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HOW
DO we
suspect that a child may have Dyslexia? Poor school performance,
of course. would be the basic problem of a Dyslexic child.
The
following indicators or pointers are found in most Dyslexic
children, but they are not necessarily present in all
Dyslexics. It may also be cautioned that these pointers may be
found in people without reading or writing disabilities.
It is
normal for a child in the 1st standard to struggle
with the basic academic skills such as reading, writing,
spelling, arithmetic or speech. If the child struggles beyond
this period, the LD Should be suspected.
'Excellent with hands
Many
parents have a routine description about the young Dyslexic: "
He's a smart boy, excellent with his hands. He puts together
things so well, he can draw- but in his studies he is so
careless".
This
is a major clue to Dyslexia: this discrepancy that the child
actually seems 'brighter' than the performance in his
school work would suggest points to LD.
The
LD child has perfectly adequate ability to understand to answer
questions orally but his difficulty to understand by reading,
and to express, by writing, is the early signal that something
is wrong.
Loses
the joy of learning
By
the seven the Dyslexic child has acute difficulty in reading,
writing or spelling. He becomes de-motivated in studies. He
loses the joy of learning; school becomes a burden.
As
the child gets older, if remedial help is not given for reading
, writing , spelling and arithmetic, these academic skills will
lag further . Faced with repeated , inconsistent failure in
everyday written work, the Dyslexic child loses confidence and
self-esteem. Our educational system finally labels him 'stupid'
or 'lazy'.
The
child becomes frustrated and develops intense internal tension,
This tension may come out as adjustment problems at home and in
school. The Dyslexic child gets easily distracted during
studies, looks for the slightest excuse to run off from academic
work. He bullies other children or clowns in class.
Getting addicted to television is an easy escape for these
children. Cheating in test to cope with failure, when seen in
young children, should raise suspicion of Dyslexia. Quitting or
giving up in defeat is another way of coping with LD. Aggressive
behavior is a cover for low-self-esteem.
A
list probable difficulties in 'learning
skills'
Reading tries the
Dyslexic child easily; a tough game of football may not tire him
as much. He reads by following the text with his finger. He
reads slowly, hesitantly, with omissions or additions of letters
and without paying attention to punctuations.
He
fails to look carefully at the word, makes a guess from the
first letter, e.g.. reads 'portion' for 'proportion'.
He
may lose orientation on a line or page while reading, missing
lines or reading the previously-read lines again. He reads aloud
monotonously, word by word.
Writing Too tires and
frustrates the Dyslexic child. The writing is incredibly slow,
with poor handwriting , and an awkward pencil grip. Spacing is
bad, he needs a lined paper and gets the margins unequal.
He
does not take down/complete class notes; he has trouble copying
from the black board.
Spellings are as awful as grammar and syntax. The spelling
errors are inconsistent: one mistake in the morning and a
different one in the same word by evening. He omits full-stops,
commas and fails to see the need for capital letters. he
typically forgets to dot the 'i' and cross the 't'.
He is seen to erase too often.
He
does not see patterns in spellings-like 'tion' in
relation , station, and petition. Each word is an isolated
memory.
The
mildly Dyslexic child has difficulty to recognize letters,
especially letters which look similar: he confuses 'b' for' d',
'M' for 'W' or writes 'E' for '3'.
In
more severe cases, he transposes word images, e.g.. 'was'
for 'saw', 'bad' for 'dab', Older Dyslexics make their own
spellings from their sounds; e.g., 'Wud' for 'would', 'ges'
for 'guess', 'cusin' for 'cousin' . Parts of words are often
missed: 'anil' for 'animal', 'hostal' for 'hospital'. Some
Dyslexics put syllables in the wrong order- 'aminal' for
'animal', 'hopital' for 'hospital', etc.
Significantly, Indian languages seem to be more difficult for
Dyslexic children, as the alphabets are often similar to each
other.
Severe Dyslexics cannot write appropriate letter, given the
sound; they cannot pick out letters from a display or match the
same alphabets!
So
Dyslexics have right-left hand disorientation and persist to
mistake right from left. Many are left-handed and delay in
deciding which hand to use.
Many
Dyslexics have difficulty in putting their thoughts into
writing; they may grope for the right word or the right meaning.
In
arithmetic, even after 8 years, a Dyslexic may use fingers for
calculation. There may be difficulty to remember arithmetic
tables. He may reverse numbers; e.g.. 16 may become 61.
Addition may be easy, but subtraction becomes a problem.
He
may subtract a smaller number in one column from a larger single
number, without realizing the value of the number; e.g..
in a question 43 - 8, he gets an answer of 45, subtracting 3
from 8.
The
Dyslexic may at other times understand concepts of calculations,
but cannot work it out on paper. Or he may work out the answer
in the corner of the page as say, 82496, but on transposing the
answer, end up writing 84269 and not see the difference!
What is
time?
The
concept of time, space, speed or distance may be difficult for
some Dyslexics, Some find it very hard to tell time from the
face of a clock. Others may have trouble putting names to things
and to known people.
Certain Dyslexics have trouble with maps and directions.
Confusion about the days of the week, or even 'yesterday' and
'tomorrow' are also seen.
There
is a difficulty in getting things in correct order., like the
everyday activities. He may have trouble telling a story
sequence. Categorizing, classifying and summarizing are
difficult as well. He may have difficulty with a sequential
instruction like "Go back to the classroom and fetch your
number work kept in the lowest drawer behind my chair".
This
intelligent child has idiosyncrasies. He hears the phone
ringing, the baby crying but not the mother calling. He forgets
the names of people and places, his own address or telephone
number, but may remember even inconsequential information.
The
child is disorganized and clumsy, loses his books and pencils
and forgets his homework. He has an untidy room, eats messily or
noisily. He has his cloths in disarray, buttoned without order,
or one shoelace undone!
May be
excellent with motors or music
He
does not look where he is going, bumps into the door, trips on
an object in his way. He has trouble waiting in a queue, cannot
keep his hands off the child in front, or from making a noise or
giggling on a solemn occasion.
This
child may become a great swimmer, although he stumbles on the
steps. He may be excellent in class or playing checkers, but
cannot understand a riddle or a joke. He may not be able to
subtract o divide, but he is excellent with motors and
mechanics. Music and art may be his forte.
Caveat
The
decryptions above represent various facets of the problems
possible in a Dyslexic child. These vary in type and degree from
child to child. Observing a few of these symptoms in one child
does not mean that he has Dyslexia. The labeling should be the
work of a professional team. |
