Dyslexia: The Symptoms and Causes of Dyslexia

Dyslexia: The Symptoms and Causes of Dyslexia

By Susan du Plessis

I have been trying to get a promotion for the past 6-8 months and have not yet been sucsesfull I have got quite suvear dyslexia witch i found out about 3 years ago. I was sent to be assesed about 18 months ago and then I went to tuition for a year. in the last 6-8 months iI have aplied for 10 or more jobs with the same company and have been turned down for them all. I am not week in all areas I have got good lodgical thinking I am good at fisical work I just cant read or write that well.

Dyslexia is known to have destructive emotional effects on children, and can leave its scars for the rest of one’s life. Besides long-lasting emotional effects, dyslexia can also lead to unemployment or underemployment. The letter above, posted by a dyslexic on a message board for dyslexics, clearly demonstrates the hardships that await the dyslexic child in the workplace. It is therefore of utmost importance that a child with dyslexia be helped to overcome his problems.

The term dyslexia was coined from the Greek words dys meaning ill or difficult and lexis meaning word, and the symptoms below indicate that a child has dyslexia and therefore needs help:

One of the most obvious — and one of the most common — telltale signs is reversals. People with this kind of problem often confuse letters like b and d, either when reading or when writing, or they sometimes read (or write) words like “rat” for “tar,” or “won” for “now.”
Another sure sign, which needs no confirmation by means of any form of testing, is elisions, that is when a person sometimes reads or writes “cat” when the word is actually “cart.”
The person who reads very slowly and hesitantly, who reads without fluency, word by word, or who constantly loses his place, thereby leaving out whole chunks or reading the same passage twice, has a reading problem.
The person may try to sound out the letters of the word, but then be unable to say the correct word. For example, he may sound the letters “c-a-t” but then say “cold.”
He may read or write the letters of a word in the wrong order, like “left” for “felt,” or the syllables in the wrong order, like “emeny” for “enemy,” or words in the wrong order, like “are there” for “there are.”
He may spell words as they sound, for example “rite” for “right.”
He may read with poor comprehension, or it may be that he remembers little of what he reads.
The person may have a poor and/or slow handwriting.

Find the Cause to Find a Cure

Most problems can only be solved if one knows what causes that particular problem. A disease such as pellagra, also called the disease of the four D’s — dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia and death — took the lives of thousands in the Southern states of America during the early part of the twentieth century. Today, pellagra is virtually unknown because we know that it is caused by a vitamin B3 deficiency. A viable point of departure would thus be: what causes dyslexia?

A plethora of theories has arisen as to the cause of dyslexia, ranging from brain dysfunction through uncoordinated left/right hemispheres, imbalance of the inner ear, and so on. Treatments have been designed accordingly. However, a more logical explanation for this phenomenon is to be found in the age-old — but ageless — principle that learning is a stratified process.

This is a self-evident fact, yet its significance in the situation of the “dyslexic” child has apparently never been fully comprehended. Throughout the world in all educational systems it is commonly accepted that a child must start at the lower levels of education and then gradually progress to the higher levels. If human learning had not been a stratified process, if it had taken place on a single level, this would have been unnecessary. It would then not have been important to start a child in first grade. It would have been possible for the child to enter school at any level and to complete the school years in any order.

By way of a simple and practical example I have to remind the reader of the fact that one has to learn to count before it becomes possible to learn to add and subtract. Suppose one tried to teach a child, who had not learned to count yet, to add and subtract. This would be quite impossible and no amount of effort would ever succeed in teaching the child these skills. In the same way, there are also certain skills and knowledge that a child must have acquired first, before it becomes possible for him to benefit from a course in reading.

Audiblox is a system of cognitive exercises, aimed at developing and automating the skills that are required not only in reading, but also in spelling, writing, mathematics and the skills required in the learning of subject matter:

Concentration.
Perception — visual, auditory and haptic
The ability to discriminate, synthesize and analyze in terms of foreground-background, form, size, position in space/time and color.
Memory — short and long term, visual and auditory.
The ability to decode, integrate and classify information.
Imagination.
Concept of numbers.
Fine and gross motor coordination.

By addressing these foundational skills, dyslexia can be overcome ― and prevented.

Case Study

Kori Mitchell in California began Audiblox in January 2002. At the time Kori was in the middle of her 4th grade, and was still struggling with 1st grade reading material. Basically, she was a non-reader. She couldn’t spell at all. She had trouble telling the difference between similar words like “saw” and “was” or “on” and “no.” She reversed words and letters in writing and copying.

Kori’s parents tried everything. Eventually they had her tested by several educational specialists, who all said the same thing: Kori, at 9 years old, had an IQ of an average 13 or 14 year old. Her thinking skills were very high but she had almost no visual memory. She had low auditory memory but this was her strength and her parents were told to build on it by reading everything to her. They were told that this was the only way she’d ever learn because she would never read well. She was diagnosed as severely dyslexic ― one of the lowest 1% of dyslexics. Chances for success were almost non-existent.

Kori’s parents had already given up all hope when they discovered Audiblox. After doing Audiblox for five hours per week over a period of nearly 15 months, Kori’s mother, Michelle Potter, reported:

“I can’t believe that Kori is reading at grade level although still slow due to eye problems that aren’t correctable. But she is there! I had recently tested her on the McCaw-Crabbs reading comprehension sheets, which I timed her and she scored 3.9 grade level. Without timing her she can read 5-6th grade work. It is awesome. She never reverses letters, words or numbers anymore. Her spelling is still weak but has jumped up to 2.9 grade level. She can now write a story in manuscript or cursive in a timely fashion and the spelling of simple words are usually correct!

“We have had her re-tested by the same specialist that she was tested before starting Audiblox. They said that her visual memory is at grade level and that her auditory memory has gone off the charts. She is very, very advanced in her auditory skills. I have to say that she remembers everything she hears. I will read to her and test her weeks later on what I read and she will remember everything without studying or reviewing. Her visual processing memory is great also. Now when she misspells a word and I correct her and give the proper spelling she rarely ever misspells it again.”

Other areas of improvement include concentration, work tempo, and math.

Kori will continue with Audiblox for a few more months, doing five half-hour sessions per week, to further improve her spelling.

One-on-one tutoring: When a child suffers from dyslexia or reading difficulties, the standard Audiblox program, which appears in chapter 20 of the book The Right to Read, is recommended.

Group tutoring/classroom tutoring: The skills that underlie reading are addressed on a regular basis, and are supported by exercises that actively address reading and spelling.

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