Deer momee and dadee

I bo not wont to do to shool eny more becouse the children ar lafing at me. I canot reed pleese help me

jor sun Tom

Tom is not slow at learning. In fact, according to the evaluations of several professionals, he is rather intelligent. Yet he certainly has a problem, and he shares it with millions of other children and adults. Tom has dyslexia.

The term “dyslexia” was introduced in 1884 by the German ophthalmologist Rudolf Berlin. He coined it from the Greek words dys, meaning ill or difficult, and lexis, meaning word, and used it to describe a specific disturbance of reading in the absence of pathological conditions of the visual organs. In a later publication (1887), Berlin stated that dyslexia, “presuming right-handedness,” was caused by a left-sided cerebral lesion. He referred to the condition as “word blindness” and detailed his observations of six patients with brain lesions who had full command of spoken language but had lost the ability to read.

During the century that followed, the narrow definition Berlin had attached to the term dyslexia broadened. Today, the term generally refers to a child—or adult—whose reading and written work are significantly below what would be expected from their intelligence and educational opportunities. While the term is mostly used to describe a severe reading difficulty, there has been little agreement in the literature or practice concerning the definition of severe or the specific characteristics that distinguish dyslexia from other reading difficulties.

The terms dyseidetic and dysphonetic are generally used to describe two broad patterns of dyslexia. In the research literature, these profiles are also commonly referred to as orthographic or surface dyslexia and phonological dyslexia, respectively.

Dyseidetic dyslexia

The prominent characteristic of dyseidetic dyslexia is the inability to revisualise the gestalt of words. Usually, the child has little difficulty spelling words that may be long but are phonetically regular. Small, irregular, non-phonetic words, such as what, the, talk, and does, create the greatest difficulty.

Author Corinne Roth Smith lists the following reading and spelling patterns of children with dyseidetic dyslexia:

• Confusion with letters that differ in orientation (b-d, p-q).
• Confusion with words that can be dynamically reversed (was-saw).
• Very limited sight vocabulary; few words are instantly recognised from their whole configuration. Instead, they need to be sounded out laboriously, as though being seen for the first time.
• Losing one’s place because what has already been read is not instantly recognised, such as when switching the gaze from the right side of one line to the left side of the next.
• Omitting letters and words because they were not visually noted.
• Masking the image of one letter by moving the eyes too rapidly to the subsequent letter, resulting in the omission of the first letter.
• Difficulty learning irregular words that cannot be sounded out (for example, sight).
• Difficulty with rapid retrieval of words due to weaknesses in visual retrieval.
• Visual stimuli in reading prove so confusing that it is easier for the child to learn to read by first spelling the words orally and then recognising them in print.
• Insertions, omissions, and substitutions when the meaning of the passage guides reading.
• Strengths in left-hemisphere language processing, analytical and sequential abilities, and attention to detail; the child can often laboriously sound out phonetically regular words, even up to grade level.
• Difficulty recalling the shape of a letter when writing.
• Spells phonetically but not conventionally (laf for laugh; bisnis for business).
• Can spell difficult phonetic words but not simple irregular words.

Dysphonetic dyslexia

The prominent characteristic of dysphonetic dyslexia is difficulty remembering letter sounds, analysing the individual sounds in words, and sequencing and blending these sounds into words.

Author Corinne Roth Smith lists the following reading and spelling patterns of children with dysphonetic dyslexia:

• Difficulty discriminating between individual sounds during beginning reading instruction (this occurs infrequently).
• Difficulty processing rapid auditory input so that consonant sounds that cannot be sustained (p-b) are not perceived; these may then be omitted in reading.
• Poor ability to analyse the sequence of sounds and syllables in words; consequently, they become reversed in reading. This is akin to the problem encountered in spoken language when poor auditory analysis results in phrases such as “lead a snot into temptation” instead of “lead us not into temptation” or “Harold be Thy name” instead of “Hallowed be Thy name.” Likewise, lmnop may be perceived as one indivisible cluster in the alphabet song.
• Poor ability to remember individual sounds or sequences of sounds.
• Difficulty blending individual sounds into words.
• Difficulty listening to words and omitting one sound and substituting it with another (for example, say cat; now remove the /c/ and replace it with /f/). Such abilities are essential for word analysis because they underpin the ability to decode words phonetically. Children usually develop this skill first with initial consonants and later with medial vowels and consonants.
• Difficulty remembering the sounds that individual letters and both regular and irregular letter combinations represent.
• Inability to rapidly retrieve letter sounds while analysing words, so that the beginning of the word is forgotten by the time the final letter is recalled (a rapid naming problem).
• Difficulty analysing unfamiliar words because of poor knowledge of phonetic rules and difficulty sequencing sounds.
• Difficulty applying phonetic rules from words that can be read to pseudowords that follow the same pattern but are not real words.
• Vowel sounds are particularly troublesome.
• Word substitutions that are conceptually (person for human) or visually (horse for house) related but not phonetically related.
• Limited sight vocabulary because the learner cannot memorise many words without the benefit of phonetic cues.
• Guessing at unfamiliar words rather than employing word-analysis skills.
• Spelling remains below reading level because it is attempted by sight rather than by ear.
• Correct spellings occur primarily for words the child has encountered repeatedly and has therefore been able to revisualise.
• Bizarre spellings that seldom can be identified, even by the child, because they do not follow phonetic patterns.
• Extraneous letters and omitted syllables in spelling.

When to seek help

If you recognise many of the signs described in this article, it may be worthwhile to investigate further. While no single symptom is enough to diagnose dyslexia, a pattern of persistent difficulties with reading, spelling, writing, or language should not be ignored.

Dyslexia is one of the most researched learning difficulties in the world, and effective intervention is available. The earlier the underlying difficulties are identified, the sooner appropriate support can begin.

If you are concerned about your child, a student, or even yourself, we invite you to contact us. We will gladly discuss your concerns, answer your questions, and help you determine the most appropriate next step.

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