The World Federation of Neurology defines ‘Dyslexia’ as a disorder manifested by difficulties in learning to read, despite conversational instruction, adequate intelligence and socio – cultural opportunities. The literal meaning of Dyslexia – Difficulty with language (dys – difficulty & lexia – language).
Dyslexia is also known as specific learning difficulty. Such children exhibit a disorder in one or more of the basic processes involved in the understanding or in the use of spoken or written language . This may be manifested in disorders of listening , thinking , reading , talking , spelling , writing or arithmetic.
TYPES OF DYSLEXIA:
There are two types of Dyslexia:
Developmental Dyslexia
Acquired Dyslexia
(i) Developmental Dyslexia :
This is an inherited neurological defect . There are many evidences to show that Dyslexia is largely inherited .
(ii) Acquired Dyslexia :
A person who was not born with Dyslexia but may have lost the ability in the use of language due to environmental factors such as trauma during birth, some accident, epilepsy etc.
No two people with Dyslexia are same. The problem may differ from person to person. Dyslexia may be mild, moderate or extreme.
CAUSES:
The term Dyslexia has become a common problem amongst students. Researchers feel that dyslexia has a neurobiological & genetic basis.
TYPICAL ACADEMIC PROBLEMS OF LEARNING DISABILITY (LD)
Reading difficulty
• Difficulty in identifying letters and numbers . For example , a dyslexic child gets confused with p and q and 9 too.
• Confusion with words saw and saw . Though they are aware of the words they tend to read it reversal.
• Slow in reading.
• Reading without expression & pause.
• Unable to pronounce a particular word in the passage and these children omit or add words.
• Reading word by word, almost all words.
Writing Problems :
• Writes slowly..
• Holds pencil tightly . Gets tired of writing very quickly.
• Erases and overwrites often . This is reason why their hand writing is bad.
• Leaves words or even sentences while copying.
• Tends to write in small letters and they don’t give importance for punctuations while writing .
• Avoids writing whenever possible.
These children also have problem in calculations.
Visuals / Motor/ Perception Deficit :
• Letters collide with each other & leaves no space between words.
• Writes below the line.
Other Common Observations are :
• Reversal writing .
• Illegible writing.
• Formation of letters are very strange.
• Messy work.
Memory Deficit:
1. Memory loss.
2. Confusions with numbers .
3. Very poor vocabulary and forgets small words such as, in, was, at, the etc.,
4. Forgets name of objects.
Behavioral Problems :
1. Cannot sit quietly for a long time .
2. Short attention span
3. Disorganized.
Learning Disabilities in Adolescents :
These children with mild to severe learning disabilities begin to feel the stress of emotional abuse in unsympathetic school system. By this time they are branded as lazy, unmotivated, spoilt specimen etc. They are humiliated by parents, teachers and peer group.
Feeling of L.D Children :
I like to mention some feelings of L.D. Children. They feel that they are useless; they are incapable of doing anything. These children may be good at sports and other things. They have low self esteem. Though they may be good at sports and achieve in several other activity the parents and teachers nag about why he/ she is poor in academics.
About Madras Dyslexia Association ( MDA)
Madras Dyslexia Association commenced in the early 90’s . They are specialized in coaching dyslexic children. They conduct courses to train the parents based on their child’s needs. They hold week long and month long courses. They conduct remedial classes for children in the evenings .MDA runs a school by the name Ananya. They have classes upto standard X.
Madras Dyslexia Association is located at T. Nagar in Chennai.
