Dyslexia - What is it? -
Symptoms and Related Conditions
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TRUE "Dyslexia" (as defined by the International Dyslexia Association) is indicated when a person has a lack of phonemic awareness and deficits in short-term working memory. MANY other conditions can also cause difficulty with reading. These other conditions are often lumped in together and labeled as "dyslexia" because of the meaning of the word dyslexia, which is "difficulty with reading", however all conditions that manifest as difficulty with reading are NOT dyslexia. It is the definition of the word "dyslexia" that confuses the matter for people.
[Latin: "lexia" = read, readable [to choose words; gather, collect; to pick out, choose; to read, recite]
[Greek: "dys-" = bad, harsh, wrong; ill; hard to, difficult at; slow of; disordered; primarily used as a prefix].
Other conditions which can cause difficulty with reading, and may exist in conjunction with or separately from a lack of phonemic awareness and short-term working memory difficulties are:
- Auditory Processing Disorder,
- Apraxia,
- Executive Dysfunction,
- Ocular-Motor deficits,
- Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome,
- Visual-Perceptual deficits,
- etc.
It is nearly impossible for an untrained professional to determine EXACTLY what is causing a child's difficulty with reading, especially where overlapping conditions may exist. Often a child will have multiple conditions, and people will jump on the most evident problem. Unfortunately, unless all or most of the problems are addressed, the child will not be able to benefit completely from instruction he/she may be receiving.
If you are concerned your child may have dyslexia, you will want to consider the quality of reading instruction your child has has, as well as how persistent and pervasive his problems are. Children with dyslexia, or other conditions, may reverse numbers or letters, omit or insert sounds within words they are reading, may have inconsistent reading performance, and may strongly resist reading activities. (continued below..)
A LOT of people would tell you to "wait" and see if your child outgrows his difficulties (as some children do), however the cost of waiting is tremendous if he does have dyslexia or some other learning difference. It takes a long time to remediate a child who has dyslexia, and you can't get started too soon if he does have it.
You should know that 85% of children who have difficulty acquiring reading skills have learning disabilities that require specialized instruction for learning to read. Thus, only about 15% of children will "outgrow" their difficulties. Put another way, it won't harm your child to give him extra assistance learning to read. However, it will make learning difficult and unpleasant if you postpone evaluation or giving help. It IS 'typical' for a child of 6 to reverse letters sometimes, but not very often, and all children should have outgrown this propensity by age 8. If you want to see what the writing of a 7 year-old child with significant dyslexia looks like, here is a sample:
Determining whether your child has dyslexia, or some other related condition, can be tricky. There are other developmental disabilities that mimic dyslexia and it is difficult for an untrained person to determine if a child has dyslexia. A child may have developmental vision problems, Scotopic Sensitivity, Attention Deficits, or other developmental delays which can manifest themselves as dyslexia. Scotopic Sensitivity is a sensitivity to reflective light from the pages of a book and is less common than true dyslexia or vision problems. You can find out more about Scotopic Sensitivity at the Irlen Institute website.
For an initial screenings, I recommend taking your child to a developmental optometrist and an educational evaluator, generally a psychologist, neuropsychologist, or educational consultant. You can find a develpmental optometrist through the College of Optometrists in Vision Development at http://www.covd.org/. If your child does have an occular motor deficiency (difficulty with smooth eye movements), then there are home therapy programs available. One that we have used is called Home Vision Therapy. You can call your pediatrician to get a recommendation for a qualified psycho-educational evaluator or call the local chapter of CHADD or International Dyslexia Association for additional guidance.
If your child consistently, and persistently, misorients letters or numbers, or interchanges them with each other, you will want to pursue the possibility of developmental vision difficulties and dyslexia. They frequently co-exist even though dyslexia is not a vision problem.
