By: Caleb Bentley,
12 January 2011
Disclaimer: This report is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treat any diseases. It is simply for informational and educational purposes to help further knowledge in the subject area. Please enjoy…
From the Latin term “word blindness” or “absence of language”, Dyslexia is a visual impairment that may cause reading and learning problems for those who have it. Though it is not clear what causes Dyslexia, most research points toward factors such as:
- Inherited or genetics: passed from one generation to the next or even skip a generation.
- Brain Development: during early development of the brain, some neurons in the brain did not fully develop.
- Early Age Hearing Problems: some studies say that when a child has difficulty hearing at an early age, the child will not develop the sound association with the letters and words.
-Or a combination of any of these could contribute to the development of Dyslexia. (What Causes Dyslexia).
“Dyslexic people are visual, multi-dimensional thinkers. We are intuitive and highly creative, and excel at hands-on learning. Because we think in pictures, it is sometimes hard for us to understand letters, numbers, symbols, and written words. We can learn to read, write and study efficiently when we use methods geared to our unique learning style.”(www.dyslexia.com).
During the 1860’s, physicians first thought that Dyslexia only affected people who had suffered a brain injury or a cerebral vascular injury, and the physicians began to take notice of individuals reading ability, or lack thereof. It was not until 1895 when “The Lancet”, a medical journal, reported a young 14year-old boy, Percy, was diagnosed with “congenital word blindness". However, a breakthrough in understanding came from an American neurologist Samuel Orton. Dr. Orton observed that some children would reverse how letters are normally written, which he termed “Strephosymbolia”: The perception of objects reversed as if in a mirror; specifically, difficulty in distinguishing written or printed letters that extend in opposite directions but are otherwise similar, such as b and d. (History of Dyslexia).
There are two main types of Dyslexia: genetic, from family genes, and acquired, such as from a head trauma. There are also several variations or ways of Dyslexia. {I have a few links in my citation at the bottom of this report you are more than welcome to do some research yourself}. Recently, scientists believe that a mutation of the DCDC2 gene may be the cause behind Dyslexia. Genetic researchers are looking into whether the alteration of the DCDC2 gene can disturb the formation of some brain neurons which will cause a reading impairment (Scientists discover dyslexia gene).
Recently I have noticed a few things that can hinder and frustrate Dyslexics from being able to read proficiently. Take a look at the normal type font on most computers and the font used in this report. Look at the lowercase “e”. Now take the lowercase type “e”, and turn it upside down. What do you get? The lowercase type “a”. This is the default for most computers, which means printed material use this font in their publishing. The next time you have a, newspaper, menu, or a text book, take a look at the font and try to imagine having trouble being able to distinguish between an a and an e while trying to read. As stated in the paragraph above, people with Dyslexia write and/or read letters backwards, such as the b being read as d. To the parents and teachers who read this, be aware of this and make sure that your little Dyslexic child understands this and be patient during those frustrating reading sessions.
In some of my observations, there are three different types of letters in the English alphabet. Lines, such as: l, j, and i. Circles, o, a, c. And a mixture of both, d, b, p. For me, the trouble was having letters blend together, which causes spelling errors. Look at the word spelling. Two l’s are right next to each other. They would blend, which would cause me to spell, “speling” or “spellng”. When two of the same letters are together, such as: letter, little, or three, I would only see one of the two letters. When two similarly shaped letters were together, such as “process”. The letters o and c or c and e would blend, causing a mispronunciation and/or miss spelling (proess or process).
Dyslexia is considered a learning disability due to the reading problems and frustration it causes for those who have it. It is not a disease. It cannot be cured, but we can learn to work around it and through it. Dyslexia is not a childhood problem, but a lifelong predicament. It will not simply go away as you get older, but it does become easier to handle and work through with experience and persistence. There is only one way to beat Dyslexia, and that is to continue to work at your reading and writing abilities throughout your life. Though, it may always be a struggle, it is possible to do well in academics and in many careers; but you do have to work a little harder to get there. It is not something to be embarrassed or ashamed about, it makes us who we are, unique. Since roughly 15% of the population have Dyslexia (Center for Dyslexia), it makes those of us stand out from the rest to prove that we can do better even with a small inconvenience. My advice to those of you who have Dyslexia: never stop reading and trying to do better. Since most reading classes stop around middle school, it is up to you to keep exercising your mind and expanding your knowledge of words.
Work Sited
What causes Dyslexia? <http://www.the-dyslexia-center.com/what-causes-dyslexia.htm>. 03 January 2011.
20 December 2010. <www.dyslexia.com>. 03 January 2011.
History of Dyslexia. <www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/ubnrp/dyslexia/hist1.html>. 03 January 2011.
Scientists discover dyslexia gene. 28 October 2005.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4384414.stm >. 06 January 2011.
Types of Dyslexia:
Other material for consideration and reading:
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