Dyslexia: Not one size fits all. Every child or adult is different

on

NZ children's reading standards have reportedly dropped ten places  internationally in recent years. How much involves dyslexia I wonder? The term was first used over a hundred years ago, has had a variety of names during this time and has now gone back to being called 'dyslexia'.The ability to read is a great advantage even if spelling may be a weakness.

What is Dyslexia?

Most simply put dyslexia is a significant, persistent difficulty with reading, spelling and writing skills in a child, adolescent or adult of normal intelligence. Dyslexia also appears to run in families and is more common in boys than girls. 
A child or adolescent who has normal vision and hearing and appears to be a bright, inquisitive learner, but is not learning these skills at the expected rate for their age and intelligence, will most likely be suffering from some form of dyslexia.
Dyslexia however is a general name for a cluster of symptoms, more like a syndrome than a singular difficulty, which is why dyslexic people can be very different from each other. This is also why there is so much confusion amongst parents and professionals when faced with a child who is bright but not learning to read, write and/or spell as expected.
Children and adults with dyslexia can show many different “symptoms”. There is such a wide range of symptoms to be seen in this group that in some countries, including New Zealand, the term dyslexia was discarded for many years in favour of “specific learning disability” or “specific learning difficulty”.
Dyslexia is not one size fits all - every person is different.


Stu

Comments

Post a Comment