DYSLEXIA

Tracey Francis
Claire Buchanan
Julie Bradley
Carol Lee
Dyslexia is one of several distinct learning
disabilities and literally means the inability to master
language.
More specifically, the term refers to people who
have extreme difficulty acquiring the ability to read
and spell, in particular, trouble with learning the
code for written language.
The difficulties of a student identified as having
dyslexia occur in phonemic awareness and
manipulation, single-word decoding, reading
fluency, reading comprehension, spelling and/or
written composition.

What is Dyslexia contd
These difficulties are unexpected for the
students age, educational level, or cognitive
abilities.
Dyslexia affects about 7% of people of all
ages across the full range of socioeconomic
backgrounds in society.
People with dyslexia are often viewed as slow
readers or slow learners however they are
usually quite intelligent, oral people who
simply struggle with language.

History of Dyslexia
Dyslexia was made known to the world in
1876 by a group of doctors. Before then,
doctors thought of dyslexia as vision
problems. Doctors would make special
glasses and check the patients' eyes to see if
anything was wrong. Finally they discovered
that it was not the eye, but the brain that
caused the problems of dyslexia.
Teachers saw students as dumb, lazy and not
worth anything.
Famous people such as Albert Einstein had
dyslexia.


Causes
The most common cause for dyslexia is
genetic the child has inherited the genetic
material from one or both of the parents
which have affected how that childs brain
was built during foetal development.
Far less common are head injuries where
the cause is acquired brain damage.
Causes contd
There has been much detailed research with
reference to the neurological causes of dyslexia.
One common finding relates to the question of
timing in that with either visual, auditory (or both)
information coming in through the eyes or ears,
timing issues of discriminating one piece of
information from the next may be faulty.
Basically, in people with dyslexia, brain function
does not work as well and thus, the end result is
that the person struggles to learn reading, writing
and spelling to a degree far greater than people
expect.

Characteristics
Reading: difficulties in visual short-term memory,
word recognition, speed of reading and
comprehension, extracting main points, misreading,
the need to re-read several times
Writing: difficulties in expression, sentence
structure, punctuation, planning and structuring
essays, sequencing and transition between ideas
Auditory assimilation: difficulties in auditory short-
term memory, remembering series (eg telephone
numbers), polysyllabic words and remembering
mathematical formulae
Memory: may be less effective, revision can be a
longer process and support for study skills is needed

Characteristics contd
Spelling: each new word needs to be learned, may
inhibit writing (fear of negative reaction), may affect
the teachers understanding and evaluation of student
work, reversal of letters and figures (eg b /d, 15/51),
basic grammar rules not applied (eg likeing, lookd)
and may not remember how a word sounds
Proof reading: difficulty in identifying errors, a
document may require proof-reading 4 or 5 times
Handwriting: letters may not be joined, printing may
be found to be of help
Vocabulary: language acquisition will take longer as
more examples of a new word or sentence structure
are required before they are learned

Understanding Dyslexia
Dyslexic people hear and see normally but have
difficulty remembering what they hear and see. This is
called processing information.
Brain scan experiments have shown that dyslexic
people use different areas of the brain to process
information.
We all absorb information in different ways. Some
people learn best through listening, some by seeing
and others by doing.
There are also combinations of these. Understanding
how you absorb and process information is useful in
the workplace or during study.

A Dyslexics Point of View
My brain is wired differently.
It's like my computer crashing with too much information!
I know what I want to say, but I can never find the right
words.
I see things from a different perspective.
I have all the right ideas, but I can't get them down on
paper.
Speaking out in front of other people makes me stumble
and forget what I was trying to say.
I find a series of instructions difficult to follow but if
I have time to make notes or a written list I can do the job.
Teaching Strategies
DO
Praise wherever possible
Encourage
Find something they are good at
Give less homework
Mark on oral responses where
possible
Make sure they understand and
remember instructions
Give them plenty of time to copy
instructions
Have expectations of success
Seat them at the front of the
class, closer to the teacher

DO NOT
Make them read aloud in public
Ridicule or employ sarcasm
Correct all mistakes in written
work it is too discouraging
Give lists of spelling words to
learn, no more than 3 and
related words eg plate and cake
Make them write out work again
Compare them to other students
Make them change their writing
eg printing is easier than cursive
for them


Tips for Teachers
A person with dyslexia tires more quickly than others
greater concentration is required
They suffer from constant, nagging uncertainty
They are often disorganised and may also be clumsy and
forgetful, despite trying hard
Use wooden or plastic letters to teach them the feel and
shape of letters
Use pictures and memory books (eg Letterland)
Give as much practice as possible in reading, writing and
spelling as dyslexics need more practice than most
children
Talk about letters, words and stories to create interest in
words and books
Possible clues of Dyslexic People
a noticeable difference between the pupil's
ability and their actual achievement;
a family history of learning difficulties;
difficulties with spelling;
confusion over left and right;
writing letters or numbers backwards;
difficulties with math/s;
difficulties with organizing themselves;
difficulty following 2- or 3-step instructions.




Resources
Key To Student Levels
P Preschool
EC Early Childhood
LP Lower Primary
MP Middle Primary
UP Upper Primary
LS Lower Secondary
US Upper Secondary


Hes my Brother by Joe Lasker
Level MP-UP
The Dont-Give-up Kid by Jeanne Gehret
Level LP
Different, Not Dumb by Margot Marek
Level LP-MP
The Gift of Dyslexia by Ron Davis
Mark by Encyclopedia Brittania (Video)
Level LS-US

Bibliography
Miles T.R. & Miles E. (1999) Dyslexia: A Hundred Years On, 2nd ed.,
Philadelphia, Open University Press
Lost for Words by BBC Worldwide (Video)
Websites
http://www.childdreams.com.au/disorder/dyslexia.html
http://www.acurrentaffair.ninemsn.com.au/factsheets/451.asp
http://dyslexia.org/helpful_hints.shtml
http://www.dyslexiamylife.org/wb_help.htm
http://www.users.bigpond.com/speldnsw/how_to_help.html
http://www.users.bigpond.com/speldnsw/dyslexia.html
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~bussed/PWSN_info_service/dys_char.html
http://64.119.172.210/dyslexia/index/3http://64.119.172.210/dyslexia/index
http://www.netxv.net/esc/specialpops/dyslexia/dyslexia_characteristics.htm
http://dev.triothinkquest.org/TR0111164/history.htm
http://www.dyslexia-teacher.com/t7.html