Generality
Dyslexia is the difficulty of reading and writing correctly and fluently, which emerges classically at the beginning of schooling and which is maintained throughout life.
The causes of dyslexia are still unclear. On the subject, however, there are numerous theories; among these, the most reliable one believes that dyslexia depends on the anomalous expression of some genes related to language and reading ability.
Dyslexia is revealed unequivocally when school age arrives; in reality, however, this specific learning disability demonstrates itself even in preschool, but the signs are not always clear (especially to an untrained eye).
The diagnosis of dyslexia involves an articulated investigation procedure, aimed at excluding other disorders and establishing the exact severity of the disability.
Currently, the subject suffering from dyslexia can count on different support strategies; although they do not allow healing, these support strategies make it possible to bridge the difficulties of reading and writing in an important way.
What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that classically emerges at the beginning of schooling and affects the ability to read, and sometimes even to write, correctly and fluently.
The dyslexic, therefore, is a person with difficulty in reading and sometimes writing.
Dyslexia is not a disease but a disability; furthermore, dyslexia should not be confused with alessia (or acquired dyslexia ), which is the condition resulting from the loss (following, for example, a brain trauma) of the cognitive abilities necessary for reading.
Specific Learning Disorders: What Are They?
Also known by the abbreviation DSA, specific learning disabilities are those disabilities that affect the skills useful to an individual for learning, such as writing, reading and calculating, and which manifest themselves at the beginning of schooling.
The list of specific learning disorders, in addition to dyslexia, includes:
- The dysorthography, which is the inability to correctly translate the spoken language into written language,
- Dysgraphia, which is the difficulty of writing letters and numbers, and
- Dyscalculia, which is the difficulty of calculation.
Is Dyslexia a Permanent Disorder?
Dyslexia is a permanent condition, therefore it lasts for life.
However, thanks to modern supportive methods, dyslexic individuals today have every chance of leading a normal existence.
Myths to dispel Dyslexia
It is a widespread opinion that dyslexia is an expression of poor intelligence or laziness.
This idea is completely unfounded and inexact: scientific studies, in fact, have shown that dyslexic individuals have an average intelligence and have the same chance of success, in the scholastic / work environment, of non-dyslexic subjects.
Did you know that ...
The great film director Steven Spielberg and the well-known actress Whoopi Goldberg suffer from dyslexia.
This confirms what was said earlier: dyslexia is not an expression of poor intelligence or of a low propensity to work.
Epidemiology: How Common is Dyslexia?
The exact incidence of dyslexia is unknown; according to some estimates, however, it would seem that between 5 and 17% of the general population suffer from dyslexia.
It should be noted that, according to Anglo-Saxon sources, in the United Kingdom, 2 individuals per 20 would be affected by a form of dyslexia.
The diagnosis of dyslexia is more common in males, which would lead one to think that the latter are more predisposed, compared to females, to the problem in question; the conditional, however, is a must, as there are several studies that report how dyslexia affects men and women with the same frequency.
Causes
The causes of dyslexia are a still unclear aspect of this specific learning disorder.
On the subject, however, there are numerous theories; among these, the most reliable one believes that dyslexia depends on the anomalous expression of some genes .
Theory of the Genetic Origin of Dyslexia
The idea that dyslexia may depend on the abnormal expression of some genes is based on a couple of important scientific observations; in particular, it originates from:
- The demonstration that there are several genes associated with reading and language skills, and that the altered expression of these genes compromises the function of those brain areas related to knowing how to read and knowing how to correctly match letters to the corresponding sounds;
- The evidence that, in many cases, those suffering from dyslexia is a member of a family, in which this specific learning disorder is recurrent (ie other members are affected), as if it were a kind of hereditary disability .
Curiosity
Some of the genes, whose anomalous expression is associated with dyslexia, are DCDC2, KIAA0319 and DYX1C1 ; the first two reside on chromosome 6 of the human genome, while the third on chromosome 15.
What happens to those who suffer from dyslexia in front of a written text?
In dealing with a reading, dyslexics have difficulty connecting letters to the corresponding sounds, which leads to an inability to create words derived from the above sounds.
In other words, by failing to translate the letters with the corresponding sound, the individual suffering from dyslexia struggles, while reading a text, to scan the sets of letters that make up the words.
By comparing dyslexics with normal people (ie those not suffering from dyslexia), these, when they learn to read, find no difficulty in correlating the letters to the corresponding sound, just as they have no problem mixing the sounds of the letters in order to pronounce the words.
Dyslexia alters:
- The ability to connect the letters of the alphabet to a specific sound . This ability is the basis of reading. Human beings learn it when they learn the alphabet of their mother tongue.
- The ability to decode a text . To decode a text, it is essential to be able to make sense of the words that the text presents. If this ability is lacking, understanding the meaning of a set of words (even a very simple sentence) can be very complex.
- The ability to recognize words at the sight, with a quick glance. This ability concerns family terms, which an individual has already encountered in other texts.
Struggling to read individual words, dyslexic individuals fail to create a vocabulary of familiar terms, recognizable with a quick glance.
- The fluency of reading . Reading fluently depends on previous skills.
The fluency of reading is a key element to fully understand the meaning of the written text.
Cerebral activity of an individual with dyslexia
Dependent or not on genetics, dyslexia is most likely related to unusual brain activity.
The confirmation of this comes from several scientific studies on the brain activity of dyslexics, studies which showed that:
- The left hemisphere of the brain, which is normally the hemisphere that governs the ability to write and read, and the ability to speak, is less active than normal;
- The right hemisphere of the brain is more active than normal, as if it were to compensate for the deficiencies of the left cerebral hemisphere;
- The frontal lobe of the brain is more active than in normal people;
- The left temporal lobe, which is the brain area that directs phonological processing (ie word processing) and the perception and interpretation of sounds, is less active than in normal people (which is in line with the first point );
- The corpus callosum has different dimensions from the standard measures;
- There is a reduced capacity for verbal memory and verbal denomination .
Symptoms and Complications
Each individual with dyslexia is a case in itself ; in fact, in some patients, dyslexia can induce symptoms and signs that, in other patients, do not cause or are decidedly less pronounced.
The difficulties in reading and understanding the text represent the main and most characteristic manifestations of dyslexia; to these can be added, depending on the patient considered, problems in clearly articulating words, writing, structuring a linear discourse during conversations, using the right words to indicate objects or animate beings, etc.
Dyslexia manifests itself clearly, with symptoms and signs, when the patient begins attending elementary school, then in school age ; in reality, however, this specific learning disability demonstrates itself even before school starts, with signs that are not always clear to an untrained eye.
How to Recognize Dyslexia in Preschool Age: Typical Symptoms
In preschool, the typical symptoms and signs of dyslexia are:
- Reduced ability to recognize and memorize the letters of the alphabet;
- Difficulty with rhymes and rhyming phrases;
- Poor sentence-making ability;
- Poor knowledge of words (reduced vocabulary) and their meanings;
- Difficulty in learning new words;
- Difficulty in pronunciation, especially in relation to longer words;
- Delay in language development.
How to Recognize Dyslexia in School Age: Typical Symptoms
As previously stated, when school age arrives (ie when primary school attendance begins), the dyslexic subject unequivocally manifests all his difficulties with reading and sometimes writing.
Specifically, the list of typical symptoms and signs of dyslexia at the beginning of schooling includes:
- Difficulty in reading and scanning words (the so-called " spelling ");
- Uncertainty in the use of syllables;
- Difficulty in using the appropriate grammar;
- Slowness in reading and difficulty in reading aloud;
- Inability or reduced ability to learn the names of the letters and the sounds that represent them;
- Writing difficulty or slow writing;
- Substitutions or deletions of letters (ex: confusion between "b" and "d");
- Difficulty in learning new words;
- Extreme difficulty in following written instructions;
- Visual disturbances during reading (some dyslexics seem to see the letters moving when reading a text);
- Handwriting;
- Errors in counting numbers from 0 to 20;
- Errors in the transition from pronunciation to writing numbers from 0 to 20;
- Difficulty in calculating in mind.
Difficulties in reading cause the dyslexic child to stop reading; this compromises his learning and his academic results.
Dyslexia in the Adolescent Age and Adult Dyslexia: Symptoms
As reported at the beginning, dyslexia is a lifelong disorder, so it is not limited to the first years of schooling.
In adolescence and later in adulthood, the dyslexic individual manifests, in addition to reading difficulties and writing difficulties, problems such as:
- Difficulty taking notes or copying a written text;
- Poor capacity or inability to plan the drafting of a theme, a letter, a working relationship, etc .;
- Difficulty in reporting personal knowledge in writing (eg, dyslexics are unable to respond to written questions, although they know exactly what the answer is);
- Spelling problems;
- Difficulty remembering PIN codes, phone numbers and the like;
- Extreme difficulty in learning foreign languages
Furthermore, with growth, the subject suffering from dyslexia becomes aware of their disabilities and this leads them to adopt, in public, a series of behaviors, which avoid the embarrassment of exhibiting their problems openly; for example, avoid reading in front of other people; avoids all those situations that could force him to read in public; avoid having to write something that can easily report verbally.
Readers are reminded that, from an intellectual point of view, people with dyslexia are completely normal.
Disorders Associated with Dyslexia
For reasons still unknown, dyslexia is often associated with:
- Dyscalculia (difficulty in writing letters and numbers);
- Dysgraphia (calculation difficulty);
- Poor short-term memory capacity ;
- Central auditory processing disorder ;
- Dyspraxia (basically consists of problems of physical coordination);
- Poor capacity to organize time available ;
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The reasons for the common association between dyslexia and one or more of the aforementioned problems are being studied.
Complications
In the absence of adequate support, individuals with dyslexia can develop a form of depression, resulting in the fact of feeling, in some ways, "different" from normal people, who can read and write without problems, who can find more easily a job etc.
This depression can have a considerable negative impact on the life of the dyslexic; for example, it can lead him to isolate himself, to give up looking for a job, etc.
Diagnosis
In general, the diagnosis of dyslexia involves a team of professionals (including doctors, psychologists and experts in specific learning disorders) and is divided into three main stages .
- First stage (or step 1 ). It consists of an objective examination, aimed at evaluating the health conditions of the individual suspected of suffering from dyslexia.
In these phases, for diagnostic purposes, visual and acoustic tests are particularly significant; the diagnostician (usually a pediatrician ), in fact, has the duty to clarify whether the difficulties of reading and writing, shown by the examiner, are to be attributed to a problem of sight or hearing.
If sight and hearing are normal, the dyslexia hypothesis becomes even more concrete.
- Second stage (or step 2). It consists of consulting a specialist in specific learning disorders.
This specialist provides to subject the suspected case of dyslexia to some specific tests, in order to effectively understand which abilities are compromised and which are not; in practical terms, it evaluates the abilities of the examiner, by means of reading, writing, comprehension of a text, intelligence and calculation tests.
A large part of the definitive diagnosis depends on the outcome of these tests.
It should be noted that, in the case of young patients (most of the circumstances), the specialist also involves the parents, asking them to evaluate their children's strengths and weaknesses, in order to have a comparison with respect to their findings .
- Third stage (or step 3 ). It consists of the overall consideration of everything that previous tests have brought to light.
In this phase, doctors and specialists collaborate, exchange opinions and draw up the diagnosis of dyslexia, in the case in which it is indeed this specific learning disability.
Moreover, it is always in this phase that they assign a judgment to the exam relative to his abilities and establish the most suitable support program for the problems in progress.
Curiosity: test to which the dyslexic suspect must undergo during step 2.
- Evaluation test of reading and writing skills;
- Evaluation of known words and the degree of development of language properties;
- Memory evaluation;
- Evaluation of logical reasoning;
- Estimate of the rate of assimilation of visual and sound information;
- Evaluation of learning methods.
Dyslexia diagnosis: what age is it?
For specific learning disabilities, doctors have established a minimum age for diagnosis. This age represents a sort of limit, before which any conclusion could be inaccurate or inappropriate, due to a number of factors, including for example a developmental delay of non-pathological nature and so on.
In the case of dyslexia, the minimum age for diagnosis is 8 years, ie at the end of the second grade.
Did you know that ...
In Italy, except for special agreements between the State and certain Regions, the only professionals with the qualification to make the diagnosis of dyslexia are doctors and psychologists.
Diagnosis of Dyslexia in Adults
Adults who feel they suffer from a form of dyslexia that has never been diagnosed can undergo specific tests, which help to clear up the situation once and for all.
To find out how to undergo these tests, they should contact their doctor.
Did you know that ...
Today, elementary teachers are far more attentive to children with disabilities such as dyslexia than in the past; this explains why, at present, the diagnoses of dyslexia are more than once and because there are adults who do not know they are dyslexic.
Support Strategies
Before analyzing in detail the support strategies for those suffering from dyslexia, it is necessary to underline some fundamental concepts of this issue.
Like other specific learning disorders, dyslexia is a permanent disability and is not a disease ; therefore, talking about therapies and treatment techniques is inaccurate and could lead some readers to believe that healing is possible.
However, if it is true that healing is impossible, it is equally true that an improvement is possible: with appropriate support, the person with dyslexia can fill their gaps and learn techniques that help them in reading and writing.
Although he will never be able to acquire the reading skills of a healthy person, today the dyslexic can greatly improve his disability.
Supporting Strategies for Dyslexia
Today, individuals with dyslexia can rely on different support methods, whose ultimate goals are:
- Allow the study e
- Allow learning, regardless of reading, writing, etc. difficulties
Designed by doctors and specialists, these support methods are, in fact, strategies for compensating the various deficits present.
In practical terms, the support strategies for dyslexics consist of the so-called educational interventions and the use of more or less advanced technological tools, which are called compensatory ("compensatory" instruments because they compensate for the patient's gaps).
EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTIONS
Educational interventions are teaching programs, aimed at improving various skills, including:
- The ability to connect each letter of the alphabet to a very specific sound;
- The ability to read;
- The ability to understand what brings a written text;
- The ability to make the words encountered during the reading their own, so as to create a vocabulary of familiar terms.
To deal with the so-called educational interventions, they are teachers with a specific preparation in the field of dyslexia and, more generally, of specific learning disorders.
Did you know that ...
In general, teachers working on educational interventions against dyslexia work with one patient at a time (individual lessons or one-to-one lessons) or with a small group of patients.
This is justified by the fact that every dyslexic individual represents a case in itself, which deserves a specific support (which on another subject may not be very effective).
COMPENSATORY TOOLS
The compensatory tools indicated in the case of dyslexia consist mainly of software and PC devices, which exploit vocal synthesis techniques, the idea of a conceptual map and the technology of digital books and multimedia interactive whiteboards.
The purpose of these compensatory tools - whose use must still be combined with an appropriate course of study and adequate teaching - is to compensate for the disability of the dyslexic patient.
To give an idea of the importance of these compensatory tools for a dyslexic person, dyslexia experts tend to call them " like glasses for a short-sighted person ".
In Italy, the use of compensatory tools, as a support for people with dyslexia, is also required by law (to be precise, law 170/2010).
Important note
The compensatory instruments represent neither a facilitation nor an advantage ; in fact, they do not make the study of a subject any less burdensome and do not place the dyslexic who uses it in a privileged condition than others (who do not use them).
Support Strategies for Adults with Dyslexia
Unlike what happens in other European countries (eg England), in Italy, adults with dyslexics have more difficulty in accessing support measures, which, moreover, correspond to those foreseen for young dyslexics.
This has repercussions on the possibility of an adult dyslexic to find work and maintain it.
Dyslexic adults who have followed an appropriate support program since childhood find themselves having improved an important part of their disability.
Prognosis
As reiterated in more than one circumstance, dyslexia is a permanent condition; today, however, thanks to modern support techniques, dyslexics are able to fill many of their gaps.
