Dyslexia KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Introduction The word dyslexia comes from the Greek and means ‘difficulty with words’, and encompasses a wide variety of features. There are many positive aspects to being dyslexic, including being creative, being able to think multidimensionally (that is, in 3d), or in pictures, thinking laterally and being good at solving problems. Being dyslexic is not just about mis-spelling words, or mixing up letters. It can also include difficulty in organizing thoughts, differentiating between left and right and problems with short term memory.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
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Like all of us, dyslexics have their own individual mixture of strengths and weaknesses. Some may find things harder or easier than others, and may also have developed different ways of dealing with their dyslexia. Dyslexics may really struggle in education as reading and writing are the main skills that are valued. Children who are dyslexic have often been made to feel stupid at school, and may never have had the chance to find or show their creative skills. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Definitions of Dyslexia ď Ź ď Ź
International Dyslexia Association's definition 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. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
British Dyslexia Association's definition of dyslexia (2002) "Dyslexia is best described as a combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process in one or more of reading, spelling, writing. Accompanying weaknesses may be identified in areas of speed of processing, short-term memory, sequencing and organisation, auditory and/or visual perception, spoken language and motor skills. It is particularly related to mastering and using written language, which may include alphabetic, numeric and musical notation. Some dyslexics have outstanding creative skills. Others have strong oral skills. Some have no outstanding talents. They all have strengths. Dyslexia can occur despite normal intellectual ability and teaching. It is independent of socioeconomic or language background."
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British Dyslexia Institute's definition of dyslexia Dyslexia causes difficulties in learning to read, write and spell. Short-term memory, mathematics, concentration, personal organisation and sequencing may also be affected. Dyslexia usually arises from a weakness in the processing of language-based information. Biological in origin, it tends to run in families, but environmental factors also contribute. Dyslexia can occur at any level of intellectual ability. It is not the result of poor motivation, emotional disturbance, sensory impairment or lack of opportunities, but it may occur alongside any of these. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
British Psychological Society's definition of dyslexia Dyslexia is evident when accurate and fluent word reading and/or spelling is learnt very incompletely or with great difficulty.
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Classification of Dyslexia ď Ź
Dyslexia can cause deficits in two major areas associated with reading: sight word recall and retention, and phonological processing. Often dyslexics experience significant difficulties in one of these areas, yet little to no difficulties in the other. However, a diagnosis of one type of dyslexia does not mean that the other type of dyslexia is not present, simply that it is not severe enough to clinically diagnosis. This is why DIA chooses to diagnosis dyslexia using the Boder Classification System. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Boder Classification System for Dyslexia
DECODING: Involves either sight recognition of words which are phonetically irregular such as “should, enough, etc…” or phonetic decoding where words are read by breaking them down into units or syllables. Both of these decoding processes are needed to read or decode words. ENCODING: Ability to spell words. Words are spelled two ways:
(A) Spelling by sight or visualizing the word as a whole (B) Spelling by sound or breaking the word down into its sound parts or phonemes. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Dyseidetic Dyslexia If a child can’t read (decode) and/or spell (encode) because he or she is unable to remember whole, irregular sight words (also known as eidetic words) this condition is known as Dyseidetic Dyslexia. Dysphonetic Dyslexia If a child can’t read (decode) and/or spell (encode) because he or she is unable to break phonetically regular words (also known as phonetic words) down into their sound parts, this condition is known as Dysphonetic Dyslexia. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Dysphoneidetic Dyslexia If a child can’t read (decode) and spell (encode) words either eidetically or phonetically, this is known as Mixed Dyslexia or Dysphoneidetic Dyslexia. This is the severest form of dyslexia because it involves both types of coding functions.
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Cognitive deficits in dyslexia:
Dyslexia is characterized by phonological processing difficulties ( Vellutino et al., 2004).
Children with dyslexia typically have difficulties that primarily affect the phonological domain; the most consistently reported phonological difficulties are limitations of verbal short-term memory and, more directly related to their reading problems, problems with phonological awareness. There is also evidence that children with dyslexia have trouble. with long-term verbal learning. This problem may account for many classroom difficulties, including problems memorizing the days of the week or the months of the year, mastering multiplication tables GEJO JOHN and learning a foreignKUNNAMPALLIL language.
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. In a similar vein, this problem may be responsiblefor the word-finding difficulties and poor vocabulary development oftenobserved in children with dyslexia. poor phonology is relatedto poor reading performance irrespective of IQ and also, it seems,irrespective of language background (Caravolas, 2005; Goulandris, 2003).
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Symptoms of dyslexia
Preschool At this stage, children are developing the underlying oral language base necessary for learning to read. Delay in talking Difficulty expressing ideas correctly Difficulty with recognizing and producing rhymes Difficulty remembering rote information such as letter names (also phone number and address) Difficulty remembering and following directions Delay in separating and correctly identifying the sounds (phonemes, syllables) that make up words. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Kindergarten: Difficulty remembering letter names and sounds
Difficulty writing the letters of the alphabet
Difficulty sounding out words
Difficulty remembering ‘sight’ words
Difficulty remembering how to spell words phonetically
Difficulty blending sounds together
Difficulty distinguishing among words that are similar in appearance
Difficulty remembering phonic rules
Difficulty with multi-step instructions
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Grades 1 to 2
At this stage, children are developing basic word recognition skills both through the use of word attack strategies and contextual cues. Success in these grades depends on the ability to decode and encode. Continued difficulties with learning letter- symbol correspondences Confusion of visually similar letters (b/d/p, w/m, h/n, f/t) Confusion of letters that sound the same (d/t, b/p, f/v) Difficulties remembering basic sight vocabulary
Problems with segmenting words into individual sounds and blending sounds to form words
Reading and spelling errors that involve difficulties with sequencing and monitoring letter - sound correspondence such as reversals of letters (past/pats), omissions (tip/trip), additions (slip/sip), substitutions (rip/rib), and transpositions (stop/pots)
Omission of grammatical endings in reading and/or writing (-s, -ed, -ing, etc.)
Difficulty remembering spelling words over time and applying spelling rules
Extremely slow in written work
Cannot work independently
Produces messy papers with uneven letters, out of line numbers, and multiple erasures
KUNNAMPALLIL Homework assignments take much longer GEJO thanJOHN peers
Grade 3 At this stage students should be “reading to learn”, not “learning to read”. They learn to mistrust themselves. They are now comparing themselves to their peers and find themselves lacking. Continue to struggle with learning to read Great imaginations and ideas, but cannot express themselves on paper Lack basic handwriting and spelling skills necessary to get their messages on paper Math begins to become a struggle, as problems solving and word problems become more complex Homework assignments continue to take longer than intended KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Grade 4 At this stage, students are expected to read for content, identify main ideas, sort ideas by category, defend ideas in writing, outline, understand vocabulary, etc. They should be able to write automatically. The dyslexic child is still struggling to recognize and decode simple words, and cannot cope with what is expected of them. Unable to organize written work
Handwriting is cramped, rushed or sloppy
Ashamed to admit they need assistance and become angry with themselves
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Continue to lack an understanding of time concepts Difficulty finding the words they need as quickly as they need them, and substitute this for “um, um, the, um, um, etc..” Forget names of people, places, things, and dates Does poorly in timed drills in math even though they are usually a natural mathematical thinker
Does poorly on timed tests where familiar words seem to evaporate
Homework assignments continue to take longer than intended KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Grade 5 to 8
At this stage, children progressing normally have mastered basic reading skills and are now expected to learn new information from reading. Many students with dyslexia continue to have significant difficulties with developing word recognition skills and therefore have trouble coping with more advanced reading activities necessary to succeed in the upper elementary grades and beyond.
Continues to have difficulty discriminating between and among words with multiple meaning and words that sound alike but are spelled differently
Continues to have difficulty with concepts of time KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Structuring homework assignments are a chore
Lacks study skills, management, test-taking strategies, note-taking and outlining strategies
Difficulty with note taking in class
Trouble learning a foreign language
Homework assignments continue to take longer than intended KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
High School to College
Students at this stage are expected to analyze and synthesize information in written form as well as acquire factual information. Although many individuals with dyslexia may have compensated for some of their difficulties with reading, others may continue to have problems with spelling, completing homework and taking tests.
Difficulty reading and spelling words with multiple syllables, often omitting entire syllables as well as making single sound errors
Lack of awareness of word structure (prefixes, roots, suffixes)
Frequent misreading of common sight words (where, there, what, then, when, etc.)
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Difficulties with reading comprehension and learning new information from text because of underlying word recognition difficulties
If underlying oral language problems exist affecting vocabulary knowledge and grammar, difficulties in comprehension of text will occur Significant difficulties in writing related to problems in spelling as well as organizing ideas
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Directional Confusion
Directional confusion may take a number of forms, from being uncertain of which is left and right to being unable to read a map accurately, says Dr. Beve Hornsby in her book Overcoming Dyslexia. ‘A child should know his left and right by the age of five, and be able to distinguish someone else’s by the age of seven. Directional confusion affects other concepts such as up and down, top and bottom, compass directions, keeping one’s place when playing games, being able to copy the gym teacher’s movements when he is facing you, and so on. As many as eight out of ten severely dyslexic children have directional confusion. The percentage is lower for those with a mild condition,’ KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Directional confusion is the reason for reversing of letters, whole words or numbers, or for so-called mirror writing. The following symptoms indicate directional confusion: The dyslexic may reverse letters like b and d, or p and q, either when reading or writing. He may invert letters, reading or writing n as u, m as w, d as q, p as b, f as t. He may mirror write letters and perhaps numbers, ‘ ’ for ‘y’, ‘ε’ for ‘3’. He may read or write words like no for on, rat for tar, won for now, saw for was. He may read or write 17 for 71. He may mirror write words, like ‘ ’ for Susan.
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Directional confusion also explains a lot of the difficulties some dyslexics have in learning to tie their shoe-laces. Most children can tie their shoe-laces at the age of five. Over 90 percent of dyslexics are later than average in acquiring this skill, and without intervention around half do not pick this up until the age of ten or later, and even then are not 100 percent successful. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Sequencing Difficulties ď Ź
Many dyslexics have trouble with sequencing, i.e. perceiving something in sequence and also remembering the sequence. Naturally this will affect their ability to read and spell correctly. After all, every word consists of letters in a specific sequence. In order to read one has to perceive the letters in sequence, and also remember what word is represented by the sequence of letters in question. By simply changing the sequence of the letters in name, it can become mean or amen. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
The following are a few of the dyslexia symptoms that indicate sequencing difficulties: When reading, the dyslexic may put letters in the wrong order, reading felt as left, act as cat, reserve as reverse, expect as except. He may put syllables in the wrong order, reading animal as ‘aminal’, hospital as ‘hopsital’, enemy as ‘emeny’. He may put words in the wrong order, reading are there for there are. The dyslexic may write letters in the wrong order, spelling Simon as ‘Siomn’, time as ‘tiem’, child as ‘chidl’. He may omit letters, i.e. reading or writing cat for cart, wet for went, sing for string. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
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Dyslexics may also have trouble remembering the order of the alphabet, strings of numbers, for example telephone numbers, the months of a year, the seasons, and events in the day. Younger children may also find it hard to remember the days of the week. Some are unable to repeat longer words orally without getting the syllables in the wrong order, for example words like preliminary and statistical. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Difficulties with the Little Words
A frequent comment made by parents of children struggling with their reading is, ‘He is so careless, he gets the big difficult words, but keeps making silly mistakes on all the little ones.’ Certainly, the poor reader gets stuck on difficult words, but many do seem to make things worse by making mistakes on simple words they should be able to manage — like if, to, and. The following are indications of problems with the little words: Misreads little words, such as a for and, the for a, from for for, then for there, were for with. Omits or reads twice little words like the, and, but, in. Adds little words which do not appear in the text. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
It is important to note that this is extremely common, and not a sign that a child is particularly careless or lazy. There are three likely reasons for this, says Dr. Roger Morgan in his book Helping Children Read. Firstly, big words are not actually more difficult to remember once they’ve been seen once, than the common little words. Aeroplane is not much like other words and is fairly easy to recognize (or to guess correctly when you come across a long word starting with ‘ae’ in a book with aeroplanes in it!) — but telling the difference between if and of needs much closer inspection.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Secondly, when a difficult word is spotted coming up in a sentence, there is a natural tendency to look ahead to it and pay less attention to the smaller words leading up to it — increasing the risk of ‘careless’ mistakes. This is like a mountaineer setting his eyes on the mountain ahead and tripping over a molehill on the way. Thirdly, getting the small ‘linking words’ in a sentence right (like to, and, so) relies very much on knowing the meaning of the whole sentence. If you are a child spending so much time on fighting with each word that you’ve lost the meaning of the sentence, then you’ve also lost your major clue to the smaller words in it. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
As an illustration of how a child’s reading can suffer if he hasn’t grasped the meaning of the sentence as a whole, consider the following sentence with a word missing. ‘His mother put his dinner down — the kitchen table.’ Knowing the meaning of the sentence, you know that the missing word must be on. But a child who has spent perhaps half a minute struggling to get to that point in the sentence after getting stuck on mother and dinner (and noticing kitchen coming up as the next unknown) quite literally won’t have a clue what should go in the gap. If the word on is there instead of the gap, he may well confuse it with no if he has difficulties recognizing the order of letters, because he doesn’t have the meaning at his fingertips to guide him as a good reader does. This is like the learner driver who expends so much concentration on just making the car go that he has no idea where he is in town, says Dr. Morgan. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Bizarre Reading and Spelling
Bizarre reading or spelling is a severe form of dyslexia and is characterized by the following symptoms: Guesses wildly at words regardless of whether they make sense or not. In her book Overcoming Dyslexia Dr. Beve Hornsby uses the following example to illustrate how some dyslexics guess wildly at words: “Now the children were discussing their new play. ‘We need a brave person for the mountain rescue,’ explained the boy,” was read as “How the children were designing their new play. ‘We need a brave man of the mount chishimse,’ ixslating the boy.”
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Spells bizarrely, for example substance spelled ‘sepedns’, last spelled ‘lenaka’, about spelled ‘chehat’, may spelled ‘mook’, did spelled ‘don’, or to spelled ‘anianiwe’. These words bear little, if any, relation to the sounds in the words. See an example of bizarre spelling below (Miles & Miles, Help for Dyslexic Children): KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
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Late Talking or Immature Speech
Research has revealed a dramatic link between the abnormal development of spoken language and learning disabilities such as dyslexia. The following are just a few examples: A study in 1970 of Dr. Renate Valtin of Germany, based on one hundred pairs of dyslexic and normal children, found indications of backwardness in speech development and a greater frequency of speech disturbances among dyslexics than among normal children. According to Dr. Beve Hornsby, author of Overcoming Dyslexia, about 60 percent of dyslexics were late talkers. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
In her book Learning Disabilities: Theories, Diagnosis, and Teaching Strategies author Janet Lerner states, ‘language problems of one form or another are the underlying basis for many learning disabilities. Oral language disorders include poor phonological awareness, delayed speech, disorders of grammar or syntax, deficiencies in vocabulary acquisition, and poor understanding of oral language.’ KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
In most cases, a baby should be able to understand simple words and commands from the age of nine months. From around a year he should be saying his first words. By two he should have a vocabulary of up to 200 words, and be using simple two-word phrases such as ‘drink milk’. By three he should have a vocabulary of up to 900 words and be using full sentences with no words omitted. He may still mix up his consonants but his speech should be comprehensible to strangers. By four, he should be fully able to talk, although he may still make grammatical errors.
If a child talks immaturely, or still makes unexpected grammatical errors in his speech when he is five years old, this should alert the parents to probable later reading problems. The parents should immediately take steps to improve the child’s language
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Difficulties with Handwriting
Some dyslexics suffer from poor handwriting skills. The word dysgraphia is often used to describe a difficulty in this area, and is characterized by the following symptoms: Generally illegible writing. Letter inconsistencies. Mixture of upper/lower case letters or print/cursive letters. Irregular letter sizes and shapes. Unfinished letters. Struggle to use writing as a communicative tool. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
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In her book Learning Disabilities: Theories, Diagnosis, and Teaching Strategies, Janet Lerner states that some of the underlying shortcomings that interfere with handwriting performance are (1.) poor motor skills, (2.) faulty visual perception of letters and words, and (3.) difficulty in retaining visual impressions. The student’s problem may also be in cross-modal transfer from visual to motor modalities. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Difficulties with Math
The language of mathematics is often poorly understood by the dyslexic up until the age of twelve — and even beyond. The word dyscalculia is often used to refer to this problem. Difficulties with math can be identified by the following symptoms: The dyslexic may have a problem with numbers and calculations involving adding, subtracting and time tables. He may be confused by similar-looking mathematical signs: + and ×; –, ÷ and =; < (less than) and > (greater than). He may not grasp that the words ‘difference’, ‘reduction’ and ‘minus’ all suggest ‘subtraction’. He may understand the term ‘adding’, yet be thrown if asked to ‘find the total’. The dyslexic may reverse numbers, and read or write 17 for 71. He may transpose numbers i.e., 752 – 572. He may have a difficulty with mental arithmetic. He may have a problem with telling the time. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
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Around 60 percent of dyslexics have difficulty with basic mathematics. Some dyslexics are only numerically dyslexic but this can also be most embarrassing, as any person will soon find if he sends a check for $906.00 instead of $609.00!
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Other dyslexia signs include:
Makes up a story, based on the illustrations, which bears no relation to the text. Reads very slowly and hesitantly. Loses orientation on a line or page while reading, missing lines or reading previously-read lines again. Reads aloud hesitantly, word by word, monotonously. Tries to sound the letters of the word, but is then unable to say the correct word. For example, sounds the letters ‘c-a-t’ but then says cold. Mispronounces words, or puts stress on the wrong syllables. Reads only in the present tense although the text is in the past. Foreshortens words, for example ‘portion’ for proportion. Substitutes another word of similar meaning, for example dog for pup. Omits prefixes, omits suffixes or adds suffixes. Reads with poor comprehension, due to spending so much energy trying to read the words. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Remembers little of what he reads. Spells words as they sound, for example ‘rite’ for right. Cannot write or match the appropriate letter when given the sound. Often ignores punctuation. He may omit full stops or commas and fail to see the need for capital letters. Poor at copying from the board. Has trouble attaching names to things and people. KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
Thank you KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN