Difference between revisions of "Identify Whether Your Child Has Dyslexia"

{{fa}}Dyslexia is the most common of all reading disorders.<ref name="rf1">Common Misconceptions About Dyslexia Q & A at http://www.thelearningsolutionswf.com/misconceptions.aspx</ref> Many parents notice the learning disability in their pre-preschoolers. Some kids struggle to recognize or create rhymes,<ref name="rf2">Dyslexia and Reading Problems (Kyla Boyce, RN) at http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/dyslexia.htm</ref><ref name="rf3">NIH-Funded Study Finds Dyslexia Not Tied To IQ (National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services) at http://www.nih.gov/news/health/nov2011/nichd-03.htm</ref><ref name="rf4">Signs of Dyslexia (Dr. Sally E. Shaywitz in Overcoming Dyslexia), reprinted by The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity @ http://dyslexia.yale.edu/EDU_signs.html</ref><ref name="rf5">Characteristics of Dyslexia in Children (Natalie Hill) @ http://www.learning-inside-out.com/dyslexia-in-children.html</ref> to learn the ABCs,<ref name="rf4" /> or to recognize the combination of letters that made up their names.<ref name="rf2" /><ref name="rf4" /> For children diagnosed in middle-elementary or beyond, parents might describe emotional or behavioral problems that accompanied academic failure.<ref name="rf2" /><ref name="rf1" /><ref name="rf6">Dyslexia: Its Impact of the Individual, Parents and Society (Lamk Al-Lamki) in Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal 12(3), August 2012, pp. 269-272.</ref> If these problems sound familiar to you, you might be the parent of a child with dyslexia. Although it is an incurable condition that lasts a lifetime, there are ways to help children with dyslexia learn to overcome the challenges of dyslexia and go on to have highly successful lives.<ref name="rf2" /><ref name="rf1" /><ref name="rf7"> Famous People With The Gift of Dyslexia at http://www.dyslexia.com/famous.htm</ref>

#Learn how the dyslexic brain works. While the classic association with dyslexia is one of a person who "sees" letters and numbers backward, what’s really happening is more intense and has to do with how the brain works.<ref name="rf2" />  A child with dyslexia struggles with “phonological decoding”, which is the process of taking apart and putting together words by chopping them into their individual sounds while connecting those sounds to the letters that represent them.<ref name="rf2" /> Because of the way their brains translate letters and sounds back and forth, children with dyslexia tend to read slower (less fluent) and make more mistakes (less accurate).<ref name="rf8">Annual Research Review: The Nature and Classification of Reading Disorders--A Commentary on Proposals for DSM-5 (Margaret J Snowling & Charles Hulme) in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 53(5), May 2012, pp. 593-607.</ref>

#Understand that dyslexia isn't a problem of intelligence or effort. Sadly, many people think children with dyslexia fail to read because they aren’t as intelligent or don’t try hard enough<ref name="rf1" />, but scientists comparing brain patterns report that these problems happen the same whether children have high or low IQs.<ref name="rf3" />

#Learn how psychologists diagnose dyslexia. Psychologists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to diagnose psychological disorders. This manual describes dyslexia as a neuro-developmental disorder in which a person has a coding difficulty. The person struggles with figuring out the relationship between word spellings and pronunciations.<ref name="rf8" /> Dyslexic people have a problem matching written letters to their sounds (a phonological awareness issue).<ref name="rf3" />

#* In short, dyslexia is a reading disorder that can’t be explained by low IQ, lack of education, or problems with eyesight.<ref name="rf9">A New Self-Report Inventory of Dyslexia For Students: Criterion and Construct Validity (P. Tamboer, H.S. Vorst) in Dyslexia 21(1), February 2015, pp. 1-34.</ref> It has nothing to do with how smart they are or whether they are trying hard enough.

#Understand who is most likely to have dyslexia. New studies show that dyslexia is a genetic condition that can be inherited.<ref name="rf8" /><ref name="rf10">NINDS Information Page (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) at http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dyslexia/dyslexia.htm</ref> If it runs in the family, a child has a higher risk of developing dyslexia.<ref name="rf10" /> If a child has other language-related issues, like delayed language, the risk of dyslexia increases.<ref name="rf8" /> Dyslexia usually develops in young children,<ref name="rf8" /> but could also develop if the brain is injured.<ref name="rf3" />

#* Dyslexia is actually pretty common. Statistics show that 10% of school children have been identified with dyslexia, but it is believed that another 10% remain undiagnosed.<ref name="rf6" /> Boys and girls appear to develop dyslexia at equal rates while a higher ratio of left-handed people are be identified as dyslexic.<ref name="rf1" />

#Realize the importance of diagnosing dyslexia. If not caught at a young age, untreated dyslexia can have serious consequences.<ref name="rf1" /> Many dyslexics become juvenile offenders (85% of America’s juvenile offenders have reading disorders), high school dropouts (one-third of all dyslexic students), functionally illiterate adults (10% of Americans) or college dropouts (only 2% of dyslexic college students graduate).<ref name="rf6" />

#Watch for reading and writing struggles. Pay attention to reading troubles your young child might have, even if it's written off by teachers as nothing to worry about. You might notice your child struggling more than his peers when learning to read.<ref name="rf6" /> Dyslexia also impacts motor coordination, affecting the ability to write clearly. Messy handwriting may be a sign of dyslexia.<ref name="rf4" /><ref name="rf5" /> Since academics are based on reading and writing, your child may have issues in many or all of his classes.<ref name="rf9" />

#*Even in hands-on classes, students have subject-specific vocabulary, but dyslexia makes it hard to quickly recall words<ref name="rf10" /> because the part of the brain responsible for matching sounds to symbols (such as letters or numbers) is the same place pictures are matched to sounds.<ref name="rf8" /> (Imagine looking at a duck and having trouble hearing “quack” in your mind!)  

#*The more that dyslexic child falls behind academically, the likelihood increases that your child will have frustration,<ref name="rf2" /> anxiety, and lower self-esteem,<ref name="rf1" />—any of which can lead to depression.<ref name="rf6" />

#Pay attention to your child's self-esteem and emotions. You might notice your child hates school, thinks of himself as stupid, or calls himself dumb.<ref name="rf4" /> His classmates might do the same, causing socialization problems. Your child might hate going to school because of the pressure and anxiety of falling behind academically. Anxiety is the number one emotion experienced by dyslexic children.<ref name="rf11">Dyslexia: Its Impact of the Individual, Parents and Society (Lamk Al-Lamki) in Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal 12(3), August 2012, pp. 269-272</ref>

#* Low self-esteem and high frustration levels often lead to anger.<ref name="rf6" /> A longevity study of 7-year-olds with reading disabilities showed that by age 11 they had much more trouble with behaviors and emotions than other children<ref name="rf12">Behavioral Difficulties That Co-Occur With Specific Word Reading Difficulties: A UK Population-Based Cohort Study (G. Russell, D. Ryder, B. Norwich, T. Ford T) in Dyslexia  21(2), May 2015, pp. 123-41.</ref>, despite receiving support for their disability.<ref name="rf8" />

#Watch for disorders that share symptoms. Dyslexia may be hard to diagnose, since it shares common characteristics with other disorders.<ref name="rf8" /> Children with dyslexia process at a slower speed, struggle to focus, and may have difficulty organizing themselves and their space. So do kids with the following disorders:<ref name="rf8" /><ref name="rf6" /><ref name="rf13">http://www.wavtc.com by Washington Vision Therapy Center (Dr. Benjamin Winters)</ref>

#**Vision therapists claim a number of children are misdiagnosed as dyslexic when they really have eye-based issues.<ref name="rf14">Discussion with Dr. Benjamin Winters, September 18, 2014.</ref>

#Realize your child's uniqueness. Dyslexia in one child looks completely different from dyslexia in another child. The disorder shows itself in variety of ways and extents in those it impacts. It is a highly individualized disorder, making diagnosis difficult.<ref name="rf6" /> You may notice your child struggling to understand when others speak to him. Or, he may have trouble organizing and expressing his thoughts and ideas.<ref name="rf5" />

#* Nevertheless, psychologists can successfully diagnose dyslexics as young as five years of age.<ref name="rf1" />

#*Look for mental-health providers in the phone book, through your local Department of Health, or by talking with your child’s pediatrician or school counselor. You can also check resources from organizations such as the International Dyslexia Association (1-800-ABC-D123), which helps parents of dyslexic children,<ref name="rf2" /> or Learning Ally<ref name="rf15">http://www.learningally.org</ref> (1-800-221-4792) which provides audiobooks for dyslexic readers from kindergarten through college age and into the professional world.

#Know your child's educational options. Since dyslexia is caused by how the brain processes information, it cannot be changed or "cured."<ref name="rf1" /> But, there are ways in which dyslexic children can be taught phonics so their brains understand the fundamentals of how sounds and letters relate to one another.<ref name="rf8" /> This allows them to be more successful when learning to read.<ref name="rf2" /><ref name="rf1" />

#*Once a teacher knows there is a dyslexic child in the classroom, various teaching strategies can be custom-designed to support that child’s learning needs.<ref name="rf10" />

*If you or your child begins to feel overwhelmed by this reading disorder, visit http://www.dyslexia.com/famous.htm to review a list of very well-known writers, scientists, politicians, inventors, athletes, entertainers, and others who have risen to the top of their fields despite having dyslexia.<ref name="rf16">Famous People With The Gift of Dyslexia at http://www.dyslexia.com/famous.htm</ref> You just might be amazed as well as greatly encouraged.

*Even cultures with non-alphabetic written languages—such as the Chinese—have people dealing with dyslexia. Dyslexic brains simply work differently in translating sounds and the symbols that represent those sounds.<ref name="rf8" />