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Dyslexia is the word used to describe a condition where a person has a basic difficulty with words and/or language. Before it is correctly diagnosed, it can be a debilitating condition. People affected, whether children or adults, often feel discouraged, frustrated, less intelligent than their peers and angry. Although far brighter than their reading and/or writing may suggest, dyslexics will display problems with the concepts of direction and sequencing and with spelling and reading short words. They might also begin to talk later than children in their age group and could experience difficulties with developing a legible handwriting as well as learning basic mathematics.

The symptoms

A dyslexic child will unexplainably be confused by concepts such as left and right, up and down or top and bottom. This directional confusion is the reason behind the reversal of letters, words and digits.

Problems with sequencing will make it difficult to read words correctly as the letter sequence cannot be grasped or remembered. Words are then spelt incorrectly and letters are even omitted. Longer words, which have longer letter sequences, are also difficult to learn.

Short words like ‘for’, ‘and’, ‘there’ and ‘from’ are repeatedly misread, omitted or added unnecessarily. Other words are guessed at ‘wildly’. An example given by Dr Hornby in her book Overcoming Dyslexia is how ‘Now the children were discussing their new play. “We need a brave person for the mountain rescue,” explained the boy,’ was read by a dyslexic child as ‘How the children were designing their new play. “We need a brave man of the mount chishimse,” ixslating the boy.’

A dyslexic child will also begin to talk later than other children in his age group and will have dysgraphia which is a difficulty in producing a legible, grammatically correct handwriting. A dyslexic will be able to communicate well verbally but will struggle to express the same things in written form.

Dyscalculia or difficulties with understanding the language of mathematics is another symptom of dyslexia. Signs will be easily confused with one another. Also, it will not be understood that ‘reduction’, ‘difference’ and ‘minus’ all mean ‘subtraction’.

It is never too late

Should your child display any of the above symptoms, you should make an appointment with a speech therapist or language specialist as soon as possible. Your child should be tested as soon as possible. If it remains undiagnosed and untreated, dyslexia will hinder your child during and after school, despite his or her potential.

There are methods that have been developed to successfully overcome this condition, and allow a dyslexic person to lead a normal, wonderful life. Educate yourself and help your child.

Tags: education