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Health & Fitness

The truth about Dyslexia

What is Dylexia, really? A visual problem? A letter reveral issue? Read more to find out the truth about Dyslexia...

Most people think that Dyslexia is a visual problem, with the defining characteristic being letter reversal.  Parents who bring their kids to me for testing are quite confident that their child isn’t dyslexic because “they don’t reverse their b’s and d’s.  In my years of testing and working with children I have come to realize that Dyslexia is the most misunderstood cognitive disorder of all.  In fact, while letter reversal might be one of the symptoms of dyslexia, it is not a defining feature.  There are many kids who have dyslexia thatdon’t reverse letters.  Furthermore, it is quite common for typical kids (who don’t have dyslexia) to reverse their letters when first learning to read and write.  So then, what is dyslexia, really?

Dyslexia is a reading disorder and it is the most common learning disability.  However, because reading affects writing, math, and spoken language, those with dyslexia have difficulties that far exceed reading problems.  It is a neurological disorder that affects the way the brain processes language.  You can think about dyslexia as a problem that the brain has with interpreting symbols.  Therefore, kids with dyslexia have a difficult time matching sounds to symbols (the symbols being letters), which is the underlying process involved in reading.  They have a difficult time spelling, as well as rhyming (which is one of the most important clues about dyslexia even before a child starts school).

When dyslexic children read, they read “manually” and not automatically.  They have to break down letters in a word and words in a sentence every time they read (even though they may have seen that particular words many times before).  Their reading is slow and requires great effort.  Reading out loud in particularly difficult and embarrassing.  Because of this, they often avoid reading and the gaps in reading abilities grow wider very quickly with each passing year.

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As with any other disorder, kids diagnosed with dyslexia can often look very different from one another. Some may have low achievement and grades across the board and develop behavioral problems in school.  Others do well in math and science but struggle with language arts.  There is a small sector that even gets pretty good grades, even in language arts.  These kids are the ones who overcompensate for their disorder and spend very long hours doing their homework, often two to three times as long as their classmates do, which comes at a high cost to their self esteem and social life.

Although there is no cure for dyslexia, there are wonderful programs and treatments that are successful with dyslexic kids, teaching them to read, closing in the gaps, and allowing them to function well academically and succeed tremendously as adults.  There are many talented and intelligent individuals with dyslexia, John Lennon, Charles Schwab, Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, and Pablo Picaso, to name just a few.  Dyslexic people have normal intelligence and are often very creative.  But dyslexia is a serious learning disability.  It does not go away.  Dyslexic kids grow up to be dyslexic adults.  And if you think it’s difficult to be a dyslexic child, talk to a dyslexic adult who will tell you that being a
dyslexic adult is EVEN HARDER. 

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Dyslexia is often an invisible disorder.  It is suspected that 1 out of every 5 kids
are dyslexic.  Many of these kids are not diagnosed and go through years of agony without any help.  Without treatment, dyslexia can have very negative effects on children’s emotional and behavioral functioning.  The frustration with school affects their self esteem, which can develop quickly into depression and sometimes down the road of drugs and alcohol.  I’ve seen this scenario too many times.  If you think your child may have this (or another) learning disorder, take them for comprehensive psychological testing.  Don’t wait and don’t waste your money on tutoring.  Traditional tutoring DOES NOT work for children with dyslexia.  Only highly specific programs and therapies have been shown to help these kids progress.

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