In the earlier times children who had a problem with reading and writing were considered to have low intelligence. However, with the progress of science and better understanding and openness of people, this condition has now been recognized as dyslexia. Dyslexia is defined as a neurological disorder that affects the reading and writing abilities of children who are born with it. Though there is no visible difference that you can make between normal children and dyslexic children, it only becomes prominent when they start learning how to read and write.

To know whether your child is dyslexic there are some symptoms that you can observe:

• Difficulty in staying focused and concentrating, day-dreaming, hyperactive.

• Shows extraordinary talent in extracurricular activities like music, stage acts, and the like.

• Probably complains of vision problems but does not have any, finds difficulty in reading and reverses letters.

• Finds difficulty in spelling and pronunciation, reads out phonetically and with a number of halts.

• Confusion with number, letters and verbal explanations. But, they better understands through touch and visual aids.

• Gets easily distracted by sounds and has extended hearing.

• Speaks in broken phrases and finds it difficult to put words into thoughts.

• Has trouble in writing because of difficult coordination of hand and mind. Poor motor skills. Has confusion in deciding on directions and assessing distances.

• Has a problem in understanding and how to read time and learning sequencing. Finds it difficult to do word problems in math.

• Correlates things with images and feelings rather than sounds, has a poor memory for facts and sequences.

• Can either be a troublemaker or extremely quiet, shows late developmental stages of walking, crawling and the like.

• They are emotionally very sensitive and have a strong sense of justice.

If your child is suffering from any of these symptoms then, probably he/she is affected by dyslexia. There are a number of children every year who are born with this disorder, and also end up leading a normal life if the problem is diagnosed and treated well in the early stages of childhood.

It is important that children with dyslexia should be handled in a different way as compared to the normal children. The way the dyslexic children learn is quite different from the learning abilities of the normal children. Dyslexic children are more open to understanding visual representations and things through touch rather than the normal process of learning. With them, you should keep repeating things over and over so that it becomes easy for them to understand and differentiate.

Most of the public schools these days have arrangements for dyslexic children, and have special teachers who can help these children cope up with the disorder. There is nothing wrong with the dyslexic children excepting the difference in which they perceive and understand things. The earlier dyslexia is diagnosed and treated the faster the child can overcome the disability. So, if your child is suffering from dyslexia, then don’t panic or become hyper, be patient and deal the situation in a calmly manner.

Mark Perry

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