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The Chambers Pocket 20th Century Dictionary, defines the term “dyslexia" as a “great difficulty in learning to read or spell, not caused by a lack of intelligence". The word dyslexia has its origins in Greek words “dys" which means “bad" and “lexis" which means “a word". One definition, which I feel most aptly describes this specific learning difficulty is the definition provided by the World Federation of Neurologists (1968). Dyslexia is “a disorder manifested by difficulty in learning to read, despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and socio-cultural opportunity. It is dependent upon fundamental disabilities which are frequently constitutional in origin".
What this means is that, dyslexics are individuals who have an average or above average intelligence quotients. They are also people who have had opportunity to be schooled. But, what makes learning to read and spell difficult for them is a deficit with language processing. It is therefore, no fault of the individual dyslexic. A dyslexic person is not lazy or stupid and neither is the condition a “put-on" one.
A British survey showed that 5-10% of all children are dyslexics, making it the single most common learning disorder in children today. Individuals with dyslexia have neither profound sensory or neurological disabilities nor do they present with serious visual or auditory impairments.
More often than not, they show no signs of difficulties in other areas of the curriculum, for example in understanding concepts in Mathematics, Science, Economics, Art or Geography. They only have trouble with dealing with the language aspects.
A very small percentage of dyslexics have some problems with numerics too, in addition to the reading, writing and spelling problems. This is known as dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is not as common as dyslexia.
To date, there is still no known cause for dyslexia. Many arguments have been put forth as to whether it is neurological or cognitive (learning) in nature. Though the cause is not known, many other aspects of this learning difficulty have been established. It has been agreed upon, by all parties that all dyslexics have phonological and language process deficits. Phonological deficit is a defect in processing the various sound patterns within language.
Dyslexia can be divided into two main categories- Acquired Dyslexia and Developmental Dyslexia.
A person, who has been diagnosed as having Acquired Dyslexia, is someone who was not born with this learning difficulty. As the term itself suggests, this person would have acquired the problem as a result of some trauma to the brain. This trauma can be the result of a stroke or an accident, having caused some damage to certain parts of the brain especially the part that controls language. Prior to the trauma, this person would have had full knowledge of language – reading, writing and spelling.
Developmental Dyslexia is characterised by the fact that there is no prior knowledge of language, spelling rules and grammar. They are born with it. This group of dyslexics have normal development in every other aspect of cognitive (learning) development. This form of dyslexia is not caused by trauma to the brain, hence, the term developmental.
The difficulties that dyslexics face are wide and varied, depending on which part of the reading process is affected. Some dyslexics have problems that are visual in nature while others may have trouble interpreting what is said to them. Some problems are related to language decoding while others have encoding difficulties. Language decoding deficits are problems related to understanding or perceiving spoken or written language. Language encoding difficulties involve deficits in trying to express one’s self via writing or speaking.
It is vital, therefore, that before trying to help remediate a dyslexic, the complexities and specific areas of difficulties are identified and isolated. No two dyslexics will present the same deficits. Each has his own unique combination of difficulties, which must be identified before remediation can be effectively carried out.
As far as academics are concerned, there are no limits as to how far a dyslexic can go. If remediated properly by a dyslexia specialist, the sky is the limit, as it is for all of us. Remediation for dyslexia is not a short process and there is no short cut to remediation. But, once equipped with techniques and methods of coping with this learning difficulty, having dyslexia will no longer be a stumbling block for any individual’s academic potential.
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