What is Dyslexia ?
The word Dyslexia means: Dys = difficulty Lexia = words
Dyslexia really means that children who have dyslexia will have difficulty with words.It is a specific learning disability. It describes an unexpected difficulty with reading and written language, despite having other average and above average learning abilities. It is generally harder for people with dyslexia to ‘process’ or ‘work’ with certain types of information. This can be the sounds in words and/or it can be symbols such as letters or words.
The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) defines dyslexia in this way:
‘Dyslexia - is a combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process in reading, spelling, writing and sometimes numeracy. People who have dyslexia frequently have weaknesses in short-term memory, sequencing and processing information - skills everyone needs to lean effectively in a busy classroom.What may start as a learning difference quickly becomes a learning difficulty if dyslexia goes unrecognised and the teaching in inappropriate.’
It is now well recognised that dyslexia is commonly associated with difficulties with phonological awareness and processing. In simple terms, this refers to the ability to hear and manipulate the separate sounds within words (phonemes). Although such difficulties can be detected orally at an early age, they are frequently overlooked and the problem becomes most apparent when the child struggles to learn to read in the early years of schooling. In the reading process, lack of phonological awareness skills leads to difficulty recognising that sounds can be represented by letters or groups of letters within written words (often called Phonics at school).
It is also now accepted that there is a strong hereditary component in dyslexia - that is, it runs in families. It used to be though that it affected far more toys than girls, but recent research tends to show that it is more evenly distributed. It appears to be that it is more noticeable in boys in the classroom situation.
What is Known About the Causes of Dyslexia ?
Dyslexia is NOT the result of low intelligence, vision or hearing problems, behaviour or emotional problems, or lack of opportunity or motivation to learn. Dyslexia is a neurologically based condition, which results from underlying differences in the structure and function of the brain. Research (e.g., brain scans) has revealed that there are differences in the brain activity of dyslexic and non-dyslexic people when they are engaged in reading tasks.
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Common Myths about Dyslexia