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August 2014 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
By Jamie Lober
Most people think of dyslexia as a
language-based learning disability but
know little else about it. “Essentially it
means reading troubles, but it is actually
a spectrum where you can have little
bits of it or a lot, and it comes down to
whether or not you have enough of the
symptoms to become debilitative,” says
Aaron Zink, organizational psychologist and owner/director at Learning
Rx Lexington South. Having dyslexia
can impact a person’s ability to spell,
write or pronounce words. However, it
is not unusual for kids to reverse letters
before the age of seven so you should
wait to see if the problem persists. Zink
cautions, “Most people will switch their
lowercase b’s and e’s around but that
just means they have one symptom. It
does not mean they have dyslexia.” The
International Dyslexia Association lists
common problems associated with the
condition as learning to speak; organizing written and spoken language; learning letters and their sounds; memorizing number facts; spelling; reading;
learning a foreign language; and correctly doing math problems.
The causes of dyslexia are both neurobiological and genetic. Furthermore,
not all dyslexia is the same. “With
developmental dyslexia you start
noticing things fairly early like reading
troubles and slipping s’s, b’s and d’s,”
says Zink. He explains that dyslexia is
a condition that is out of someone’s
control, particularly developmental
dyslexia where “the brain is not utilizing
the specific areas that are necessary for
reading.” The good news is that it can
be managed, often through providing
a reader for the child or giving them
extra time on tests. Cognitive training
can also be beneficial. “Basically cognitive training isolates certain areas of
the brain and makes the student work
those areas,” says Zink. “A lot of people
take their child to be tested for special
needs or special education because they
are having such a hard time reading or
spelling but with dyslexia, people generally test above average on IQ tests as
long as they do not have to read it.”
If parents suspect their child may
be dyslexic, it is important to get to
the root of the issue since a child may
have more than one learning or behavioral disability. While disabilities may
co-occur it is important to remember
that one is not the cause of the other
and your child is not to blame. Studies
showed that as many as 50 percent of
those diagnosed with learning or reading difference are also diagnosed with
ADHD. There is no one testing measure that is used to detect dyslexia; a
variety of tests can be used and are perfectly acceptable but they should have
some similarities such that they need to
be gathering data in areas like expressive oral language, expressive written
language, receptive oral language,
receptive written language, intellectual
functioning, cognitive processing and
educational achievement. It is best if a
psychologist or educational specialist
performs the test.
It is important to reach out for help
but at the same time recognize that
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dyslexia is a lifelong challenge and not
just a temporary developmental delay.
“Early intervention does make a difference because someone is going to
struggle with reading until the problem
is fixed,” says Zink. If kids get appropriate phonological training in kindergarten and first grade, they will do better at
reading at grade level compared to kids
who are not identified or assisted until
the third grade. Research reveals that
programs using multisensory structured
language techniques can assist both kids
and adults with reading. Other strategies include taping lectures in school
instead of taking notes, listening to
books on tape instead of reading them,
and using computer programs to check
spelling and grammar. Sometimes a
speech therapist or a tutor can be helpful. The quality of treatment can make a
big difference in prognosis.
There is no reason for children with
dyslexia to feel isolated. Zink notes that
most of the time, “they are in regular
classrooms and usually of above average intelligence.” Actor and comedian
Whoopi Goldberg and actor Tom
Cruise are just two examples of the
many highly successful people with
dyslexia. As long as the condition is
addressed, it is not a setback and people
can do well.
For more information, visit the
International Dyslexia Association at
http://www.interdys.org/.
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