Living With Dyslexia

An Insight Into Dyslexia 

Usually, dyslexia can be referred as a "specific learning disability" and it has been related to other speech and language, as well as learning disorders. Children suffering from dyslexia usually have an undesirable outcome if it is not detected on time.  

So, Dyslexia Is…

In essence, it is defined as a difficulty in mastering word reading, accuracy, spelling and/or fluency. These are independent of socio-economic status, IQ level, history of head trauma and/or other neurological disorders. Phonemes, which are the sound of the letters or groups of letters, cannot be well appreciated by people with this problem.

This disorder results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. When the father suffers from dyslexia, there is a 50 percent chance that his male off-springs will develop dyslexia overtime. There are a number of studies that indicate that previous familial history of learning disability and delayed speech and language enhances the chance of developing dyslexia in these families.

Despite the expanded research, a specific gene or genes that are directly related to dyslexia have not been identified yet. 

Surprisingly, these studies also found that dyslexia is highly associated with some other disorders such as autoimmune diseases, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder and other learning disorders. It is believed that the same genes share the same location in the DNA organization. Yet, these results continue to be controversial within the scientific community and the exact biological mechanisms behind dyslexia remain unknown.

Why Is It So Hard To read? The Reading Process Of A Dyslexic

It is well known that over time, some regions of the brain become specialized and involved in word reading, and are usually located in the dominant hemisphere of the brain, where language resides. In a non-dyslexic child, a hypothetical reading network is developed over time, while children are acquiring the reading skills and abilities related to the reading learning process.

A dyslexic patient has difficulties in understanding spoken language, identified by professionals as a defect in phonological awareness. This is accompanied also by visuospatial attention and perception defects and comes before reading difficulties. 

See Also: Dyscalculia: When Math Simply Doesn't Add Up

These problems are present in about 46 percent of dyslexic patients, although some clinicians argue that dyslexia and visual stress are two independent conditions.