Educational Services Committee
May 1996
What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disability in the area of reading. It is
included in the category of "Learning Disabilities" in
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A person
with dyslexia is someone with average to above average intelligence
whose problem in reading is not the result of emotional problems,
lack of motivation, poor teaching, mental retardation or vision
or hearing deficits. The term dyslexia, however, is defined in different
ways. While reading is the basic problem, people include different
aspects of reading and related problems in their definitions. For
example:
Problems learning to translate printed words into spoken words
with ease, beginning reading skills (decoding)
Problems with word identification and/or reading comprehension
Persons with dyslexia often reverse or mis-sequence letters within
words when reading or writing (b/d, brid/bird, on/no). They may
also exhibit difficulties with one or more of the following:
- Perceiving and/or pronouncing words
- Understanding spoken language
- Recalling known words
- Handwriting
- Spelling
- Written language
- Math computation
What is reading?
Reading is more than translating print into the spoken word (decoding).
Reading is getting meaning from print. People who have not developed
automatic word recognition skills may have comprehension problems
because their energy is focused on identifying words rather than
thinking about what they mean. Many of these children and adults
read very slowly, often having to read things more than once to
understand. Others have automatic word recognition skills, but cannot
comprehend what they read. They may also have trouble understanding
spoken language.
What causes dyslexia?
The basic cause of dyslexia is not known, however, much research
is being done to determine the problems underlying dyslexia. Research
indicates that, in many cases, dyslexia is inherited and may occur
in several members of a family, Studies are being done to determine
whether there are slight differences in the brains of people with
dyslexia. Recent research indicates that many children having difficulty
learning early reading skills (decoding) also have problems hearing
individual sounds in words, analyzing whole words into parts, and
blending sounds into words (phonological processing).
What should be done when dyslexia is suspected?
Individuals suspected of having a reading disability should have
a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation including hearing,
vision and intelligence testing. This evaluation should include
all areas of learning and learning processes, not just reading.
The diagnostician(s) should then be able to determine whether there
are additional learning disabilities, make recommendations for teaching
methods, and specify whether additional services are needed.
In many schools children are not identified as having a reading
disability until they have failed for an extended period because
of a "formula" used to determine whether a student is
"eligible" for special services. A child should not have
to fail for two or three years to demonstrate evidence of a learning
disability.
What educational interventions are appropriate?
If a child is diagnosed as having a reading disability (or dyslexia),
it is important for parents to ask exactly what the problem is,
what method for teaching reading is recommended, and why it was
selected. There are many approaches to teaching children with reading
disabilities to read. Recent research on beginning reading skills
indicated that many children having difficulty benefit from direct
instruction in phonological processing and a multi-sensory phonics
approach to reading. There is, however, no single method that will
be effective with every child. A change in method should be considered
if progress is not seen in a reasonable length of time. Selecting
the appropriate reading method for a child with a reading disability
is critical for success.
Widely advertised reading programs that claim to be successful
in teaching phonics/reading to anyone should be viewed with caution.
It is highly recommended that before investing in these programs,
research documenting their effectiveness with individuals having
diagnosed reading disabilities (dyslexia) be requested and reviewed.
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