One of the most devastating revelations as a parent is to be informed that your child has a learning disability.

One of the most prevalent specific learning disabilities that are diagnosed is dyslexia. This condition affects 2 to 20 percent of the general population. It occurs in at least fifty percent of the learning disability population (Spafford, Grosser, 2005). This literature review begins with various definitions of dyslexia. I discuss implications to a student with the diagnosis, I then pose the question, and Does dyslexia really exist? This literature review includes articles, books, web sources, and an interview that support that dyslexia does exist and also have other sources that claim it is an ambiguous term that does not have clear genetic or functional boundaries. What is dyslexia? Dyslexia comes from the Greek roots dys, difficulty, and lexia pertaining to words. . A person with dyslexia has difficulty in translating symbols (Lally,1976). In the text, Dyslexia and Reading Difficulties, Spafford and Grosser define dyslexia as: Dyslexia definition = dys and lexia, or inability to effectively read words, the most prevalent specific learning disability (at least 50% of the LD population). It is thought to have a neurological basis, and the disability is unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and access to effective classroom instruction. There are specific difficulties with fluent reading and the phonological components of language. Secondary issues may include other academic problems (e.g., reading comprehension), difficulties in socialization (e.g., more negative peer interactions), and co-existing disabilities or disorders (e.g. ADD or ADHD in 25% of those with dyslexia). With intensive literacy support in reading and writing, a social academic network of support, and the development of individual resiliency, individuals with dyslexia can lead successful and fulfilling lives. Grigorenko in her article on development dyslexia defines dyslexia as a common, cognitively and behaviorally heterogeneous developmental condition, characterized primarily by severe difficulty in the mastery of reading despite average intelligence and adequate education.

Barilliexu, Vandervliet, Manto Prizel, Deyn, and Marien in their article define developmental dyslexia as an isolated developmental disorder in children who, despite normal intelligence and conventional classroom experience, fail to sufficiently learn reading skills (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Beaton, 2004). Bernstein in his article, Phonology, decoding, and lexical compensation in vowel spelling errors made by children with dyslexia, further defines dyslexia as children with dyslexia experience severe and unexpected difficulty in learning to read and spell, despite adequate intelligence and an average amount of instruction. Converging evidence implicates a deficiency in phonological processing; this is the phonological core deficit hypothesis.

The authors in the article, Theories of developmental dyslexia: Insights from a multiple case study of dyslexic adults, define dyslexia as a discrepancy between reading ability and intelligence in children receiving adequate reading instruction. They stated that dyslexia is a neurological disorder with a genetic origin. They further report that the disorder has life-long persistence, with reading retardation merely one of its manifestations. Beyond this consensus, and despite decades of intensive research, the underlying biological and cognitive causes of the reading retardation are still hotly debated. The Dyslexia institute defined dyslexia as follows: Dyslexia is a developmental disorder which results in difficulties in learning to read, write and spell. Short-term memory, mathematics, concentration, personal organization and sequencing may also be affected. Dyslexia usually arises from a weakness in the processing of language-bases information. Biological in origin, it tends to run in families, but environmental factors also contribute. Dyslexia can occur at any level of intellectual ability. It is not the result of poor motivation, emotional disturbance, sensory impairment or lack of opportunities, but may occur alongside any of these. The effects of dyslexia can be largely overcome by skilled specialist teaching and the use of compensatory strategies.

The international dyslexia foundation defines dyslexia as follows:

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes define dyslexia as: Dyslexia is a brain-based type of learning disability that specifically impairs a person's ability to read. These individuals typically read at levels significantly lower than expected despite having normal intelligence. Although the disorder varies from person to person, common characteristics among people with dyslexia are difficulty with spelling, phonological processing (the manipulation of sounds), and/or rapid visual-verbal responding. In adults, dyslexia usually occurs after a brain injury or in the context of dementia. It can also be inherited in some families, and recent studies have identified a number of genes that may predispose an individual to developing dyslexia. Emily Boles director of Frameworks Tutoring Services diagnosis students with dyslexia based on a definition from author Sally Shaywitz, in her book Overcoming Dyslexia: That its a reading difficulty in a person who otherwise has good intelligence, is motivated, and has had adequate schooling/education. Dyslexia is primarily a deficit in phonological awareness, and the reading difficulty is at the single-word decoding levelinitially problems with decoding accurately and later fluently. Ms Boles states that a struggling reader could be struggling for many reasons, such as a poor reading instruction, excessive absences from school or even a history of ear infections that interfered with early speech/language development. Ms. Boles uses the following criteria to determine dyslexia: 1) Difficulty in reading/decoding individual words, slow reading, but often good reading comprehension. 2) Inaccurate and labored reading

3) Trouble with small words (and, that, but). 4) Childs history and family history of reading problems. Implications of dyslexia: Dyslexia is individual Children with dyslexia can have different characteristics from one another. Dyslexia can have a continuum from mild to severe. It is important to realize what work for one student will may not work for another (Reid, 2004). Dyslexia relates to how information is processed this means that it affects more than reading, that it also affects oral instructions. Students with dyslexia can have difficulty learning through listening. They have trouble with organizing and remerging information. Writing also can be laborious and tedious for students with dyslexia (Reid, 2004). Ms. Boles and other organizations have found that the multisensory approach is effective in teaching students that have dyslexia. This approach has also been found to be effective for all students especially those that struggle in school. The multisensory approach is effective to any student because it incorporates many sensesthe more engaged the senses are, the more effective the learning. By using visual/auditory/kinesthetic/tactile learning the students brain is activated in different ways and the learning pathways that are constructed are more likely to be remembered and applied in the future. Because dyslexia is primarily a problem with phonological processing (awareness of sounds in language) these sounds and their symbols need to be taught effectively, and using multisensory learning is the best way to do this (Boles, 2009).

What are the signs of dyslexia? Individuals with dyslexia exhibit difficulties in acquiring and using written language. It is a myth that dyslexic individuals read backwards, although their spelling can look jumbled at times because students have trouble remembering letter symbols for sounds and forming memories for words. Other problems experienced by dyslexics include the following: Learning to speak Learning letters and their sounds Organizing written and spoken language Memorizing number facts Reading quickly enough to comprehend Persisting with and comprehending longer reading assignments Spelling Learning a foreign language Correctly doing math operations

Students who have difficulties with these skills are not necessarily dyslexic. Formal testing of reading, language, and writing skills is the only way to confirm a diagnosis of suspected dyslexia (International Society, of Dyslexia, 2009). How is dyslexia diagnosed? An evaluation is needed to diagnose dyslexia. The evaluation should include intellectual and academic achievement testing. The evaluation also should include an assessment of the language skills that are closely linked to dyslexia. These include receptive (listening) and expressive language skills, phonemic awareness, and also a students ability rapidly name letters and names. A students ability to read lists of words in isolation, as well as words in context, should also be assessed. Schools are incorporating a process called Response to Intervention (RTI) to identify students with learning disabilities. The RTI model is designed for schools to provide students that are not

progressing with the acquisition of critical early literacy skills with intensive and individualized supplemental reading instruction. If the supplemental instruction does not aid the student in reaching the established grade-level benchmarks and other developmental disorders are not evident then the student may be identified as having a learning disability in reading and would be eligible for special education services. The student could be further assessed through evaluations that could lead to the determination if the reading disability was linked to dyslexia. Does Dyslexia exist? The literature that supports the existence of dyslexia includes the study by Baillieux, Vandervliet, Manto, Parizel, DeDeyn, Marien. Their research showed a possible involvement of the cerebellum in the development of dyslexia. Their research investigated fifteen children diagnosed with dyslexia and seven control children. They used functional neuroimaging(fMRI) to compare activation patterns between the students with dyslexia and the control group when exposed to a noun-verb association model. The results of this study showed a defect of the intra-cerebellar distribution of activity in the dyslexic group leading the researchers to suggest a disorder of the transfer of information within the cerebellar cortex. In her study, Developmental dyslexia: An update on genes, brains and environments, Dr. Grigorenko state that there is evidence that reading is cooked by the brain. She states that even though there is not been a unified brain map of reading , some specific areas of the brain have been tied to reading-related cognitive processes in a variety of laborites on different samples. She further states that there is indisputable evidence has been recorded suggesting there are specific regions of the genome that have been identified as being closely involved in several

reading processes. She notes that the field of developmental dyslexia is the only are of genetic studies of human disabilities in which linkage to the genome has been replicated in different laboratories in separate experiments. Evidence from her studies suggest that the coexistence of developmental dyslexia with behavioral disturbances as well as other learning disabilities indicate a manifestation of a deep underlying anatomical syndrome . In the book, The Study of Dyslexia the author states that it is almost universally accepted that dyslexia is a constitutional condition, highly probable that it is genetic and rooted in the central nervous system. He further states there are defects from the retina through the midbrain to the cerebral cortex and cerebellum that are involved in dyslexia. Researchers have been able to show neuronal abnormalities in the brains of dyslectics with a new type of magnetic resonance imaging (f MRI) that accurately locates three distinct areas of involvement:(1) the left inferior frontal gyrus which he notes is the phoneme producer area, (2) the left parieto-temporal lobe area used for word analyzing and the (3) left occipito-temporal lob area used for automatic detecting. Other brain studies such as by Muter show that brain regions that are important in analyzing phonological information may not be defective but may not process information in a coordinated way. Questions of Existence Dr. Elliott and Simon Gibbs have generated controversy with their article refuting the existence of dyslexia. They state that distinguishing between categories of dyslexia , poor reader or reading disabled are scientifically unsupportable, arbitrary and possibly discriminatory.

In their article they question whether dyslexia is a clinically or educationally meaniful term for differentiating between students with reading difficulties. They base their opposition to a dyslexic label based on studies by Popper that it is not possible to set unambiguous criteria of demarcation at the genetic or functional boundaries of what is or what is not dyslexia. They also use the study by Stanovich, who demolishes the grounds of dyslexia bases on reading IQ discrepancies because the term carries with it so many unverifiable connotation and assumptions that it should be abandoned. There is not a clear boundary for a diagnostic category of dyslexic as to a less-skilled reader. The authors state that the list of possible underlying difficulties experienced by students identified as dyslexic is diverse. A student with dyslexia may experience speech and language difficulties, poor short-term or working memory, difficulties in ordering and sequencing, clumsiness, a poor sense of rhythm, limited speed of information processing, poor concentration, inconsistent hand preference, poor verbal fluency, poor phonic skills, frequent use of letter reversals (d for b), a difficulty in undertaking mental calculations, low self-image, and anxiety when being asked to read aloud. The authors state that such a long list of difficulties does not offer differentiations and these conditions may also occur with other developmental conditions such as attention deficient disorder or dyspraxia. Many of these difficulties are also typical of younger normal reader who read at the same age level. They suggest that these problems are more characteristic of a certain stage of reading development rather than a pathological feature. They also address the work of cognitive psychologists that see reading as a linguistic rather than a visual skill and that phonological factors play a significant role for beginning readers. This

study influenced another author, Peter Hitchens to postulate that dyslexia has grown largely due to schools abandoning the systematic teaching of reading according to the method which is known to work, synthetic phonics. He states that students will learn in different ways and that is why some students learn to read even with inadequate instruction and that others will not learn unless they are taught using synthetic phonics. They firmly state that the term dyslexia is an arbitrarily and socially defined construct. Elliot states that for parents, in particular, a diagnosis that their child is dyslexic can be a relief. He believes the diagnosis serves as an emotional, not a scientific function. There is a huge stigma attached to low intelligence. After years of working with parents I have seen how they dont want their child to be considered lazy, thick or stupid. If they get called this medically recognized term, dyslexic, then it is a signal to all that its not to do with intelligence. In their article questioning the existence of dyslexia the authors are concerned that there is an inequitable use of resources, mainly for poor readers that do not have the dyslexic label. Elliot and Gibbs found that the dyslexic label unfair because students that are poor readers are given interventions when given the dyslexic label and were not given services when labeled as poor readers. In Lallys master thesis, Jeff the case study of a dyslexic child. She describes the frustration, concern and isolation that come from having the dyslexic label. I read the master thesis by Lilly with interest, this parents struggle with dyslexia happened over twenty years ago, yet I have found the same struggles with my daughter that has been diagnosed with dyslexia today.

Early this year I received a call from my daughters teacher and she told me she thought my daughter, Andrea, had dyslexia. I argued that she couldnt have dyslexia that she had trouble reading because her first grade teacher had used a whole word approach instead of a phonological approach. The counselor assured me that dyslexia a term used for struggling readers and that my daughter was a struggling reader. I had experienced students that I thought were dyslexic and I didnt think, Andrea showed the same systems. I believed that students with dyslexia displayed a more visual disability. I had Andrea tested at the Lee Peskey Learning Center and from the battery of tests she took, she was found to have dyslexia. While I was reading Lillys masters thesis I found that I was not alone with my fear for my childs future. I dont want my daughter singled out and made to feel dumb. I cling to the

diagnosis of dyslexia as Julian Elliott said parents do. I tell people that Andrea has an IQ in the high range; she just has a disability with a medical basis - dyslexia. I mention many famous and successful people have succeeded that were diagnosed with dyslexia. From my literature review I am now questioning whether dyslexia is a necessary label. Perhaps I was correct in thinking that my daughter just had poor reading instruction. I discussed this with my daughters tutor and she told me the following dyslexia is a condition that can be managed but not eliminated. A student can be taught sound-symbol relationships and how to apply them in reading, writing and spelling; and s/he can learn techniques for reading to make it less frustrating and more productive. However, dyslexia is neurobiological in origin, meaning that it is an inborn trait that exists in a person regardless of how s/he has been taught to manage it. While I dont believe it can be cured, it can be largely managed if a child receives effective intervention and is motivated to learn to overcome it. I now hope is that she is able to manage it and be successful in her education.

http://www.interdys.org/ewebeditpro5/upload/Definition_Fact_Sheet_3-10-08.pdf http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dyslexia/dyslexia.htm

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dyslexia/dyslexia.htm

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dyslexia/dyslexia.htm