Dyslexia: what is it? Types and signs, causes and symptoms

Dyslexia is a specific impairment of reading ability, when a child makes the same type of mistakes when reading. In this case, the child may be fully intellectually developed and not experience other learning difficulties.

It is not easy for ordinary people to understand what dyslexia is. According to dyslexic researcher Ronald Davis, the difference between dyslexics and ordinary people is that ordinary people think in words, while dyslexics think in images. Therefore, when a child suffering from dyslexia is faced with a verbal description of an object or phenomenon, he experiences difficulties. It is especially difficult for such a child to perceive words whose meaning he does not know, that is, he does not have an image in his memory; such words can be, in particular, prepositions: “through”, “above”, “under”.

When reading, a dyslexic child constantly faces difficulties: even one word that he does not know (does not have its image) destroys the general image of what he read, that is, the text becomes completely incomprehensible to the child. Very often, people have impairments not only in the ability to read (dyslexia), but also in the ability to write correctly (dysgraphia).

Dictation of a child suffering from dysgraphia. Dyslexia and dysgraphia are disorders that often go together.

What is dyslexia

Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Keanu Reeves and Vladimir Mayakovsky - it would seem that what could these people from different eras and professions have in common, except that many people on the planet know their names? All of them faced dyslexia, which did not prevent them from achieving world fame.

Dyslexia is not a disease

Dyslexia is not a disease or lack of intelligence. A feature of the brain that prevents its owner from perceiving information the way ordinary people do. It is expressed in different forms, the main of which are:

• difficulties with reading skills;
• problems with writing skills;
• difficulties with grammar;
• periodic impairment of motor skills and coordination;
• poor concentration.

Dyslexia was first identified at the end of the 19th century in Germany. Ophthalmologist Rudolf Berlin described the symptoms after working with a young patient who had no difficulties with communication and physical development, but was completely unable to comprehend grammar and reading. The doctor attributed the deviation to visual pathologies.

In 1925, the theory was refuted by neurologist Samuel Orton, according to his research, dyslexics had asymmetry of the brain lobes. This statement also turned out to be false, and only in the 1970s did scientists agree that dyslexia manifests itself in people with poor metaphonological and phonological development. That is, due to a failure in the process of acquiring adult speech patterns. During the period of early development, each child gradually masters speech skills; at first, they do not finish words, confuse syllables, or express thoughts unclearly. As most people get older, their neurons overcome this and speech becomes clearer. Later, they find it easier to write and read, unlike dyslexics.

The child masters reading skills

According to research, patients with dyslexia:

• have an active right hemisphere of the brain;
• have differences in the weight of the hemispheres;
• most have experienced birth trauma;
• have experienced a head injury;
• suffered a dangerous infection (for example, meningitis);
• suffered from infections in the womb (measles, rubella, herpes) or gave birth to a dependent mother.

The manifestations of deviation are aggravated by: lack of pedagogical education, lack of communication, destructive environment, physical isolation (which threatens complete loss of speech, with a healthy brain and normal physical development). Dyslexia is 5 times more common in boys than in girls. This is a feature that lasts a lifetime, but its manifestations can be corrected and the child (or adult) adapted. The sooner it is detected, the easier the measures taken will be assimilated by the brain.

Prognosis for recovery

Children manage their peculiarity so that the symptoms of dyslexia disappear.
With an integrated and correct approach, recovery is possible. Sometimes the symptoms go away on their own, as the person gets older or changes in the brain (in this case, medication works well). For secondary complications, children are prescribed vitamins and nootropic drugs.

Symptoms of dyslexia

Most often, parents notice the first signs of dyslexia, since it does not cause inconvenience to a child under 4-5 years of age. If 5 or more signs from the following list coincide, consultation with an experienced neuropsychologist and speech therapist is required.

Problems communicating with a child

For preschoolers:

• communication problems;
• late speech;
• incorrect placement of a pencil or pen in the hand after repeated training;
• has difficulty understanding new words and problems with their pronunciation;
• disordered sequence of words in speech and on paper, rearrangement of letters;
• difficulties with basic principles of letter writing and reading.

In everyday life, you can notice sloppiness in drawing, especially when working with coloring. A child cannot remember where is right and where is left; it is difficult to teach him to understand the time on a clock. He cannot name consecutive months or seasons, misses endings in words, and adds non-existent letters. There are great difficulties with tying shoelaces or fastening buttons. Of course, these signs must be consistent with the child’s age; accurate diagnosis is only possible through testing by specialists.

The child does not understand arithmetic

Obvious signs appear by the 5th grade of school:

• changes the words he reads to ones that sound similar;
• rearranges letters and syllables when reading;
• does not understand what he just read;
• confuses numbers and arithmetic signs;
• does not remember simple concepts well;
• cannot concentrate, is constantly distracted;
• behavior is awkward, clumsy, impulsive;
• perceives information slowly;
• coordination is impaired.

You can notice how the child involuntarily swaps syllables when reading; he is restless and impatient. When doing homework, he constantly dangles his leg or fidgets, standing up and sitting down. Loses things, forgets requests or what was said a few minutes ago. Often the behavior of a small person is associated with laziness and banal bad manners, but this is a mistake.

Adults have similar symptoms, which they often mistake for their own stupidity or absent-mindedness. Dyslexia can bring many difficulties, for example, the inability to read even a short note normally, poor memory for events and faces, problems with writing and counting.

Dyslexia causes many problems in life

“Doctors discovered that I had dyslexia when I needed a prescription for glasses. During the examination, I was given huge glasses with one red lens and the other blue. They asked me to read a passage and then asked 10 questions about what I had just read. I could only answer three. They studied how my eyes move while reading. It turned out that I read four words, then go back two. I didn’t read some words at all.”

Jennifer Aniston, source: Instagram.

Causes and risk factors

Dyslexia tends to run in families. It appears to be associated with certain genes that affect how the brain processes information (writing and language), as well as risk factors present in the environment.

Risk factors

Risk factors for developing dyslexia are:

• Family history of dyslexia.
• Premature birth or low birth weight.
• Exposure to nicotine, drugs, alcohol, or infection during pregnancy that may alter fetal brain development.
• Individual differences in the parts of the brain that enable reading.

Types of dyslexia

The concept of this deviation is broad, as are the symptoms. Based on the signs that appear in a child or adult, one can determine the specific type of dyslexia.

Typology of features in manifestations:

• Tactile. It occurs in blind people who, while reading Braille with their fingers, jump from one line to another, go back, or read in reverse order.
• Mnestic. Difficulties in understanding speech addressed to dyslexics. Inability to fully perceive information by ear.
• Semantic. Does not understand the essence of what he read, although he may have perfect reading skills.
• Ungrammatical. Incorrect word placement, mistakes in endings, pronounces gender, tenses incorrectly (“white horse”, “I want to go to the store”);
• Optical. When a dyslexic person reads, his eyes jump from line to line and move in the opposite direction, the brain equally perceives letters that are similar in spelling (for example, “m”, “sh”, “i”).
• Acoustic. It can often be found among primary school students when words are replaced by similar-sounding ones or syllables are rearranged (for example, cat-mole-cake-tot, pine-pump).

Despite their special perception of information, dyslexics often have a talented and inquisitive mind. They think differently, have a developed imagination, and look at standard things from an unusual perspective. Many artists were born with this feature, including Leonardo da Vinci and Quentin Tarantino.

How to Identify and Assess Dyslexia

How parents can check their guesses on their own:

• ask to find a letter in the text;
• pronounce a combination of letters;
• cut a letter out of paper;
• trace the outline of the picture;
• ask to find the missing letters in the alphabet or in a word.

The first step to making a diagnosis is to visit a pediatrician (or a general practitioner for adults). He will look at the signs, based on which he will refer you to a speech therapist and neurologist. Subject specialists will test the level of mastery of writing, reading, the ability to correctly express thoughts and perceive information in different ways. Using special equipment, the condition of hearing, vision, and the structure of the speech apparatus is checked. The neurologist will analyze the EEG and EchoEg, they will identify features in the structure of the brain.

Schoolboy

Once dyslexia is identified by specialists, there is no need to panic. This feature does not in any way affect the development of intelligence, mental or physical capabilities.

This is entertaining

You can check which hemisphere of your brain is more developed by taking a short test.

Another study was supposed to prove that dyslexics have above average intelligence. It is generally accepted that a person with high intelligence will also be a good reader. But dyslexia refutes this opinion. For typical readers, IQ and reading ability are dynamically linked. When one indicator increases, the other also increases. However, it was found that in dyslexics, IQ and reading skills do not influence each other.

Dyslexia correction methods

It's sad but true - dyslexia will be with a person all his life and he needs to adapt to living with this feature. It is more effective to begin correction in childhood, while the brain is in the growth stage. Therefore, it is so important to conduct an early diagnosis and take action on time.

Schoolboy reading

The main task: to teach a dyslexic to recognize words, depending on the type of specific deviation (written, or in speech, etc.). There is no single method for correcting deviations; each case is individual and methods must be selected individually. The work is carried out gradually, step by step, the method depends on the type of dyslexia:

• For tactile, spatial imagination is developed, a gradual explanation of the essence of perceived objects and patterns is carried out.
• For mnestic, the development of auditory memory, visual perception of letters and spelling of words is carried out.
• For semantic, understanding of syllables, clarification of concepts, development of vocabulary are developed, and work is carried out to master the norms of grammar.
• For agrammatic, grammatical schemes and the concept of changing words and endings are formed.
• For optical training, visual analysis, spatial imagination, analysis of incoming visual information and its processing are trained.
• For acoustic methods, sequential perception and recognition of information by ear, repetition, and memorization.

In general, the correction comes down to the fact that the dyslexic must grasp his state and direct himself through actions in order to achieve the desired result (perception of information). People with special needs have a very developed spatial imagination, which is what experts suggest using in the correction process.

Classification

Depending on the disturbed mechanisms, the following classification of dyslexia is proposed.

1. Optical dyslexia – children have difficulty perceiving graphic images and reproducing visual sequences. Therefore, they have difficulty learning letters: they confuse them, cannot distinguish them, visual synthesis and analysis are impaired.
2. Phonemic dyslexia arises as a result of underdevelopment of semantic discrimination, auditory pronunciation functions and phonemic analysis. At the same time, sounds are confused, children read letters, miss consonants, rearrange sounds and syllables.
3. Agrammatic - more common in children with speech disorders. They change the endings of pronouns and cases, poorly correlate adjectives and nouns (by gender, case, number), change the forms and tenses of verbs.
4. Semantic dyslexia is not understanding the content and meaning of the text, but reading correctly. At the same time, he can read syllables (but does not combine them into words), complete words (perceives each word separately, but not together with others) or combining these two options.
5. Mnestic dyslexia is associated with impaired auditory-verbal memory, it is difficult to correlate the visual image of a letter and a sound, and poor memorization of letters.
6. Tactile - appears in blind people who read not with the help of sight, but through tactile sensations. The disease occurs by the same mechanism as in sighted people (impaired finger movements as impaired eye movements).

Exercises to correct dyslexia in schoolchildren

Exercises are selected individually for each child. We suggest using the following simple options to develop correct perception:

1. Come up with a word, let your child remember it and write it down. Then go to the phrase, then to the sentence.
2. Write the words on a line without spaces, for example: GRANDFATHERGRANDMAGRANCHAUGHKABUGKAKAMOSE. The child’s task: to divide this stream into separate words. You can start with 3 words, then complicate it and make sentences, for example: WE ARE GOING TO GO TO GRANDMOTHER TODAY AND BRING THE CAKE.
3. Play a game: in the room you need to find words starting with the letter M. The child looks for objects that begin with this letter, for example, a car, a bear, etc. Make the task more difficult, for example, you need to find objects that end with a certain syllable or sound.
4. Suggest a few words from which to form a sentence. You can start with syllables to form a word.
5. Word games help develop understanding of letters and sounds. Take turns calling words starting with the letter that ends the previous word: mattress-table-lamp and so on.
6. Letters are drawn on the child's back with a finger or the blunt side of a pencil, and he needs to guess which one.
7. Make several short words from one long word. For example, from ACCORDION: rock, cancer, etc.
8. Hide the word in letters and the child must find it. Example: PMKARSMIUNPA (if read through the letter, it will be MACHINE).

There are countless exercises, it is important to find something that the child will like and bring results. You need to change them periodically so that the brain works differently each time.

Prevention of dyslexia

You need to start working with speech, perception, memory and coordination from a very early age. Select exercises by year, practice in a playful way, read more.

Teacher teach communication skills to children

The first to develop are the skills of sound pronunciation and speech production. To do this, repeat syllables with the child (how a dog barks, how a cat meows, etc.). Games are perceived best by children. Doman cards work well with spatial imagination.

From about 1.5 years old, classes begin on studying big and small, left-right, find the difference, find an extra object, and others. Visual perception is best developed in young children.

Development of fine motor skills

The development of fine motor skills is important; it is directly related to speech functions and brain function. Playing with sand, with water, cereals and plasticine, finger painting, and sound games (“magpie-crow,” for example) will help.

Causes

It is now known that the brains of people with dyslexia are “structured” somewhat differently.

Dr. Sally Shaywitz has conducted outstanding research using magnetic resonance imaging. MRI scans have shown that adult dyslexics have reduced activity in the area of ​​the brain that is responsible for reading, and increased activity in the area responsible for attention and sound recognition.

It is therefore not surprising that dyslexics are more tired after work, because their brains are literally working at their limit. Dyslexics rely more on the right hemisphere of the brain, which is associated with intuition, creativity, and art. The left hemisphere is responsible for reading and speech.

Tips for teachers

The teacher is not always able to recognize dyslexia and attributes it to disobedience. Recommendations for teachers when there is dyslexia in the classroom:

• be patient, show more attention, such children need more time to respond (many are characterized by slowness);
• place the child at the first desk so that his attention does not wander and the learning process can be controlled;
• be the first to call to the board so that he is not afraid to speak against the background of others;
• Do not write comments and corrections in his notebooks with a red pen; it is better to use a green pen.

Prevalence

Cases of dyslexia occur among people of different ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic status.

It is believed that between 5 and 10% of the world's population are dyslexic, although this figure can be as high as 17%.

It is difficult to determine the exact number of dyslexics due to the low prevalence of diagnosis of this disorder. The second factor is the reluctance of carriers themselves to disclose their diagnosis. Not all dyslexics need special training, but they do have to overcome a number of difficulties that arise during the learning process. But with clear and systematic help with reading and writing, they still make progress. Dyslexia can be inherited, so dyslexic parents are at risk of having dyslexic children.

Tips for parents

It is important for parents:

• support, love and appreciate the child for who he is;
• develop his strengths;
• develop visual-spatial functions;
• do not pamper too much, do not allow you to shirk your studies, classes and reading;
• sculpt, draw, cut out letters;
• play more games to improve memory, lexical and grammatical structure, attention, and enrich vocabulary;
• in understanding, go from simple to complex (letters-syllables-words-phrase-sentences, etc.);
• pronounce tongue twisters, learn poetry;
• do finger and articulation gymnastics;
• choose your teacher carefully;
• go through all the necessary specialists (speech therapist, neurologist, defectologist, work with a neuropsychologist).

The main thing is to always maintain emotional contact. All developed logical, speech and grammatical chains must be brought to automaticity. Dyslexics are creative people, with unconventional thinking, and it is interesting to work and study with them.