
World – October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. It is estimated that one in ten people have dyslexia. Dyslexia, also called reading disability, is a learning disorder which involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.
While dyslexia is called a reading disability, Annemieke Goosen, a dyslexia therapist, believes this does not fully explain what it is. In fact, it is not just confined to letter reversals or struggles with reading but much more.
“It [dyslexia] actually is a result of a visual thinking style that can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s a specific learning disorder with impairment in reading and includes possible deficits in word reading accuracy, reading right fluency and reading comprehension. This is often characterised by poor decoding skills and poor spelling.”
Different types of dyslexia
Contrary to popular belief, there is not just one type of dyslexia. Stark Griffin Dyslexia Academy as well as other experts have discovered seven types of different dyslexia. There are three main types which are visual, auditory and movement. From these are four more combinations of which the most severe contain all three main dyslexia types, said Goosen.
“You get the visual type and we call it dyseidesia. Then you get children that struggle with auditory type of dyslexia which they call dysphonesia. There’s a type that struggles with movement which they call dysnemkinesia but then there’s different combinations of those three. Some of the kids would struggle with visual and auditory. Some would struggle with visual and movement. The most severe one is somebody that has all three.”
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How to identify if a child is dyslexic
Signs of dyslexia can be difficult to recognise in a young child. However, these signs start to stand out once a child is in school. The first person who would generally notice these signs is their teacher. Severity varies but the condition often becomes apparent as a child starts learning to read.
“There are some small signs that you can look out for. In preschool it could be trouble recognising letters of the alphabet, struggling to match certain letters to sounds. When they struggle with blending sounds into words. They might also struggle with the sequence of common words. Sequences like days of the week or months of the year or even counting. These kids often have a much smaller vocabulary than other kids of their age. In middle school kids, you’ll usually see those are the type of kids that don’t want to read out loud in front of the class. They usually are slow readers and they usually are very anxious while they read and speak. They struggle with spelling. They struggle with new words and technical terms and concentration issues.”
Children who have dyslexia often struggle with word accuracy and to pronounce words properly. They would often read or write with omissions or additions. These are some of the other signs one can look out for. It is important to look at the way the child reads as well as writes.
Assisting a child who has dyslexia
Children often look to their peers to evaluate themselves. Seeing someone progress much faster than them and being able to read and write better could possibly damage their self esteem and confidence. A child who doesn’t know what dyslexia is can quickly find themselves feeling down and out and believing they are dumb or foolish. This can really damage the progress of the child. It is important for teachers and parents to come together to help a child understand it is not their fault and help build up their confidence.
“It would be very beneficial for parents to sit down with the child and demystify the learning disorder because then you can help the child develop tools and resilience that’s necessary to manage this both in school and in social circumstances. Some things that you can maybe do is to discuss specific challenges that result from dyslexia. To acknowledge their efforts and celebrate even small victories to put emphasis on how you’re so proud of them for their hard work instead of achievements. Try to combat any negative and then to also help them to recognise their strengths.”
Children with dyslexia are usually very imaginative and holistic. They can easily spot patterns and have very strong perceptual skills. Working on these skills is one way to show them that although they may not be very good at reading or writing, they surpass their peers in other areas.
Information we can share to dyslexic children about intelligence
As discussed before, children with dyslexia will often struggle in areas their peers are doing really well in. This can cause them to feel they aren’t smart enough. For Goosen, it is important to inform them their IQ score does not indicate if they are dyslexic. Dyslexia is a mechanical disability.
“Usually, the children with dyslexia have above average IQs and thus are very intelligent … It’s important for teachers, parents and especially the dyslexic learner to know this [dyslexia is a mechanical disability] so that they can know there’s not something wrong with them. They are just learning in a different way.”
The two types of thinkers
When one thinks they normally can hear sounds in your mind and see a picture as well. This is called verbal or sound thinking and non-verbal or picture thinking. Most people are a combination of both, but dyslexic children are primarily visual or picture thinkers.
“They possess very strong perceptual skills which allows them to perceive things three dimensionally. In other words, they make mental pictures of words using their imagination to create a story or to fill in information as they are reading.”
When reading a word such as cat or house, they would essentially create a mental picture for that word as they read. However, if they cannot create a mental picture for a word, they often get dysregulated or disorientated when they are reading.
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Treating dyslexia
It is important to understand dyslexia is a lifelong condition. There is no quick fix. The sooner a child gets help, the better their odds of success are. A dyslexia diagnosis does not mean a child will never read.
“According to Dr Kruger, a neuropsychologist at the Child Mind Institute, certain programs can help them. It’s programs that include multi-sensory instruction in decoding skills, repetition and review of skills and intensity of intervention. So, it’s not just once a week for remedial work but take them more than once a week and repeat all of the important skills. These are just a few teaching comprehension strategies to help them.”
A dyslexia therapist is the best person to help a dyslexic child. The earlier a child goes for therapy, the better the outcome. Leaving it for too late can cause irreversible damage to a child. It is important to get the right diagnoses as it will determine what kind of therapy a child will get. Dyslexia is not a life ending disorder. With the right help and early on, a dyslexic child can live a long and fulfilled life.
