What Is Dyslexia? Read About Its Symptoms And Treatment

Dyslexia is classified as a dyslexia. It is characterized by problems in accuracy and fluency in recognizing words, making it difficult to write. In other words, people with dyslexia have difficulty reading and pronouncing the words they see written.

This disorder is usually associated with writing difficulties and problems in mathematical reasoning.

It is important to emphasize that the intellectual development of people with dyslexia is normal. Their difficulty in reading and writing is not due to intellectual problems.

Who is affected by dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a disease that in most cases is diagnosed during childhood. While it can be easily diagnosed in children, it is an ailment that lasts through adulthood, and this can cause serious problems.

According to statistics, dyslexia affects 5-10 percent of the population. In practice, this means that at least one in a class of 25 primary school students has dyslexia.

How does dyslexia affect life?

The first problems can be seen during a person’s first years of school. Difficulties in learning to read form a great wall for these children. This is not only related to studies, but can also affect their personal development; for it often has a great effect on their self-esteem.

In many cases, these difficulties cause indifference to reading. The consequences of this are:

• Insufficient or poor vocabulary
• Problems in reading comprehension
• Problems in understanding, reasoning, and drawing conclusions for difficult texts

People with dyslexia know their limitations in most cases. This explains why they so often have low self-esteem, anxiety and even depression.

Why does dyslexia occur?

We will continue by answering this question step by step.

1. How do we read and write words?

The most commonly accepted hypothesis in explaining reading and writing skills is the “two-way” model. According to this pattern, to write a word, we can:

• Retrieve it from our memory if we know the word in advance. This is called the “lexical path”. It is based on the visual recognition of the word in our vocabulary. This means that we store information in our memory based on how we see the word written. For example, imagine that we learn to write the word “bathroom”. The next time we want to write that word, we retrieve it from our memory, “the storehouse of our words”.

• Another option is to convert the phonemes that make up a word into graphemes. In other words, it converts sounds into a corresponding graphical representation. This option is used when writing new words. In the early years of childhood, we embraced these abilities to turn phonemes into graphemes. We learn that the letter B corresponds to some particular sound and that the letter S corresponds to some other sound. So we are able to write words we have never heard. It’s very simple: we learn the sounds that make up words and just present them in writing. This theory is based on the latest findings from brain imaging tests, as the existence of an anatomical basis has already been demonstrated.

2. What about what happens in the brain?

In general, this means that the connections between the language-related brain regions are reduced.

3. Which areas of the brain are related to language?

First, the Brocan area. It is found in the dominant hemisphere of the frontal lobe, which for most people means the left hemisphere. However, it is found in the right hemisphere in a small proportion of left-handed people. In general, it is responsible for pronouncing, naming, and reading words in the mind.

Second, the Wernicken area. This is found between the temporal block of the dominant hemisphere and the parietal block. Its main functions are related to the recognition of Spoken Words. In addition, it is the area where the sequences that make up the words are stored.

Finally, there is an area associated with the parietal and oxipital cortex that is responsible for word formation.

What are the different types of dyslexia?

• Phonological dyslexia. People with this type of dyslexia use a visual route. This means that they “visually” read the words. They can thus easily read words they already know, but it is impossible for them to read words they are already unfamiliar with.
• Superficial (visual) dyslexia. People with this type of dyslexia use the phonological route. Thus, they read words byte by byte. For this reason, they have difficulty reading words that have a different pronunciation than the spelling.
• Deep or mixed dyslexia. This is the most severe form of dyslexia that affects both pathways. This results in difficulties in reading the words, numerous typos, and even confusion of the meanings of the words.

Care

Treatment of dyslexia is extremely important to reduce the likelihood of further problems in the future, both in studies and mentally. In fact, rehabilitation treatments have been shown to have a major impact on children.

Treatment usually consists of:

• On in-service training by special needs teachers
• On the treatment given by speech therapists
• On the supervised teaching of study techniques
• From exercises that reinforce what is learned in class

Family support also plays an important role in the treatment of dyslexia. These children should not only be motivated to progress in school and in their personal lives. In addition, additional teaching should be emphasized for them. This will greatly improve their learning techniques, especially when it comes to reading and writing.

In addition, it is important to get children involved in activities that improve their self-esteem (sports, after-school hobbies) to improve their mood. On the other hand, if your child has major problems with anxiety or depression, you should seek help from a doctor.