What Is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that remained unclear to scientists until the 20th century. In 1887, physicians finally named the disorder dyslexia after an observation of an adolescent male who experienced significant difficulties in learning to read and write. Dyslexia is the most commonly known learning disability, affecting 80% of all those diagnosed as having learning disability (Lyon et al, 2003). Dyslexia became categorized as a learning disability in the 1896 and has been debated for many years (Snowing et al, 2003). According to the US National Institutes of Health, Dyslexia is a disorder that affects reading, writing, spelling, and sometimes speaking in children. Children with dyslexia most commonly have trouble rhyming

Dyslexic individuals also lack the ability to comprehend text. Although every child is different from the other in reading rate, but if a child is significantly performing below his or her peers after months of reading instructions, this could point to the direction of dyslexia. In addition, having the fear of going to school especially on Mondays could also indicate possible sign of dyslexia. These set of children complain or even cry on school days for the fear that they can be asked to read and spell (Siegel, 2006).Children with this kind of phobia can be identified in kindergarten and intervention programs can be rendered as appropriate. To diagnose dyslexia a physician will examine the child and ask for a history of symptoms related to dyslexia and a complete medical history. The physician will determine if the child is dyslexic and if so will refer the child to a learning specialist or child psychologist for further testing. The tests the child may be asked to complete by the specialist include: Cognitive processing tests that measure thinking ability, IQ test that will measure the child’s intellectual functioning, and Tests to measure speaking, reading, spelling, and writing abilities. (Bucciarell & Rais,

In childhood, the treatment for dyslexia focuses on remediation (Bakker, 2006). Remediation includes teaching a child small amounts of information at a time, teaching the same concepts many times, and involves all the senses (hearing, touching, seeing, smelling, and speaking). Another treatment method used for children with dyslexia is compensatory strategies. Compensatory strategies teach the child to work around the effects of dyslexia. These strategies include: recording classroom lessons, homework assignments, and texts, using flashcards, sitting in the front of the classroom, using a computer that provides spelling and grammar checks, and allowing for more time for the child to complete assignments and homework. (Bucciarell & Rais,