Dyslexia
“Dyslexia is a Specific Learning Difficulty related to the skills of language based tasks.”
Dyslexia is a Specific Learning Difficulty related to the skills of language based tasks. It is generally described as a syndrome, characterised by a pattern of unusual and persistent difficulties, strengths and weaknesses. The degree, level, type and combination of difficulties within this pattern are as individual as the individuals who experience them.
Dyslexia is a syndrome that impacts on various aspects of every day life and can have a mild to severe effect on the dyslexic person. So diverse and complex is the pattern that individuals described as mildly dyslexic may also experience a particular aspect of dyslexia in a severe manner. Equally, these difficulties can appear more acute on the dyslexic’s ‘bad day’.
The diverse nature and complexity of dyslexia make it difficult to arrive at a definitive diagnosis. Practitioners in the field tend to define dyslexia according to their specific area of expertise. Given that the manifestations of dyslexia have long been considered educational much of the terminology used to describe the condition belongs to the learning environment.
Early beginnings -
One of the earliest recordings of dyslexia was made by the Glasgow eye specialist
James Hinshelwood in 1896. He described the condition of a teacher who had
lost the ability to read letters as ‘word blindness’. This condition
is commonly known today as acquired dyslexia. Subsequent recordings made
by Hinshelwood are commonly described today as developmental dyslexia. In
effect, therefore, there are two types of dyslexia -
• Acquired – often acquired as a result of e.g., a head injury
• Developmental - the most common form of dyslexia, and something
you are born with
The principal sub-types of dyslexia are characterised as -
• Auditory – where the individual has difficulty hearing the
correct sound, often confusing similar sounding letters or phonic sounds
• Visual – where the individual has difficulty seeing the difference
between similar looking letters or words
• Audio-visual – a combination of auditory and visual difficulties
Given the complexity of dyslexia, the Orton Dyslexia Society propose that -
• The differences are personal
• The diagnosis is clinical
• The treatment is educational
• The understanding is scientific
Some key dyslexic facts
• dyslexia is one of a range of specific learning difficulties
• others include – dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia (developmental
co-ordination disorder), attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) such
as asperger’s syndrome
• dyslexia can present with a combination of one or more of these
specific learning difficulties
• dyslexia often runs in families
• if a child has a parent who is dyslexic, then there is a 14-17%
chance of dyslexia being inherited
• traditionally, the male/female prevalence was considered 4:1; the
more recent view, however, is that this prevalence is almost identical
• dyslexic people often have a history of early developmental delays
• approximately 15% of the general population have a specific learning
difficulty
• approximately 10% of the general population have dyslexia with 4%
being severely dyslexic
• approximately 6% of students in further/higher education have a
specific learning difficulty
• approximately 4% of student in further/higher education are dyslexic
• the dominant gene on the short arm of chromosome #6 is responsible
for dyslexia, making it highly heritable
• the dyslexic brain is wired differently with extra furrows and neurons
found in unusual places, resulting in scrambled messages
• the right hemisphere of the dyslexic brain is significantly larger
than the left
• dyslexia cannot be ‘cured or fixed’
• the effects of this particular difficulty can be reduced by early
identification and support
• skilled specialist teaching and the application of appropriate strategies
help dyslexic individuals to manage their dyslexic difficulties
• there is often a marked discrepancy between a dyslexic’s intellectual
potential and their academic performance; and between their oral and written
performance
• this marked discrepancy persists, primarily as a result of an inherent
short-term memory deficit, and the impact of this on the thought processes
Despite the many complexities and scientific debate surrounding dyslexia,
it is, in simplest terms, best described as an information processing difficulty
that is affected by a short term memory deficit.