Dyslexia

From ArticleWorld

Dyslexia is a very controversial subject. It is considered to be a neurological affection, with both biochemical and genetic markers. Its definition, however, varies greatly. Initially, it was thought to be a disability that affected one's perception, making him see things backwards or causing other perception-related affections. Three major points of view exist: that dyslexia is just a reading difficulty, that dyslexia is a neurological or mental disorder, or that dyslexia itself is an useless term for a set of symptoms that denote something else.

The exact definition itself is currently under debate. Dyslexia causes some major reading and writing problems, but it doesn't seem to be connected to one's intelligence. In fact, recent studies have shown that one can suffer of dyslexia and actually read and write correctly.

Symptoms

There are many general signs of dyslexia, with many of them displayed during lifetime. In general, people with dyslexia will display about ten of these symptoms, which increase with confusion, time pressure or stress.

• General signs: people with dyslexia seem intelligent and can speak correctly, but they cannot read, write or spell correctly. While his school performance is quite low, it is not bad enough in order to get some professional help. They tend to have a low self-esteem, easily become frustrated about school or other environments that require evaluation. They are often talented in various artistic areas or exact sciences and daydream a lot, often having difficulties in staying focused. Their learning abilities are more efficient when learning by observation and imitation.

• Speaking and hearing: people with dyslexia often have difficulties in translating their thoughts to words and phrases. They will often have trouble composing sentences or pronouncing and spelling long words. On the other hand, they will often have excellent hearing, being able to hear sounds that others do not perceive.

• Motor skills and writing: dyslexics often have major difficulties when writing, with a strange pencil grip, variable or simply illegible handwriting. They are clumsy and uncoordinated, with poor ball sports performance. They are often ambidextrous but confuse left and right.

• Time management: people with dyslexia have difficulties with time management. They do not have a feeling of time.

• Math skills: a person suffering of dyslexia will often be dependent on finger counting when doing calculations. They don't do this because they are intellectually unable to do usual calculations, but simply because they know the answers but cannot perform calculations on paper. They have difficulties when counting objects or money, but can count normally otherwise.

• Cognition: they have excellent long-term memory for things like locations, faces or images, but cannot remember facts or information that was given to them instead of being acquired by experience.

• Behavior, personality and health: dyslexics show extreme behavior in many cases. They are either extremely disorderly, or compulsively orderly. They can be either those who cause the greatest problems at schools, the troublemakers of the classes, or unusually quiet for someone of their age. Many skills are developed late in the childhood, but they always seek perfection. They display either a very high or very low pain tolerance, and sleep either very deeply or very lightly.