Dyslexia Symptoms, Test and Treatment

Dyslexia Treatment Options

Treatment for Dyslexia

It is believed that although nearly 15% of Americans suffer from various forms of dyslexia, less than 5% are diagnosed and treated early. Now covering a plethora of symptoms, various manifestations of dyslexia are clubbed under the name of “slow learning disorders”.

Dyslexia can be diagnosed at any age from childhood to adulthood. However, for a person to become a well -adjusted and productive member of society, it is essential to start treatment as soon as possible.

Since the exact causes of dyslexia are still to be ascertained, treatment is more limited to managing the symptoms, rather than preventing or curing the condition. Treatment of dyslexia is primarily aims at overcoming the learning difficulties, which the individual faces. Early diagnosis is helpful because if treatment is initiated at the earliest, the social and emotional development of the person proceeds apace. Hence, in the management of dyslexia, it is important to consider the impact of the condition on the life of the individual in total, rather than focusing on the learning disabilities alone.

Treatment for dyslexia aims at overcoming the learning disabilities. Since these individuals have poor language, poor verbal and poor writing skills, special learning aids and techniques are beneficial. Dyslexia maybe diagnosed when a child starts formal schooling, in which it is found to have poor reading skills, tendency to mix letters up, poor speech, mixing up of right and left sides, sometimes associated with poor hearing, vision and lack of concentration.

In keeping with the widespread incidence of dyslexia in the population, federal law requires that these individuals receive special schooling apart from their normal counterparts, for although dyslexics may have normal or above normal intelligence, they have difficulty in putting their thoughts in words or speech in the normal way. The Individualized Education Program  ensures this until the age of 16, after which these children are further prepared for higher education or employment as the case maybe.

In the special education program, a child psychologist and a special educator thoroughly assess the child and after a series of tests, come up with an education program tailored to the child`s needs, depending on the specific disability which the child has.

Verbal exercises are found to benefit many, with different components like rhyming exercises, bending words into sounds, word matching, picking out verbal sounds from words and making out differences in spoken sounds. In some cases, repetition of words and writing words have been found to be very beneficial. Reading aloud to the child, playing spelling games and learning after setting the curriculum to music have also found to benefit dyslexics greatly.

An individual approach to each patient, be it in the form of using specially developed soft ware or teaching while involving a pet in the proceedings, or marking left or right in a pair of shoes, is always found to be a great help.

Medical treatment be it in the form of antihistamines, anti motion sickness drugs, or various vitamin or mineral supplements is doubtful at best and dubious at worst. The DORE program developed by the British also involved repetition in an attempt to carry out reading and writing at a cerebellar level, but did not show good results.

With special attention paid to their educational needs, dyslexics can lead well integrated lives in main stream society and show case their often surprising talents, all it requires is a little patience.

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Overcoming Dyslexia

Since dyslexia is a complex condition, involving several and complex connections in the auditory, visual, speech and comprehension areas of the cerebral hemispheres, the management also involves a holistic approach where considering each patient as a unique case gives excellent results. In addition to the disability in reading and comprehension, there maybe an involvement of the psyche of the patient, with its own set of complications.

Early detection, thorough evaluation and an understanding and “made-to-measure” approach to the patient works wonders, and most dyslexics then lead wonderfully productive and fruitful lives. Many dyslexics are now detected early, thanks to comprehensive reading programs with emphasis on phonics which most schools follow.

Spotting symptoms early is important and really help in treatment. Early detection is very important to finally overcoming dyslexia. As the name suggests, dyslexics have difficulty with the written word, the best example being ttheir tendency to transpose letters as in ‘red and green’ becomes ‘ged and reen’. However, first it is essential to rule out any accompanying disturbance in hearing and sight. There maybe a difficulty in working with numbers, a wrong sense of direction and a lack of time sense. Sometimes there is attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder as well.

An evaluation for dyslexia is best carried out by a trained specialist like a neurologist. Testing involves evaluation of reading, writing and spelling skills, with concomitant evaluation of spoken language, memory and intelligence with hearing and visual tests when deemed appropriate. Many dyslexics are found to have above average intelligence and this may be channeled into a field which does not require much reading and writing such as music or art.

Some accompanying disorders can be also seen in dyslexics

  • They may have behavioral problems, ranging from extreme shyness to extreme aggressiveness.
  • They may try several means to hide their non comprehension of the written word.
  • They maybe have an inability to calculate simple problems.
  • They frequently mix up right and left sides.
  • A poor hearing or visual disorder can be present
  • Dyslexics may see themselves as “misfits”.
  • The drop-out rate from educational institutes is very high.

As can be seen from the above list, dyslexics require not only medical but also psychological and social rehabilitation so that they can become productive members of society. Early detection is an absolute must and it is commonly seen that children detected with Dyslexia after 12 years rarely go on to lead fulfilling academic lives, having dropped out of schools due to sheer misery.

A one on one approach is the best way to educate these children, which can be had in a “remedial classes” in regular streams or else in special institutes. Stress has to be laid on phonetic decoding skills, either with special auditory or visual aids. Special software has been developed for this in the form of modules which gradually help in regularising the education. Musical training is found to be extremely beneficial, as is training in art. Medication may be required to control any attendant attention deficit, hyperactivity or extreme disruptive behaviour.

Rather than labeling these differently abled individuals as “trouble makers”, a little effort on the part of society as a whole can lead to a very colorful life for dyslexics and society as a whole can benefit from their unique gifts.

 

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Types Of Dyslexia

Traditionally referred to as “slow learning disorders”, many disabilities relating to language processing are now called as Dyslexia. They form a complex group of disorders, the sufferers of which face difficulties in decoding spoken and written words.

In the strictest etymological terms, dyslexia means having problems with reading written text. However, this does not embrace the problem in its entirety which actually includes difficulties in reading, writing, spelling and coordinating among all three. It is believed that almost 5 –10% of the population suffers from some form of dyslexia but exact figures need more documentary evidence.

In addition to difficulty in language processing, dyslexics may have associated hearing deficits, poor short term memory, lack of physical co-ordination, lack of sense of direction and a lack of time sense. Co-existing conditions include dysgraphia, dyscalculia, attention deficit disorders(ADD) and cluttering speech.

In keeping with the basic disorder, Dyslexia can be defined as “A learning disability that is at its core neurological in origin and is symptomatic with difficulties in recognizing letters and words along with poor reading, decoding and spelling abilities.

Dyslexia Types

Classification helps a better understanding of this complex disorder. Classification in turn maybe based on the following

  • Aetiology(causes)
  • The Pathology or
  • The Symptoms.

Aetiological Classification

  • Developmental – Developmental Dyslexia is caused by biological anomalies during the prenatal period or in early childhood.
  • Acquired – Acquired Dyslexia is caused mainly by cranial trauma in later life and a prime example of adult dyslexia.

Pathological Classification

Stems from the magnocellular theory of dyslexia which postulates that a neurological weakness in the magnocellular area of the thalamus of the brain where rapid processing of visual and auditory cues takes place leads to the manifestations. Accordingly, Dyslexia can be classified into

  • Auditory Dyslexia – These individuals have poor hearing or disability in processing auditory cues but will have normal visual processing.
  • Visual Dyslexia – Poor visual cue processing but normal hearing.

Symptomatic Classification

  • Surface – In this type of disorder, frequent mistakes are seen with inconsistent pronunciations of words that have similar spelling. Eg: Bowl maybe pronounced to rhyme with howl. Even though there maybe recognition of the spelling, there are problems with whole word recognition.
  • Phonological – This indicates an inability to grasp the phonic nature of language.There is a pronounced difficulty in reading new words because of an inability to grasp links between individual sounds or phonemes.
  • Double Deficit Dyslexia  – Double deficit dyslexia combines the manifestations of both the above types.

Another symptomatic classification based on Border`s Reading-Spelling Pattern is as follows

  • Dysphonetic Dyslexia – This maybe regarded as the symptomatic form of auditory dyslexia.Typical sufferers face difficulty in connecting sounds to symbols and also find it difficult to sound out words.Spelling mistakes reveal poor phonetic grasp of the language.There is a problem in mentally processing language.Any disruption in the pathway of hearing can also lead to this type.
  • Dysedetic Dyslexia  – This is visual dyslexia in a symptomatic guise.It refers to how a person sees and mentally processes the symbols,letters and word concepts of language into correct written formats.Even with a good grasp of phonetic concepts,sufferers have difficulty with whole word recognition and spelling.Similarity between the intended word and the actual word written will allow the reader to guess at what the word was, but the spelling is still far from correct. Eg: Telephone maybe spelt as telafone.There may also be a transposition or reversal of the letters in a word. Eg: Need maybe written as deen.
  • Mixed Dyslexia – Mixed Dyslexia is a combination of the above two with difficulty in processing language audio-visually.This form is not very amenable to correction.

The description of the types of dyslexia would be incomplete without describing “Orthographic Dyslexia”. Orthography relates to the symbols used in the written form of a language. In English, this denotes the 26 letters of the alphabet. In pictographic languages like Chinese and Japanese, it includes thousands of symbols for different words. Orthographic dyslexics have difficulty in identifying and manipulating letters in reading, writing and spelling. Although, they have good phonetic grasp, they are unable to manipulate the letters and respond better to verbal cues.

In conclusion, it would be safe to say that dyslexia is a very general term encompassing a vast spectrum of disorders relating to language and an individualistic approach to each case will be advantageous in understanding and managing each particular patient.

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Disclaimer - The material on this site is intended to be of general informational use only and does not constitute medical advice, probable diagnosis or recommended treatments. Please consult with a licensed doctor for medical advice.
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