Could it be Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a neurological disability that hinders language processing which can cause difficulty with reading, writing and spelling. At Reading Write Alaska, we are uniquely qualified to treat dyslexia and other language learning impairments. Please read more about our specific areas of treatment, or call our office and speak with one of our clinicians.
Facts About Dyslexia
- Most individuals with dyslexia have normal intelligence, and many have above-average intelligence.
- Dyslexia is a specific language processing impairment that is not connected with the ability to think or to understand complex ideas.
- Despite their intelligence and motivation, people with dyslexia find reading, writing and spelling difficult.
- Although people with dyslexia struggle with reading, Writing and Spelling, they often excel in science, sports, music, or art. They frequently have excellent people skills.
- Dyslexia runs in families, but can be mild in one person and severe in another even in the same family. The number one risk factor is known or suspected dyslexia in the family tree. There is a 50% chance that a child will have dyslexia if one of his or her parents has it.
- Dyslexia is not a rare disorder! 20% of the population is dyslexic. In a typical classroom of 30 students, 5 or 6 will have dyslexia.
- Dyslexia is among the leading causes of illiteracy, dropping out of high-school, juvenile delinquency, and drug abuse.
How can you help yourself or your child become a better reader? If you have concerns about your child’s reading ability, even if his or her teachers haven’t yet brought poor reading ability to your attention, the best thing you can do is to have your child evaluated by someone experienced in testing academic achievement, language processing, auditory memory, phonological awareness, sound/symbol awareness, decoding, and encoding.
This is because the earlier dyslexia is identified, the easier it is to remediate, and the better chance your child has of being successful in school. Because dyslexia impairment ranges from mild, moderate, severe and profound, often children with a more mild presentation of symptoms are overlooked until they have struggled for many years and are facing academic failure. With an incredibly high prevalence rate of dyslexia in the overall population, (current estimates are as high as 20%), dyslexia is a very common, yet under-diagnosed, condition.
Once your child has been identified as having a reading disorder, you should immediately begin remediation. Individuals with dyslexia CAN read, but they generally need to be taught differently from individuals without dyslexia. Your child’s school may or may not be the best place for your child to receive this individualized instruction. Work closely with your child’s diagnostician and teachers, as well as spend time doing your own research into various programs, so as to identify the program that will work best for your child.
Warning Signs
Preschool:
- Delay in talking; articulation problems
- Difficulty recognizing and producing rhymes
- Difficulty learning to tie their shoes
- Difficulty remembering and following directions
- Trouble memorizing their address, phone number or alphabet
- Chronic ear infections
- Dyslexia is among the leading causes of illiteracy, dropping out of high-school, juvenile delinquency, and drug abuse.
Elementary School:
- Difficulty learning sound/symbol correspondences
- Letter or number reversal continuing past the end of first grade
- Confusion of letters whose sounds are similar (d/t, b/p, f/v)
- Often can’t remember sight words (they, were, does) or homonyms (their, they’re, there)
- Difficulty segmenting words into individual sounds and blending sounds to form words
- Difficulty telling time with a clock with hands
- Dysgraphia, (the slow, non-automatic handwriting that is difficult to read.)
Trouble With Math:
- Memorizing multiplication tables
- Memorizing a sequence of steps
- Directionality
- Make predictable reading spelling errors involving guessing based on shape or context, difficulties with sequencing sounds/symbols resulting in reversal of letters (post, pots), omissions (stun, sun), additions(burnt/bunt), substitutions (horse/house), and transpositions(stop/pots)
- Skips or misreads prepositions (at, to, of)
- Ignores prefixes and suffixes
- Difficulty remembering and applying spelling rules
- Difficulty with reading comprehension and learning new information from text because of underlying word recognition difficulties
- Significant problems with written language due to problems with spelling and organization
High School, College, or Adult:
- Large discrepancy between verbal skills and written compositions
- Slow rate of reading
- Difficulty mastering a foreign language
- Difficulty taking notes in class
- Difficulty reading music
- May have to read a page 2 or 3 times to understand it
- Still has difficulty with right versus left
- Sometimes confuses b and d, especially when tired or sick
TESTIMONIALS
"The scores on our daughter’s most recent re-evaluation are jawdropping. She has gone from reading 13 words on a word identification subtest to 113 words in a year!! Her score went from 67 to 107! Her spelling score went from a 77 to a 99! She was at an early first grade reading level last year and is now testing at mid third grade! We are so thankful for sweet Miss Lori and all she’s done for us!"
~ CARY
Reading Write Alaska
Reading Write Alaska diagnoses and treats a variety of speech, language, and learning impairments, and occupational therapy. We have offices in Anchorage, Eagle River, and Wasilla.