What is dyslexia ?
Dyslexia is a term used in the science used for serious problems with being able to read words.
About the origin is still much debate, but generally it is believed that the cause of the reading problem lies in the poor functioning of phonological language processing.
Dyslexia research
Already in 1881, the disease was described by Oswald Berkhan, but it was Rudolf Berlin who coined the term dyslexia above in 1887. The term was used to describe the case of a boy who had severe difficulty learning to read and write, while outside these areas seemed to have normal intelligence.
Research has shown that dyslexia a neurological cause. Even though there are numerous variants and causes for dyslexia, in many cases, the brain is not capable of Visual or auditory information to interpret. The brain can either partly, or in the case of a mild form fully compensate by other brain functions. This is depending on the extent of the condition. At a young age can stimulation and training of the brain lead to better compensation. Dyslexia has mainly affect reading comprehension, spelling and vocabulary.
Forms of dyslexia
Research from the neuro psychology has shown that there are several different forms of dyslexia exist. These hang together with specific problems that one can experience when reading words. Dyslexia can occur in children as a development disorder, or as a result of brain damage. Children who get the designation ' dyslexia ', turn out to form a heterogeneous group. There may be problems in recognizing the Visual Word picture, or problems in the atmosphere of understanding language and sounds. Most dyslexic children (85%) turn out not so much to be having trouble recognizing the Visual Word picture, but with the connection of a letter with a sound.
Two forms which are described below may occur in patients with brain damage. Surface Dyslexia means that one has trouble recognizing the word picture. In phonological dyslexia is the opposite: it has no problem with the logotype but pronouncing words. Here we encounter problems especially when reading unfamiliar or nonsense words. Possible hang these disorders with damage to specific areas in the brains. In phonological dyslexia, this is the center of Broca and surface dyslexia in the left temporal lobe.
Dyslexia diagnosis
In the Netherlands diagnosed with dyslexia only be made by a physician, a health psychologist or remedial included in the BIG register. In Flanders also Masters and Bachelors in speech therapy trained.
To establish the diagnosis should be excluded that the reading and spelling problems have other causes, such as another disorder or poor reading and spelling instruction in primary school. It must also be shown that quality tutoring not run in the backlog.
Heredity
Dyslexia tends to run in families, and relatives of dyslexics often have other language problems. Dyslexia is more common in boys than girls, and there are strong indications that it is hereditary. The chance that a boy is dyslexic when his father it is, is probably 50%. This is slightly lower for girls. Gene markers on chromosomes 1 and 15 have been identified in dyslexic families.
Feature
Early childhood
Dyslexia is a developmental disorder that affects people of all ages are concerned, but the symptoms differ by age. In studies in children with a genetic risk of dyslexia are difficulties with speech production and grammatical development reported at the age of 30 months, followed by a slower acquisition of vocabulary during the years before they go to school, resulting in delays in phonological development alphabet knowledge in young schoolchildren. Reports of parents with speech and language delays in children with reading difficulties are common in epidemiological studies.
Later youth
Dyslexia shows the full impact in children of school age. Although in most cases the speech perception is intact, dyslexic children have difficulty thinking about the sound structure of spoken words. By such phonological problems is difficult for them to learn link between sounds and letters of words printed. The majority of dyslexic children have difficulty with a phonetic approach to reading, and in spelling, they are not able to give the sound structure of words.
Although dyslexic children overcome many of their problems, they have as adults subtle problems with listening and reading and writing. By functional brain we begin to understand why this is so. It is found that when dyslexic adults to say or rhyming words and so verbal short-term memory must perform tasks, they use only a portion of the brain areas normally involved. It is probable that their phonological difficulties are the result of a weak connection between the language areas on the front and back of the left hemisphere.
Research
Knowledge of the indicators of dyslexia and reading skills has led to innovations in treatment. A groundbreaking study showed that children who performed poorly in a phonological processing job before they were in school, those who received training in sound categorization through rhyme and alliteration, especially when it was combined with learning letter sounds. As a result, it is proved that training in the field of phonological awareness combined with structured reading exercises, is an effective treatment for poor readers. It gives better progress than training in reading and phonological awareness alone.
Doubts
Although the term dyslexia topic of discussion, there are very strong indications that unexpected reading difficulties in children are caused by language disorders in the phonological area. Recent research has shown that dyslexic children not only have trouble reading, but also in understanding spoken language. The latter would allow may be related to disorders in the verbal working memory. Children with reading difficulties often have many psychosomatic problems: complaints of headache and difficulties are common. A detailed description of the case and the family history dyslexic difficulties may be discovered. With standard testing in children of school age can easily knowledge of nursery rhymes and letters are examined.
Clinical (treatment) experience shows that with regard to dyslexia is wrong to wait and see how the child develops. A delay in learning to read can quickly turn into a significant reading disorder if nothing is done.
Educational neglect
Dyslexia can be established only if it can be excluded that the child has had a bad education. In the Netherlands, teaches 25% of children lack smooth and error-free reading in elementary school. Of these, 10% are functionally illiterate. Estimates of the percentage of dyslexics range from 1% -3.5%. Yet almost all children can learn to read. This means that a large part of the children learn to read by factors other than inadequate dyslexia. Should would not speak of dyslexia, but a quality problem. The quality of instruction is crucial to learn to read well. The diagnosis of dyslexia is sometimes wrongly and a de facto educational neglect. The reason is that schools, teachers and parents often look for problems in the child and do not have sufficient attention to its own role.