Difficulties in reading, spelling and comprehension can have many different and often overlapping causes. The primary learning issues include deficiencies in:
Phonemic Awareness
The ability to recognize the number, order and identity of sounds in words.
Orthographic Coding
The ability to visualize and remember letter patterns in words.
Concept Imagery
The ability to create accurate images from what is read or heard often leads to a weaknesses in comprehension, a limited vocabulary, difficulty following directions, as well as weak social skills.
Processing Speed and Attention
Satisfactory processing speed and attention are important for effective and successful learning.
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What is Dyslexia?
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 phonological 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 growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.
This definition of dyslexia was adopted by the IDA board of Directors, November 12th, 2002. This definition is also used by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
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What are the signs of Dyslexia?
* Few individuals with dyslexia exhibit all of the following signs.
- Delayed spoken language
- Errors in letter naming
- Difficulty in learning and remembering printed words
- Repeated spelling errors
- Difficulty with handwriting
- Difficulty in finding the "right" word when speaking
- Slow rate of writing
- Deficient written and oral language skills
- Uncertainty as to right- or left-handedness
- Difficulties in mathematical calculations
- Difficulties with language in math problems
- Similar problems among relatives
- Difficulty with organization
- Lack of awareness of sounds in words, sound order, rhymes, or sequence of syllables
- Difficulty decoding words - single word identification
- Difficulty encoding words - spelling
- Poor sequencing of numbers, of letters in words, when read or written, e.g.: b-d; sing-sign; left-felt; soiled-solid; 12-21
- Problems with reading comprehension
- Difficulty expressing thoughts in written form
- Imprecise or incomplete interpretation of language that is heard
- Difficulty in expressing thoughts orally
- Confusion about directions in space or time (right and left, up and down, early and late, yesterday and tomorrow, months and days)
(Summit Reading Center LLC does not formally diagnose dyslexia.)
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“We now know that dyslexia effects one out of five children — ten million in America alone. For the dyslexic reader, instruction must be explicit and delivered with intensity” (Shaywitz, S., 2003, Overcoming Dyslexia).
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