Dyslexia
Dyslexia is one of the most common learning problems in children manifested in a specific reading disorder. The cause of this disease is associated with neurological, genetic nature. An individual suffering from dyslexia faces difficulties in mastering reading and writing skills. However, the recent scientific research has shown that it is not a disease, but a non-permanent condition that can be changed in the same person every day. One can manage the unconscious ability by learning to control the force of will. The scientific discovery gave millions of children and adults suffering from illiteracy and educational issues the hope for professional help and treatment. The paper seeks to explore dyslexia, causes, symptoms, treatment, and techniques for teachers and parents to address this health issue and educate suffering children.
Dyslexia is a disorder that involves difficulties in learning information, reading books, letters, and interpreting words. However, it does not affect the general intelligence. Young people, who suffer from dyslexia and serious learning problems, no longer attend educational establishments. Despite the fact that kids are intelligent by their nature, they cannot read or write at the level of their peers. Adults can also be perceived as illiterate people. Many therapists consider dyslexia a violation of phonemic hearing. The development disability in children is strongly expressed in the learning process and despite efforts of parents and teachers, changes do not occur. Dyslexia in adults also generates troubles, because, at the current state, a person may lose confidence in own abilities. Problems may arise at work due to the miscommunication with the upper management and co-workers.
Causes of dyslexia are the violation of combinations, and issues in recognizing, analyzing and storing sounds. It complicates the entire phonological process. Dyslexia is also characterized by violations of verbal speech, understanding and formation of writing or oral speech, which can lead to the problems with memory and the search for appropriate words. Scientists believe that the disorder occurs due to the congenital anomalies of the central nervous system. Familial dyslexia also occurs, and children from such families often suffer from it. Physicians often relate this condition to the abnormalities in the areas of the left hemisphere of the brain responsible for motor skills and speech reproduction. If there are disturbances in the right hemisphere, then the person has troubles with recognizing words. It is wrong to associate abnormal eye movements and visual-perceptual problems to dyslexia, although they may also affect the learning process.
A number of symptoms characterize dyslexia. Their identification helps parents to determine a disorder in their child and undertake the necessary steps for its treatment. The signs of dyslexia are as follows: the child often rubs his eyes and squints a little; he/she holds a book close to the eyes and may cover one and all of them when reading; children get tired quickly; under any pretext, a person tries to avoid doing the homework. According to Brunswick, a youngster may read a book, turning his/her head so that one eye is not involved. When reading, a person usually skips words and ignores certain passages in the text. Individuals often complain of a severe headache. A child hardly remembers, identifies and reproduces the basic geometric shapes. At an early age, a person writes the words backwards; his/her reading skills and handwriting are poor. It is crucial to diagnose dyslexia as soon as possible. As a child may have vision problems, it is required to take him/her for consultation with an ophthalmologist in order to make sure what kind of issue he/she has. Therefore, if one cannot determine the symptoms exactly, it is better to rely on the medical specialist.
Katz refers dyslexia to the deep psychological disorder of steady and regular character. Therefore, the elaboration of a complex approach to this health issue may help to eliminate. After quality diagnostics, the medical specialist develops an individual program for every child, including multiple and autonomic stages that complement each other. At home and school, tutors, instructors, counselors, and parents engaged in the educational process have to be informed concerning the health state of pupils and children, as well as facilitate the health state through additional exercises and computer educational programs. Correction initiatives, including writing, reading and discussing of obtained information should be based on learning of phonemic skills, increasing vocabulary, fluency of reading and deeper comprehension. Some clinicians also practice the pharmacological treatment in combination with the above methods, in particular the use of drugs such as nootropil.
Modern psychologists regard writing and reading as conscious and sophisticated forms of speech activity. These processes are established at the age of 5-7 as a result of directed training. The predisposition to the specific development disability as dyslexia can be detected at the age of five, and, therefore, parents, teachers, as well as medical specialists must approve a special set of measures to prevent dyslexia in young people. The right approach and the full implementation of preventative steps in combination with the constant supervision of the child’s development and education can prevent adverse diagnosis.
Ronald D. Davis has proposed the methodology based on the unconventional approach to the correction of dyslexia. It suggests giving the printed words and symbols the mental, figurative expression that eliminates gaps in the perception. At an early age, the child must remain in a saturated speech environment; therefore, parents and teachers need to communicate with their children and students on a constant basis, thereby promoting the formation of the ability to speak and adequately compare the letters and sounds. It is important not to simplify speech and communication. Instead, it is crucial to encourage suffering youngsters to express their thoughts and feelings not by the gestures and abbreviations, but the full words and sentences.
Dyslexia is a specific development disability characterized by the lack of formation or decay of mental functions involved in the realization of the learning process. The main signs of dyslexia are typicality and repeatability of errors such as mixing and replacing of sounds, letter- by- letter reading, distortion of the words’ syllabic structure, and other issues. Diagnosis of dyslexia involves the assessment of the level of formation of speech, writing, reading, and non-voice functions. In order to prevent and overcome this specific development disability, it is necessary to develop speech, sound pronunciation, phonemic processes, vocabulary, and grammatical structure. An adequate approach and the full implementation of preventive measures in combination with the constant supervision of the child’s education and development can prevent the adverse diagnosis.
