Dyslexia

Dyslexia means “word Blindness.” It manifests in an unusual difficulty reading words, comprehension is often not effected. Your child may have a learning disability (the generic label for learning difficulties in children when other reasons for not learning have been ruled out).

While doing research for my Introduction to Special Education course project I found some information that may be helpful to you. There is an article on the Davis Dyslexia Association Internation website that sites 37 common characteristics of dyslexia. (www.dyslexia.com) Some of the ones for math deal with difficulty telling time, managing time, learning sequenced information or tasks, or being on time. Dependence on counting with fingers while trying to compute math. Knows anwers, but cannot do it on paper. The article goes on from there. If you think your child is dyslexic, trust your instincts and have him/her tested. Another website I ran across I found very infomative was Bright Solutions for Dyslexia,LLC (www.dys-add.com) This site has several articles from what dyslexia is to testing and assessment with links for further information. The testing and assessment articles provide information on what kinds of tests should be done, who should do the assessment, and ways to contact an experienced professional in your area. I hope this information is useful to you. I was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child and I am thankful my parents took the time to find out what it was about and got help for me just as your are doing for your child. I deal with it every day, but it does not stop me from following my dreams. Best wishes on your journey.

Dear Sandy:

Actually, the word dyslexia is a comination of Latin and Greek. Dys= difficulty with, lexis=language/words. Thus dyslexia literally means difficulty with words. It can be problems with either receptive (processing what you see or hear) or expressive (finding the words for what you want to say either verbally or in writing) or a comination of both. People can see or hear words just fine, but the brain has problems using the information it receives. The International Dyslexia Association has a web site www.interdys.ORG which has information about dyslexia and its characteristics. It also has booklets in its “Online Store” in the “Emeritus Series” Hope this is helpful.

You are describing symptoms that are sometimes seen in children who have non-verbal learning disabilities. This is a gross generalization, but NLD is essentially the opposite of dyslexia. The only way to really identify the source of a child’s learning difficulties though is to have a complete psycho-educational evaluation done. A psychologist with a background in testing for LD can do this. Your pediatrician might be able to give you a recommendation. (I hope someone like Socks will chime in here with advice on the school’s obligations and what the parents can do to force the issue.) Depending on what other issues are present, your child may need an evaluation by a neurologist or developmental pediatrician (for ADHD and other neurological impairments) and/or by a speech/language specialist and/or an audiologist. Start with the educational testing and use that as a base for determining what further testing is needed.

Andrea

They have lots of information on the website that you can download. They also have a kit that they will send you free of charge to help you navigate your child’s learning differences and the IEP process

Dyslexia is a catch all phrase for processing disorders that involve visual information. What the word actually means is impaired ability to read words. This impaired ability is caused by the brain’s inability to adequately process visual information. One cause may be Cerebral Vestibular dysfunction. The vestibulum is part of the inner ear The cecrbellum is the hind brain responsible for gross motor skills. It is believed that these 2 components are not working together correctly. In a sense the dyslexic is slightly dizzy. Try reading a book after you’ve made yourself dizzy even a slight amount of dizziness will make reading difficult. Motion sickness meds are suppsed to help. My dyslexia improved some over the years or at least my ability to read did.

I know a simple test. Look at a ceiling fan on low speed. A non dyslexic will see the blades moving slowly. A dyslexic will see a blur. Dyslexia for me was like a TV with a rolling picture. Things don’t hold real still. A condition called nystagmus is when the eyes don’t hold perfectly still this can raise hell when you try to read. Nystamus often happens to severly brain injured people but i wonder if undetectablb nystagmus is a cause of dyslexia.

There are disorders called dyslexia dyscalclia dysgraphia. They all describe symptoms that have an underlying cause.

I wear a hat with a brim to block out distractions. I have other cns problems besides dyslexia as I am brain injured.Dyslexia is a component of my overall neurological thing.

Dear Sandy,
There are many levels of dyslexia, from mild to severe. The children who have a mild case of dyslexia still need just as much help as the severe, but sometimes it is harder to get diagnosed. My daughter was diagnosed with a mild case of dyslexia and it was not easy to get the school to recognize it.
Several common signs for kindergarten through sixth grade are decoding singl words, connection between letters and their sounds and may confuse small words like AT-TO, SAID-AND, and DOES-GOES. Also, they may make spelling and reading mistakes such as letter reversals like d for b as in dog for bog, word reversals like tip for pit, inversions like m and w, u and n, transpositions like felt and left and substitutions like house for home. In children older than sixth grade, some common signs are reading slow, procrastinating on reading and writing tasks, poor memory skills, working slowly and difficulty with planning and time management.
The people that diagnosed my daughter was her teacher and I first. We noticed the problem and we went together to the school councilor for further testing and the councilor brought in the school psychologist. It went from there to them making modifications in her classrooms and she goes to the speech/language teacher for language problems she is having. It has worked wonders and she is now on her own reading level and they are putting her in a regular classroom setting next year to see how she does. You must keep on the school to test your child. It is not easy, but they can not refuse any child from these services. Do not give up, it can be done.
Here are some websites you might want to go to for more information and help, www.dyslexia.com and www.hellofriend.org. Good luck, Lori