PARENTING

Does your child have dyslexia? Everything you need to know about the condition

Dyslexic children constitute 10-15 per cent of students

Ronny is a clever boy but often stumbles through sentences. Even at age seven

or eight, he’d jumble up the letters – calling a ‘b’ the letter ‘d’ or mixing

up the words ‘was’ and ‘saw’. Teachers thought he was trying to be a

trouble-maker and the kids would call him a prankster and giggle. He laughed

along as well. But it affected his self-confidence, because when he muddled the

words, Ronny wasn’t trying to be funny – he was just reading what he saw.

Ronny has a condition called dyslexia, a learning disability that affects about

20 per cent of the global population, according to the Yale Centre for Dyslexia

and Creativity. It represents 80 to 90 per cent of all those with learning

disabilities, it adds.

Dr Agniezka Montgomery, Paediatric Clinical Psychologist at the UAE-based

American Centre for Psychology and Neurology, tells Gulf News: “In European

literature, it is reported that dyslexic children constitute 10-15 per cent of

students, 4 per cent of which are cases of very severe difficulties (according

to the international classification of diseases ICD-10 / ICD-11, DSM-V), which

could be described as deep dyslexia.”

What happens when you have dyslexia?

Dr Montgomery explains: “If you have dyslexia, you may read more slowly or have

trouble recognising words. Often, people with dyslexia read at a lower level

than expected. People with dyslexia may struggle to break words into sounds or

relate letters to sounds when reading.

It’s important to understand that dyslexia is not a disease. It is a

condition relating to how the brain stores and accesses information while

reading. Having dyslexia doesn’t suggest lower intelligence.

• Dr Agniezka Montgomery

“It’s important to understand that dyslexia is not a disease. It is a condition

relating to how the brain stores and accesses information while reading. Having

dyslexia doesn’t suggest lower intelligence. In fact, research has found no

link between intelligence and dyslexia. Some highly intelligent and successful

people with dyslexia include Thomas Edison, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Stephen

Spielberg.”

Signs a child has dyslexia

Signs that a young child may be at risk of dyslexia, explains US-based Mayo

Clinic, include:

• Late talking
• Learning new words slowly
• Problems forming words correctly such as reversing sounds in words or

confusing words that sound alike

• Problems remembering or naming letters, numbers and colours
• Difficulty learning nursery rhymes or playing rhyming games

Once a child is in school, dyslexia symptoms may become more apparent and

include:

• Reading well below the expected level for age
• Problems processing and understanding what he or she hears
• Difficulty finding the right word or forming answers to questions
• Problems remembering the sequence of things
• Difficulty seeing (and occasionally hearing) similarities and differences

in letters and words

• Inability to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word
• Difficulty spelling
• Spending an unusually long time completing tasks that involve reading or

writing

• Avoiding activities that involve reading

Is it caused by something in the genes?

Dr Montgomery says that the condition does often run in families. “About 40 per

cent of siblings of people with dyslexia also struggle with reading. As many as

49 per cent of parents of kids with dyslexia have it too. Scientists have also

found genes linked to problems with reading and processing language.”

Are there different types of dyslexia?

There are several other learning difficulties that a person diagnosed with

dyslexia may experience more prevalently, says Dr Montgomery. These are not

types of dyslexia, and experts believe they are neurological in nature. These

learning difficulties include:

• Left-right disorder. The inability to tell your left from your right is

sometimes referred to as directional dyslexia.

• Dysgraphia. When individuals have difficulty with writing and other fine

motor skills, which affects word spacing, sizing, spelling, legibility and

expression.

• Dyscalculia. An impairment to the ability to performing accurate math

calculations, problem solving and reasoning, learning number-related concepts,

and performing basic math skills. Dyscalculia is sometimes called number or

math dyslexia.

• Auditory processing disorder. Individuals with auditory processing disorder

experience problems with the brain’s ability to process various speech sounds.

This disorder is sometimes referred to as auditory dyslexia.

How is dyslexia diagnosed?

The only way to know for sure if someone has dyslexia is through a full

evaluation, done either at school or privately, she explains. People qualifies

to access and diagnose the condition are:

• School psychologists,
• Clinical psychologists, and
• Neuropsychologists.

An evaluator will give a series of tests for dyslexia. They’ll test in other

areas as well to see exactly where any weaknesses and strengths lie.

What are the things a test for dyslexia checks?

Testing for dyslexia, explains Dr Montgomery, should look at:

• Decoding (reading unfamiliar words by sounding them out).
• Oral language skills.
• Reading fluency and reading comprehension.
• Spelling.
• Vocabulary.

Can you outgrow dyslexia?

People do not outgrow dyslexia, although the symptoms do tend to vary by age,

says Dr Montgomery. With appropriate instruction and support, people with

dyslexia can succeed in school.

Are there medications for the condition?

“Dyslexia is a learning difference that requires a different way of teaching

literacy skills. It is not a disease to be cured. According to solid research,

the multisensory approach is the most effective teaching approach to develop

literacy skills for students with dyslexia and related learning difficulties,”

says Rudolf Stockling, educational psychologist and head of the Assessment Unit

at Dubai-based Lexicon Reading Centre.

If your child has dyslexia, how can you talk to their school about it?

Dr Montgomery explains that upon diagnosis that your child is dyslexic, your

child should receive appropriate support from teachers. There are many

accommodations that should be made to increase child’s ability to beat dyslexia.

Here’s a look at some of the supports teachers can use to help students who

struggle with reading, spelling, and writing.

Giving instructions

• Give step-by-step directions and read written instructions out loud.
• Simplify directions using key words for the most important ideas.
• Highlight key words and ideas on worksheets for the student to read first.
• Check in frequently to make sure the student understands and can repeat

the directions.

• Help the student break assignments into smaller steps.
• Give self-monitoring checklists and guiding questions for reading

comprehension.

• Arrange worksheet problems from easiest to hardest.
• Use large-print text for worksheets.
• Allow the student to use a text reader like a Reading Pen or

text-to-speech software.

• Provide extra time for reading and writing.

Completing tests and assignments

• Grade the student on the content that needs to be mastered, not on things

like spelling or reading fluency.

• Allow understanding to be demonstrated in different ways, like oral

reports, posters and video presentations.

• Provide different ways to respond to test questions, like saying the

answers or circling an answer instead of filling in the blank.

• Provide sentence starters that show how to begin a written response.
• Provide extended time for taking tests.
• Provide a quiet room for taking tests, if needed.

Can the condition manifest in other areas and not just while reading/writing?

“Dyslexia, if not identified and supported early enough, can impact the

person’s wellbeing, self-confidence and overall attitude towards learning. This

can lead to an overall academic underachievement, poor comprehension, maths and

exam anxiety,” explains Stockling.

Dyslexia impacts people in different ways, stresses Dr Montgomery. So, symptoms

might not look the same from one person to another.

A key sign of dyslexia is trouble decoding words. This is the ability to match

letters to sounds. Kids can also struggle with a more basic skill called

phonemic awareness. This is the ability to recognise the sounds in words.

Trouble with phonemic awareness can show up as early as preschool.

In some people, dyslexia isn’t picked up until later on, when they have trouble

with more complex skills. These can include:

• Grammar,
• Reading comprehension,
• Reading fluency,
• Sentence structure, and
• More in-depth writing.

“Some of the signs of dyslexia have to do with emotions and behaviour. People

with dyslexia might avoid reading, both out loud and to themselves. They may

even get anxious or frustrated when reading. This can happen even after they’ve

mastered the basics of reading,” she adds.

Dyslexia doesn’t just affect learning, warns Dr Montgomery. It can also impact

everyday skills and activities. These include:

• Social interaction,
• Memory, and
• Dealing with stress.

So your child has dyslexia – what should you say to him/her?

Handle it gently, say experts. Martine Diab, speech and language pathologist,

Priory Wellbeing Centre, Abu Dhabi, says: “Some parents tend to avoid

conversations with children related to their diagnosis, with a thoughtful

intention of protecting them from feeling different. However, a child can sense

the difficulties they are facing daily. After all, being students is one of the

primary obligations of children; school is the place they spend the most time

in. Recurrent failure in this role plays a major role in modelling the

individual’s self-esteem. With that said, not putting words on what and why the

child is struggling will actually take another direction, reinforcing the idea

of shame, deliberate failure. It is our role as parents to have these

transparent talks with our children, to free them from these false beliefs.

Searching together for information about dyslexia so that the child feels

proactive in the situation can help her feel better about the diagnosis..

“The way the topic is tackled can differ in each family and depends on the

child’s age and maturity. It also depends on the parents’ readiness to engage

in this conversation. The key is to be prepared in advance. Do your own

research and talk to the therapists working with the child or who already

diagnosed them to confirm the information you have and get further tips that

are applicable specifically to your child. This will help in choosing your

words without connoting dyslexia as something bad, but rather a difference,

while acknowledging the challenges that can come with it.”

The way the topic is tackled can differ in each family and depends on the

child’s age and maturity. It also depends on the parents’ readiness to

engage in this conversation.

– Martine Diab

Some general ideas could be:

• Explicitly liberating the child from all the guilt that can come with the

recurrent failure situations.

• Using stories about differences among people, and the variability in

strengths and weaknesses. Some story books talk specifically about

dyslexia; it can be read by the parent and/or the child depending on

their reading proficiency.

• Talking about the prevalence of dyslexia so they don’t feel alone.
• Naming some famous people that might be ‘role models’ to them (i.e.

artists) diagnosed with dyslexia

• Searching together for information about dyslexia so that the child feels

proactive in the situation. Identifying which information applies to

them, both in terms of strengths and weaknesses. This will allow the

child to better understand their difficulty and focus on solutions.

• Discussing the accommodations that are in place both at home and at

school. Older children can be partners in setting IEPs, including certain

accommodations that they feel are helpful to them while reading/ writing.

• Referring to explicative videos online. It is preferable to watch it in

advance so that we are familiar with the content and prepared about the

kind of questions that the child might ask. Keep in mind that it is ok

not to have all the answers.

• Give examples of ourselves, about our strengths and weaknesses and how we

tweaked around them so that we reach the best possible outcomes.