What is Dylexia?
[start highlight] Dyslexia is a condition characterized by reading difficulty, with difficulty in phonological decoding and spelling. While in primary grade, your child may have difficulty in spelling and reading aloud. Read aloud with your child whenever you can: this is extremely helpful. [end highlight]
Success in school depends largely on reading skills and, more important, remembering what one has read. Children presenting impairment in these crucial points are in disadvantage and thus tend to feel frustrated and disinterested, which, later in life, can lead to a spiral of unemployment and underachievement.
What is Dyslexia?
According to the International Dyslexia Association, “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.
These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonologic component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.
Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.
How common is dyslexia?
Prevalence and incidence rates vary widely, possibly due to different methods or tests used to assess them. The table below shows statistical data taken from studies.
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Prevalence of Dyslexia
– 3.6 to 8.5% (Italy)
– 4.5 to 12% (US)
Cumulative Incidence of Dyslexia
– 9.9% of children at 10 years, metropolitan area
– 3.9% of children at 10 years, small town
– 6.5% high-school children
Prevalence – The total number of cases of a disease in a given population at a specific time.
Incidence – number of new cases within a specified time period in a population.
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How can I tell if my child is dyslexic?
If you have doubts or think your child may need to be evaluated, take her/him to the doctor. In fact, early diagnosis and adequate intervention are critical regarding dyslexia. Although symptoms of dyslexia may be present in kindergarten, reading disability is seldom diagnosed before first grade or when children start to learn how to read; some cases are diagnosed even later than 4th, generally in children with a IQ above average.
There are some features of possible dyslexia that can be present in children attending kindergarten: difficulty in learning nursery rhyme and in pronouncing words (children may confuse words which sound similar) or difficulty to learn and remember the names of letters. It is interesting to notice that the ability to name letters by the end of kindergarten is a strong predictor of reading ability in primary school.
While in first grade, your child may have difficulty in spelling and reading aloud. However, most other skills like reading comprehension, oral vocabulary and understanding new concepts are well developed.
Do dyslexic children perform differently from average readers?
A group of investigators conducted a research, which included 62 dyslexic children and 51 average readers. Considering all tasks, a majority of individual children with dyslexia performed within norms, but some slight differences were found as shown in the table below as performance scores for different tasks.
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Performance Scores: Average readers vs Dyslexic readers
n = 113 (51 average readers and 62 dyslexic readers)
| Average Readers | Dyslexic readers | |
| 1. Reading | ||
| – Pseudo-words | 119.3 | 85.95 |
| – Words | 108.78 | 84.81 |
| – Sum | 116.73 | 81.15 |
| 2. Phonological processing | ||
| – Phonological awareness: rythm | 18.88 | 16.15 |
| – Short term memory | 36.39 | 31.92 |
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Are there other conditions that can cause reading difficulty?
Yes, while dyslexia is a primary cause for reading difficulty, this can also be secondary to a number of conditions that should be excluded: hearing, vision or cognitive impairment; genetic syndromes; toxins; emotional distress or family dysfunction.
Is there a treatment for dyslexia?
Yes, special education is the best available option. During special education classes, children are stimulated to learn the names and sounds of letters, how to construct words like in a puzzle, as well as how words and parts of them are written and how they sound. It can also be a good strategy to give these children extra-time to perform tasks or evaluation tests in school.
What can I do to help my child with dyslexia?
Yes. First of all, remember your child is not lazy so do not recriminate her/him for the difficulty dyslexia adds; in fact, she/he has difficulty in reading because of some differences in the way her/his brain works regarding this skill. With the adequate treatment and follow-up, she/he can succeed. Read aloud with your child whenever you can: this is extremely helpful.
Summary and Recommendations
- Dyslexia is a condition characterized by reading difficulty, with difficulty in phonological decoding and spelling.
- A child with dyslexia may talk later and may show difficulty to learn letters in kindergarten.
- Dyslexia is usually more apparent by the first grade, when children may have show difficulty to read words and to spell them.
- Dyslexia is a primary reading difficulty, but reading problems can also be secondary to variety of conditions.
- Read aloud with your child a lot, because this is extremely helpful. A child with dyslexia may need to enter a special education program.
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References
- Reading disorders. In: American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR®), American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC 2000. p.429.
- International Dyslexia Association. Definition of dyslexia. org/FactSheets.htm (Accessed on 1/11/2013).
- Shaywitz S. Overcoming dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for
- Miller AC, Keenan JM. Ann Dyslexia. 2009 Dec;59(2):99-113. How word decoding skill impacts text memory: The centrality deficit and how domain knowledge can compensate.
- Messaoud-Galusi S, Hazan V, Rosen S. Investigating speech perception in children with dyslexia: is there evidence of a consistent deficit in individuals? J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2011 Dec;54(6):1682-701.
- Temple E, Deutsch GK, Poldrack RA, Miller SL, Tallal P, Merzenich MM, Gabrieli JD. Neural deficits in children with dyslexia ameliorated by behavioral remediation: evidence from functional MRI. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Mar 4;100(5):2860-5.
reading problems at any level, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2003.
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