Dr. Vivek Sharma
Imagine having important needs and ideas to
communicate, but being unable to express them. Perhaps,
feeling bombarded by sights and sounds, unable to focus
attention or trying to read or add but not being able to
make sense of the letters or numbers.
You may not need to imagine you may have come across a
child expressing academic problems or a reading problem
called Dyslexia.
Statistics shows that 5-15% of school going children
experience specific learning disability called dyslexia
(Dys means difficulty and lexia means words) Unlike other
disabilities such as paralysis or blindness, dyslexia is
a hidden handicap.
Identification
The criterion most commonly used in assessment is the
Disparity (Difference) between a child's intelligence and
their actual achievements.
If a child speaks and listens normally, yet they are
unable to read and spell, then there may be more to check
out.
Some well known symptoms
Will answer correctly orally but cannot do so in
writing
Confusion over the direction letters face (b/d, P/9,
P/q)
Will read 'was' as 'saw', '14' as '41' and '91' as
'61'
Difficulties with left and right
Difficulties with keeping organized
Difficulties with spellings
Difficulties with directions (e.g. east and west)
Missing out words when reading
Cause
The first thing that needs to be said is that Dyslexia
is not brought about by poor parenting. Individual
parents have persisted in pointing out their children's
school that something must be wrong when a child of
apparently normal intelligence fails to learn, to read
and write.
To be quite honest, nobody quite knows at the moment
about the cause. There has been a real increase in the
amount of research taking place and a number of
possibilities are beginning to emerge but the waters are
still fairly murky.
The overall picture is that Dyslexia can be caused
by
(a)Hearing problem at an early age
(b)Inherited (frequently found in families and is
often accompanied by left handedness sometimes in
family)
(c)A combination of both (a) and (b).
Dyslexia can be identified early. Early identification
and intervention is much easier than remedial education
and any medical treatment in later years.
Parents' Help
-To manage time
-To put things in their places
-To focus attention
-To read and do homework
-To take the right books to school
-Give precise and clear instructions
-Do not give punishment for clumsiness, delay in
completing work
-Give constant positive inputs
-Impart social skills
Teachers' Help
-Give less written work.
-Test children orally.
-Give marks for content.
-Introduce abstract ideas through pictures and
objects.
-Give precise and clear instructions.
-Give extra time to finish tests.
-Do not punish for poor handwriting or messy work.
-Emphasize quality of work.
-Avoid punishment for minor misbehavior.
A Gift
Dyslexic people are visual, multidimensional thinkers.
They are intuitive and highly creative, and excel at
hands or learning. Because they think in pictures, it is
sometimes hard for them to understand letters, numbers,
symbols and written words.
They can learn to read write and study efficiently
when the methods used is geared to their unique learning
style.
Source: www.gorkhapatra.org.np
