What is it?
Dyslexia (refered to by some as "a specific
learning difficulty"), is a learning difficulty that affects
reading,
spelling,
memory,
concentration and sometimes
maths, music] and
foreign languages.
Brain scans of effected people tends to suggest that dyslexic people
process information differently to
everyone else. It is caused by a difference in the
structure of the part of the brain that deals with language.
It is believed to be
genetic, having been observed to run in families. While the severity of the disorder can vary with individuals, it affects people for life.
Symptoms - how to recognise it - age related clues
Some of the characteristics shown by dyslexics include:
Pre-school kids:
Language based:-
Non-Language:-
In early school:
Language based:-
- Has particular difficulty with reading and spelling.
- Puts letters and figures the wrong way round.
- Has difficulty remembering multiplication tables, alphabet, formulae etc.
- Leaves letters out of words or puts them in the wrong order.
- Still occasionally confuses ‘b’ and ‘d’ and words such as ‘no/on’.
- Still needs to use fingers or marks on paper to make simple calculations.
- Poor concentration.
- Has problems understanding what he/she has read.
- Takes longer than average to do written work.
- Problems processing language at speed.
Non-Language based:-
- Has difficulty with tying shoe laces, tie, dressing.
- Has difficulty telling left from right, order of days of the week, months of the year etc.
- Surprises you because in other ways he/she is bright and alert.
- Has a poor sense of direction and still confuses left and right.
- Lacks confidence and has a poor self image.
12 and over:
As for
primary schools, plus:
Non-language based:-
For some more details of symptoms in adults, check out the BDA checklist at http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/d02adult/a03check.htm
Symtoms - how to recognise it - area related clues
In
children, other symtoms in general could be:
When reading:-
- Slow/laboured reading single words in isolation ie. not accompanied by a picture or in a story.
Reading aloud is slow and with irregular cadence. - Sometime ignoring puctuation.
- May have low reading comprehension because of spending too much effort in reading the words. Listening comprehension may be significantly higher than reading.
- Often reverses, transposes, inverts letters. For example dog and bog, ded and bed or we and me for inverting or transposing with gril for girl.
- Substitute similar looking words even if it changes the meaning of the sentence. Sunrise for surprise.
- When reading, sometimes transpose words with similar meanings that do not look similar.
When writing:-
- The way the pen is held can be a clue. The writer may either hold it very high or very low or even in a fist grip.
- Writing letters is a slow, laboured chore.
- Letters sometimes have unusual start and end points.
- Finds it hard to get the letters to 'sit' on the line.
- Unusual spacial organisation on the page.
- Shows confusion when learning cursive letters especially with similarly shaped cursive letters.
Quality of
written work:-
- Extrememly short sentences.
- Might suffer from dysphraxia. This can take the form of slow and/or illegible writing.
- Poor mastery of syntax, grammer and punctuation.
- Poor spelling.
- Missing mistakes on the page even after proof-reading.
Directions:-
Most dyslexic children have difficulties with directions and confuse
north,
south,
east and
west,
up and
down,
left and
right. Often difficulty in reading
maps.
Sequences and
steps:-
- Difficulty in tying shoelaces. This may be not only to do with having difficulty in using sequences and steps but with directions as well.
- Long division can often be a problem due to the fact that you have to do the same 5 steps in the correct order over and over again.
- Touch typing is essential for people with dysgraphia. Unfortunately, this tends to be more difficult for people with dyslexia. They often find that the letters are all placed randomly which requires rote memorization. Also, there is a problem with sequencing when having to work out the actions for using capitals ie using shift then typing the key. Direction comes into it with difficulties deciding which key for which hand.
Rote memory of non-
meaningful facts:-
Dyslexics often have difficulty memorizing facts that have no particular
relevance or personal
interest involved. This is for both adult and children.
Time and
management:-
Dyslexics often have trouble using
analog clocks. Since they often have problems with fractions saying "quarter to 6" means that they have to realise that the time is 5:45. This phrase also involves
direction in that something "to" is before and something "past" is after.
Dyslexics find it difficult to
estimate the time it will take to do something and as a result, are often late.
Appointment calenders can cause
confusion, it has been known for some to turn up for meetings etc on time on the wrong day or week.
Spatial organisation:-
Dyslexics often have trouble organising the space around themselves, prefering to
pile things up rather than tidy and put things away. Sometime it seems as though, if they can't see an item, it isn't there. This disorganisation can invade their personal space - they often have trouble organising work or study space. They also have a tendency not to bring all of the required things to meetings or home to do
homework.
Maths difficulties:-
Since there is a lot of memory, sequence and direction involved in maths, then there is often confusion in this field. While dyslexics are often very good at maths due to an increased ability for 3d
visualistion, this can be masked with problems with some of what some might call the basics.
On the positive side, there are lot of things that dyslexics are better than average at:-
Sources:
http://www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk
http://www.dys-add.com
http://www.interdys.org
Inspiration for this piece:
Yesterday I forgot how to form letters properly.