Dyslexia Success Stories
Dyslexia Success Stories
Blog Article
Cognitive Testing For Dyslexia
Cognitive testing for dyslexia focuses on measuring specific language skills that are necessary for reading, such as letter-sound knowledge and word-reading fluency. Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects the areas of the brain that process language and numbers.
Our logistic regression analysis results indicate that PHONOLOGY and RAN deficits coexist in a majority of children with reading difficulties. The combination of phonological and RAN deficits appears to be particularly damaging for reading in a transparent orthography.
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disability that makes it hard to recognize and read words, even those that are familiar. It also causes trouble with spelling and written expression. Dyslexia is often associated with a lack of motivation and a poor self-image among people who struggle with it.
People with dyslexia have a hard time recognizing phonemes, which are the sound symbols that represent the different sounds in spoken language (the "b" sound in bat is a phoneme). They also struggle to blend those sounds into words and then string those words together to make sentences.
Dyslexia can cause a person to spend abnormally long periods of time working on reading or spelling. It is not unusual for them to miss classes and social activities in order to complete their work, and it may be difficult to keep up with their classmates in class discussions. Despite these difficulties, many people with dyslexia develop excellent skills in other areas, such as art, athletics and creative problem solving.
How Can Dyslexia be Diagnosed?
There are many different types of reading tests and assessments. The best way to diagnose dyslexia is through a comprehensive psychoeducational assessment performed by a qualified professional who has extensive clinical experience with Specific Learning Disabilities and/or reading disorders. This should include a review of the student’s history related to their difficulty with reading, observation and assessment (including a variety of reading and language assessments) and an interview.
Children with dyslexia often have trouble with spelling because of the way that letters are grouped together into words and the order of sounds in a word. These problems are more noticeable in school-age students and can impact their ability to keep up with their peers. Undiagnosed and untreated, reading difficulties can cause problems in school that have ongoing impacts into adulthood.
If you suspect that your child may have dyslexia, talk to their teacher or ask the school’s Special Educational Need Coordinator for help finding a specialist in your area. They can offer a free screener like Lexercise that can identify possible risk factors for dyslexia, but it’s important to have an evaluation by a specialist to confirm or rule out a dyslexic diagnosis.
Why is Dyslexia Diagnosis Important?
A diagnosis of dyslexia is important because it allows students to get evidence-based reading intervention and accommodations in school and on high-stakes tests like the SATs and ACTs. It also helps families understand what is going on with their child and how they can best support them.
Dyslexia is a neurological condition that affects the way one processes language. It does not reflect a student’s overall intellectual functioning or their motivation to learn. Without an accurate diagnosis, many students struggle academically and experience negative emotional impacts from feeling behind their peers.
Early signs of dyslexia include delays in speech development, difficulty learning the names of letters and numbers, reversing sounds in words that sound similar or having trouble recalling dyslexia-friendly curriculum nursery rhymes. Students with these symptoms are often at higher risk of developing dyslexia and should receive an evaluation. It is best to focus the evaluation on the precursors of reading, such as naming speed, phonological awareness, memory, and orthographic awareness.
How Can Dyslexia be Treated?
There are many things that can be done to help people with dyslexia read better. It's important to start treatment early, because kids who don't get help as soon as they need it are more likely to lag behind academically.
People with dyslexia have trouble connecting sounds in spoken language to the letter symbols used in written words (called phonics). They also struggle to break words into their individual sounds and blend those sounds together when reading. This makes it hard for them to recognize short words or sound out long words to read.
Specialists can teach people with dyslexia to improve their phonological awareness, which is the ability to hear and name the syllables in a word. They can also teach phonics and other reading skills, such as spelling, to help them read better. These specialists may include teachers, psychologists, and speech-language pathologists who specialize in learning challenges. They can work with kids and adults.