Chapter One: About Dyslexia

1.1 What is Dyslexia?

“Dyslexia is a reading difficulty in a child or adult who otherwise has good intelligence, strong motivation and adequate schooling. Dyslexia reflects a problem within the language system in the brain” (Shaywitz, 2003)

 In 1887, the word “dyslexia” was coined by Berlin, a German doctor, from 2 Greek words: Dys (difficulty) and Lexia (the use of words).

 Here are few simple facts about dyslexia: 

•  The most obvious sign of dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in learning to read. If you have never heard about dyslexia, such children just puzzle you; you wonder why they don’t learn.

•   Dyslexia is more than just a reading problem, it is a syndrome (symptoms that often goes together) Problems usually include reading, spelling, pronunciation, recall of words for speaking / writing and memorizing sequences.

•   Dyslexia is a specific learning disability – it affects only one area of learning. There appears to be a “glitch” in the neural wiring when it first lay down during embryonic development, but this miss-wiring is confined to the specific neural system used for reading. A dyslexic child is different from a “slow learner” (low IQ), who finds all kinds of learning difficult.

•   Other areas of development are not affected and dyslexics demonstrate average or even higher levels of achievement in activities such as drawing and other visual arts, in music in drama and in sports. They often think in very creative ways and may be good problem solvers.

 Studies show that approximately 10% of school-age children experience dyslexic-type difficulties. About 4% have problems that are severe enough to be a real handicap to their learning in a traditional classroom.

 Dyslexia is not a “all-or-nothing” condition. A person may be mildly, moderately or severely dyslexic. Another thing to remember is that each dyslexic has his/her own set of symptoms. For example, one dyslexic may read quite well, but find it difficult to learn spelling or to express ideas clearly. Another may struggle with reading, but be very fluent when he speaks.

 Each dyslexic has his own personal set of difficulties, but with appropriate help, most of them CAN learn to read and write well enough to become successful students. They CAN complete secondary school and go on to university or other tertiary institution.

1.2 21 Tell Tale Signs

1.     Difficulty with fastening coat, shoelace and tie.

2.     Shoes often on wrong feet, seeming unaware that they are uncomfortable

3.     Clumsy / Accident-prone behavior.

4.     Difficulty hopping or skipping.

5.     Difficulty throwing, catching, or kicking a ball.

6.     Difficulty understanding propositions connected to direction (e.g: in/out, up/down, under/over, forward/backwards)

7.     Difficulty in carrying out more than one instruction at a time.

8.     Possible history of speech development.

9.     Excessive spoonerism (e.g: ‘par car’ for ‘carpark’, ‘bag and acorn’ for ‘egg and bacon’)

10.  Difficulty in pronouncing multi-syllable words (e.g : ‘hopsital’ for ‘hospital’)

11.  Difficulty in finding the name for an object.

12.  Confusion between left and right.

13.  Undermined hand preference.

14.  Poor handwriting with many reversals and badly formed letters.

15.  Inability to copy accurately, particularly from blackboard.

16.  Difficulty remembering what day it is, own birthday, address and phone number.

17.  Difficulty learning to tell time.

18.  Unsure about "yesterday" or "tomorrow".

19.  Difficulty remembering anything in sequential order (e.g: day of the week, month of the year and multiplication tables).

20.  Poor reading progression on both look and say and phonic method.

21.  Excessive tiredness due to the amount of concentration and effort required often for very little result.

1.3 Diagnosing a Dyslexic Child

Diagnosis of dyslexia is crucial in addressing this condition appropriately. This is especially so because a dyslexic child is often misdiagnosed, as some other conditions can present with similar signs and symptoms.

1. Test Methods – IQ Test + Reading Test

Two tests are used to assess a child presenting with dyslexia-like symptoms. Firstly, an IQ test is performed followed by reading test. A dyslexic child would present with an average / above IQ test result, but fare poorly in the reading test.

2. " Checklist ” Method 

This method is when a checklist of questions created by expert is used to access a child for any indication of dyslexia.

Methods of diagnosis can vary to include even screening tests using computer games and so on. The best thing to do when your child presents with signs and symptoms of dyslexia is to approach a healthcare professional to confirm or eliminate the diagnosis. The earlier the diagnosis of dyslexia is made, the better. This is especially so because research has shown that the best outcome for a dyslexic child would be when the condition is detected and dealt with early.

1.4 Teaching a Dyslexic Child

The best “treatment” for dyslexia is using the right teaching methods to establish a strong learning foundation for the child, especially in the areas of spelling, reading and calculation. Once this foundation is built, most dyslexic children can go on to lead normal lives like their peers. Specific teaching techniques have been shown to give positive results in helping a dyslexic child learn. One commonly used teaching approach is the “multisensory approach”, whereby the child is taught using more than one of his / her senses. For example, just reading or listening or doing work with their hands (feeling letter blocks etc) separately might not be as effective as a combination of all. Children with dyslexia have difficulty focusing. Therefore, it is more effective to teach them with many short breaks in between compared to teaching continuously for long hours. When teaching dyslexia children, always incorporate creative and fun methods such as learning games. These days many online / computer programms are available to provide such resources. 

Using different color markers / chalks / blocks / learning equipment also help the child to learn better. When teaching, always give instruction slowly and loudly to make sure the child understands. Repetition may also be necessary. For example, when teaching the child similar sounding words, verbalize the words clearly and blend the sounds for them. At the end of the day, the important thing to remember when teaching your child is to be patient and try different teaching methods to find the one that suits our child the best.

1.5 Famous People with Dyslexia:

Pablo Picasso

 Pablo was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain. He was a famous, controversial, and trend-setting art icon. Pablo attended local parochial schools and had a very difficult time. He is described as having difficulty reading the orientation of the letters and labeled a dyslexic, and despite the initial difficulties was able to catch up with the curriculum. However, dyslexia made school difficult and he never really benefited from his education. Dyslexia would trouble Picasso for the rest of his life.

Pablo’s father was an art teacher in Malaga, and encouraged Pablo to attend. Pablo enrolled in the school in 1892. Despite the difficulties that his learning disabilities posed, it became clear that Pablo had an incredible talent. From an early age Pablo Picasso had developed the sense of how people wanted to be seen and how others saw them. Over the course of his career he developed a unique sense of beauty and style that seemed to call to people. Pablo painted things as he saw them — out of order, backwards or upside down. His paintings demonstrated the power of imagination, raw emotion, and creativity on the human psyche. As others before him, Pablo Picasso took art to a new level. A prolific painter, some of his famous works includes The Young Ladies of Avigon, Old Man with Guitar, and Guernica.

Tom Cruse

Tom Cruise was born fighting. He grew up poor, and his family moved around a lot while his father looked for work. Tom never spent a lot of time any one school because the family moved around a lot. Tom, like his mother, suffered from dyslexia and was put into the remedial classes at school. Tom is right handed when writing, but does most things left handed. While Tom was not an academic success, he focused on athletics and competed in many sports. A knee injury derailed his hopes of a promising athletic career.

Tom Cruise then spent a year in a Franciscan monastery, but the priesthood was not for him. While in high school, he appeared in a number of plays, and with his mother’s encouragement and support, pursued a career in acting. Tom focused all his energy on developing his acting career, once again revealing his drive and dogged determination.  He never let his learning disability stand in the way of his success.

Richard Brandson

Richard Branson, founder and chairman of London-based Virgin Group, didn't breeze through school. In fact, school was something of a nightmare for him. His scores on standardized tests were dismal, pointing to a dismal future. He was embarrassed by his dyslexia and found his education becoming more and more difficult. He felt as if he had been written off.

However, his educators failed to detect his true gifts. His ability to connect with people on a personal level, an intuitive sense of people, was not detected until a frustrated Richard Branson started a student newspaper with fellow student Jonny Gems. The incredible success of the Student was but the start of a richly diverse and successful career. 

Despite the difficulties and challenges posed by his dyslexia, by focusing on his inner talents, Richard Branson successfully overcame his difficulties. From his first taste of success and believing in himself, Richard Branson never looked back.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Born in 1452, Da Vinci was sent to Florence in his teens to apprentice as a painter under Andrea del Verrocchio. He quickly developed his own artistic style which was unique and contrary to tradition, even going so far as to devised his own special formula of paint. His style was characterized by diffuse shadows and subtle hues and marked the beginning of the High Renaissance period.

Da Vinci dedicated himself to understanding the mysteries of nature, and his insightful contributions to science and technology were legendary. As the archetypal Renaissance man, Leonardo helped set an ignorant and superstitious world on a course of reason, science, learning, and tolerance. He was an internationally renowned inventor, scientists, engineer, architect, painter, sculptor, musician, mathematician, anatomist, astronomer, geologists, biologist, and philosopher in his time.

Da Vinci was also believed to suffer from a number of learning disabilities including dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Some believe that the initiation of many more projects than he ever completed suggest that he had attention deficit disorder. Strong evidence in Da Vinci’s manuscripts and letters corroborates the diagnosis of dyslexia. It appears that Leonardo wrote his notes backwards, from right to left, in a mirror image. This is a trait shared by many left-handed dyslexic people. In addition to the handwriting, the spelling errors in his manuscripts and journals demonstrated dyslexia-like language difficulties.

Da Vinci overcame his learning disabilities by funneling his creative talents into visual depictions of his thoughts. His creative, analytic, and visionary inventiveness has not yet been matched.

Thomas Edison

Born in 1847, Thomas Edison was a brilliant scientist and inventor. He was thrown out of school when he was 12 because he was thought to be dumb. He was noted to be terrible at mathematics, unable to focus, and had difficulty with words and speech. It was very clear, however, that Thomas Edison was an extremely intelligent student despite his poor performance in school.

In the late 1860s and early 1870s electrical science was still in its infancy and Thomas Edison was keeping abreast of the latest developments. He was an avid reader of the latest research of the day and frequently contributed articles about new ideas in telegraph design to technical journals. Over the course of his career Edison patented 1,093 inventions. Edison believed in hard work, sometimes working twenty hours a day. He has been quoted as saying, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."

Hard work and perseverance helped Thomas Edison focus his keen insight and creative abilities on the development of ingenious tools that have laid the foundation for our modern society.

Jay Leno

Jay Leno has worked very hard all his life. A mild dyslexic, he did not do very well in school getting mainly C’s and D’s. Jay, however, was determined to accomplish his goals. Despite his poor grades, he was determined to attend Emerson College in Boston. While told by the admissions officer that he was not a good candidate Jay had his heart set on attending the University and sat outside the admission officers’ office 12 hours a day 5 days a week until he was accepted into the University.

Jay credits his dyslexia with enabling him to succeed in comedy. He credits his dyslexia with helping him develop the drive and perseverance needed to succeed in comedy, and life in general.

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg, born Carolyn Johnson, is an outstanding American entertainer, having acted in major motion picture hits like Ghost, Sister Act I and II, Made in America, Jumping Jack Flash, The Color Purple, and Star Trek: Generations.

Whoopi had a lot of difficulty in school, but it was not until she was an adult did she learn that she had dyslexia. When Whoopi was growing up, she remembers being called dumb and stupid because she had a lot of problems reading. It was clear to her teachers and family that she was neither slow nor dumb, but had some problem that had not yet been well defined.

Despite her dyslexia, Whoopi Goldberg has gone on to have a successful film and television career.