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What is Dyslexia?

The word Dyslexia has it’s origin in the Greek language that mean Difficulty with words of a language. The simplest definition of Dyslexia is that it is difficulty in learning to read and write-particularly in learning to spell correctly and to express your thoughts on paper.

The mental function that causes dyslexia is a gift in the truest sense of the word, a natural ability, a talent. It is something special that enhances the individual. The positive points of dyslexics are –

• They can utilize the brain’s ability to alter and create perception.
• They are highly aware of the environment.
• They are more curious than the average.
• They think mainly in pictures instead of words.
• They are highly intuitive and insightful.
• They think and perceive multidimensionally
• They can experience thought as reality.
• They have vivid imagination.



These eight abilities if not destroyed by parents and educational process, will result in two characteristics –higher than normal intelligence and extraordinary creative abilities. From this the true gift of dyslexia can emerge-the gift of mastery. The gift of mastery develops in many ways and in many areas, for Einstein it was Physics, for Walt Disney, it was art and for Thomas Cruise it was films and acting.

The dyslexics face several problems especially in the area of reading and a number of related skills which are-

• The child has a specific difficulty with one aspect of English or Math.
• Major differences between his/her ability in some subjects as compared to other subjects.
• Difficulty in concentrating or attention.
• Having difficulty perceiving or/and pronunciation.
• Difficulty in decoding and encoding words.
• Problems with Reading Comprehension.
• Difficulty expressing thoughts in written form.
• Delayed Spoken Language.
• Imprecise or incomplete interpretation of language that is heard.

• Difficulty expressing thoughts orally.

Dyslexia is not the result of low intelligence, although it is possible for someone with low intelligence also to be dyslexic. A child with an IQ of 150 –which is extremely high-may still have difficulty in picking up written language skills. The most distinctive feature of dyslexia is that a child’s reading and writing do not measure up to his all-round intellectual ability, at whatever level that might be. Most of the dyslexic students are of above average intelligence. This often makes their struggle with reading and writing all more frustating, their mental agility nearly always enabled them to respond well to remedial teaching.

There is evidence that a tendency to dyslexia is largely inherited. Most of the students who show dyslexia have positive family history of dyslexia; and often there was a record of more than one child being affected in the same family.

There is as yet no cure to dyslexia, but there are well-trained methods of teaching which greatly improve the condition in the vast majority of cases.

There are some errors specific to dyslexic readers –

• Omissions-The reader omits letters or whole words while reading. It is generally the middle and end part of a word that is omitted. Teaching the child to scan the whole word is a useful strategy.

• Additions and Insertions- The child inserts a word or syllable where not required. Choral reading and having the child read along a taped reading can help.

• Substitution-The reader substitutes words which look the same. There is a great deal of wild guessing. One reason why this occurs is the child focuses only on the initial part of the word and ignores the rest. Mispronunciation which is also a form of substitution could be a result of poor auditory discrimination, undetected hearing or vision defects, poor syllabication and phonetic skill. Using of flash cards and practice with choral reading and rhyming helps.

• Repetitions or Regressions-A child frequently repeats words because he cannot make sense of the meaning or is embarrassed and nervous when reading. The result is slow, erratic rate of reading. One way to correct regressions and repetitions is to ask the child to first read silently before reading aloud. Use phrase cards, sight words may help in this case.


• Reversals- Letters, part of words or whole words are twisted or reversed. For e.g. - was for saw, aminal for animal.” The boy went into the garden” becomes “Garden into the went boy.” A simple game like Simon says or teaching them to distinguish between the words that circle to the right and circle to the left may help them.

• Word by word Reading- The reader frequently loses his pace when reading, using intonation, expression or punctuation and pausing so long that he loses sight of the meaning. Some tips can be increase the pace of the reading by moving a piece of paper along the page, read along with the child at a faster pace, use flash cards with phrases, use choral reading.

• Sound Blending –sound blending is the ability to combine letters into words. The child with problem is not able to blend the sounds and continue to isolate the sounds while reading even in the higher grades. This problem can be remedied by using meaningful word patterns and using words in context.

• Memory Skills-these children have poor memory and are unable to:

a) Retain impressions or traces of visual and auditory stimuli.

b)Make comparisons with past auditory and visual experiences.