The International Dyslexia Association states that dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that has a neurological origin. People suffering from dyslexia can have trouble reading or understanding words, sentences or paragraphs despite having average IQ and adequate education. Some dyslexic people have difficulties processing visual information. Others find it difficult to process rapidly changing auditory information. Thus, before selecting from various dyslexia treatment options, one should have a clear understanding of the problems that a dyslexic person is facing.
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Programs
Phonological awareness refers to the ability to identify, separate, blend, remember, and manipulate units of spoken language, such as words or syllables. Children who have developed this skill can make oral rhymes and tell how many syllables are in a word.
Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to manipulate and identify individual sounds, or phonemes, in words. Phonemes are the smallest units of spoken language. They are different in different languages. According to the International Reading Association, phonemic awareness abilities predict reading skills. Stefan Heim, Ph.D., and colleagues state in a study published in volume 62 of "Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis" Journal in 2008 that children with dyslexia have difficulties with both phonological and phonemic awareness. Some dyslexia treatment programs as Orton-Gillingham focus on developing these abilities in dyslexic children.
Temporal Processing Programs
It has been proposed that the phonological deficits of dyslexic individuals derive from a basic deficit in the processing of rapidly changing auditory information. These children might find it difficult to discriminate "ra" from "la" sounds, for example. Difficulties discriminating such syllables as an infant has been shown to predict dyslexia diagnosis by Paavo Leppanen, Ph.D., and colleagues in a study published in "Developmental Neuropsychology" journal in 2002. Paula Tallal, Ph.D., has shown that it is possible to teach a person to discriminate such speech sounds. The study was published in "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" journal in volume 97 in 2000. The Fast ForWord dyslexia training program, for example, is based on these findings.
Visual Processing Programs
The first dyslexia theories emphasized that dyslexia was mainly a visual processing difficulty. It is now known that although visual processing problems are indeed present in some dyslexic patients, they are at most a small part of the underlying problems in most dyslexic patients as stated by Erika Hoff, Ph.D., in her book "Language Development," published in 2005. The problems that some dyslexic people struggle with include unstable binocular fixation, or increased visual crowding. There are still some dyslexia treatment programs that focus on such deficits. One of them is Davis Dyslexia Correction Program.
References
- The International Dyslexia Association: Frequently Asked Questions About Dyslexia
- Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis: Cognitive Subtypes of Dyslexia
- International Reading Association: Phonemic Awareness and the Teaching of Reading
- "Developmental Neuropsychology"; Brain Responses to Changes in Speech Sound Durations Differ Between Infants With and Without Familial Risk for Dyslexia; P.H. Leppänen, et al; 2002.
- "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"; The Science of Literacy: From the Laboratory to the Classroom.; Tallal; 1997
