What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a defective capacity for learning to read in a child, with average to superior intelligence, intact visual senses and normal motivation.

The important points to remember are that dyslexia is not a defect in general intelligence or decrease in vision ability of the eye. It is a defect in the visual memory centre which makes it difficult for the child to retain and store up the visual memory, i.e. symbols, with which he may compare the written work and translate a group of symbols to a meaningful expression in the brain.

Thus, in dyslexia the eye is normal. The problem lies in the optical part of the brain which does not translate properly what the eye sees into a coherent meaning as far as the written symbols are concerned.

Is there any difference between male and female children in the occurrence of dyslexia?

Yes. It is four times more common in males than in females. Also males have it in a far more severe from than females.

What are the types of dyslexic or reading disabilities in children?

There are 2 basic categories:

(1) Primary or developmental dyslexia

(2) Secondary dyslexia.

What is primary or developmental dyslexia?

Primary dyslexia occurs due to no known reason. The child exhibits inability, or very poor ability to read, but characteristically has an average or superior intellectual potential. As long as instruction and teaching were oral, the child did very well, but the moment he went to a higher class where more and more learning is based on the reading comprehension, the child fell back pregressively, despite the parents' and teachers' best efforts.

What are secondary reading disabilities?

These reading disabilities are due to some traceable cause and are thus "secondary" to some disorder.

They constitute the most frequent cause of reading disorders and are of many types: only the four common types are being discussed here.

(1) Dyslexia due to slow maturation

This type of reading disability is secondary to an immature development of the child. The immaturity will be exhibited in all spheres of activity of the child. These "slow bloomers" as they are also called, will show immaturity in thought, typically in arithmetic and general behaviour.

These children show the classical symptoms of reading disability, mirror inversions of words (a "d" instead of a "b") and transposition of letters ("was" instead of "saw").

In these children, as they mature and develop the problems will go away but they need professional supportive therapy and assistance till they catch up.

Thus, the main difference between true dyslexia and secondary dyslexia is that in a true dyslexic only reading disability exists while the child has normal or superior intelligence, while in a secondary dyslexic, all functions are depressed.

In secondary dyslexia, when the child catches up, usually by Standard IX or X, he suddenly accelerates and overtakes all children in his class.

(2) Dyslexia due to emotional disturbances or environmental problems

Although emotional problems can cause dyslexia, the primary problem is usually the dyslexia itself. Minor degrees of dyslexia, in a brillant boy subjected to repeated failure, often to the disapproval of those he wants to please the most, will be expressed in disruptive behaviour or emotional disturbances. These changes will further aggravate the dyslexia into a full-blown one.

Attention is thus to be directed to the child who on reaching the 2nd or 3rd standard tends to be emotionally upset, as it may be a guide to an underlying dyslexic problem.

(3) Dyslexia due to environmental problems

It has now been recognised that it is lack of stimulation at home which is responsible for the real barrier to the acquisition of reading ability.

Lack of stimulus with absence of encouragement, compounded by the problems of poverty, or uneducated parents, may lead to retarded reading ability. In this environment, lack of a place for a child to sit with a paper and pencil on a properly designated writing area may compound the problem. Ironically these reading disabilities may also occur in rich homes where there is usually a conspicuous absence of a place where a child may sit and read, accompanied by frequent absence of parents leading to a poor rapport. As often, though, a school with heavy syllabi and its attendant problems of crowding and overloading teachers who are impatient with a slow reader is hardly the place for a dyslexic child to catch up.

(4) Dyslexia due to optical or mental disabilities

If a child's vision is poor, he may read, but albeit at a slow pace, having to literally decipher each word one at a time. This slowness will also be there for other intellectual skills, where every letter has to be read, like mathematics. However, it may not be so evident in reading regular prose or text as the brain can recognise an entire word and thus speed up the reading though the disability is present.

The presence of organic brain disorders, fits, etc. due to an accidental injury to the head will all result in slow reading or at times, absence of reading facility.