in the clAssroom

Understanding Dyslexia

By olIVIa K. PItKEthly, Ma, lMhc

Imagine every read you sentence looks this like.

For one out of every five people, it does. Dyslexia, the most common learning disability, impairs the part of the brain where sounds of language are put together to form words or break words into sounds. Children with dyslexia may have trouble with rhyming, spelling and recognizing sight words such as “the” and “in.” Letters within a word are sometimes reversed, as are words in a sentence. Numbers can also be reversed, such as 248 into 284.

The letters “b” and “d” are most commonly reversed. But, if your child reads “big” instead of “dig,” that doesn’t necessarily warrant a diagnosis of dyslexia. Many beginning readers do this. It’s when they continue to make these mistakes and cannot correct themselves after a period of time, a further look into your child’s ability to sound out words or reading skills is suggested.

Licensed school psychologist Terry Mattingly says early intervention is key. For parents who suspect their child may have a learning disability, she suggests having the child evaluated by a school psychologist as early as possible. In fact, The Morris Center of Gainesville and Florida State University published findings showing that dyslexia could be prevented for 97.6 percent of 5-year-olds at risk for dyslexia if they received early intervention with a research-based program.

“I would encourage parents to be wise consumers and beware of treatments that are not research-based,” Mattingly states. “Becoming involved with the state association or national association (for learning disabilities) is also a great resource.”

Unfortunately, children with learning disabilities may experience teasing by fellow classmates, so it’s important to be sensitive. Elizabeth Hollingsworth, mother of two, has dealt with dyslexia her entire life.

“My mom said when I would read prior to first grade, I would only read with the book upside down and backward,” she shares. “I remember getting pulled out of class weekly for some learning assistance which started the embarrassment. When I would read aloud in class in elementary school, the kids would laugh, so my defense was to become the class clown.”

Hollingsworth was held back one grade because of her reading, and to this day she says it’s embarrassing to admit what year she graduated high school, especially if someone knows her age.

Luckily, Hollingsworth had tutoring, which helped her reading, and healthy coping skills to manage the emotional stress of having dyslexia. Even today, she still struggles with the correct use of some words, such as “there” and “their.”

Children of a parent with dyslexia have a 50 percent chance of developing it themselves, and 100 percent chance if both parents have it. Hollingsworth is more mindful of this when helping her two boys read.

“I check with the teachers pretty regularly to make sure they don’t notice any signs, so I can get them help early if it’s needed,” she says. “Early intervention is a big indicator of success.” 

SIGNS OF A learnIng dIsaBIlITy

• Is late to recognize letters • Has trouble rhyming • Has difficulty listing words that begin with the same sound • Is slow to learn the sounds of letters and letter combinations • Has difficulty recalling the sounds of letters and letter combinations rapidly • Has trouble learning to recognize words • Has difficulty learning to decode unknown words • Reads slowly and/or in a wordby-word manner • Is reluctant to read • Has weak spelling • Writes far less than other children of the same age