Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disability that is much more complex then I thought before reading the article, Dyslexia and the brain. I always thought that dyslexia was when people confused letters within words. Little did I know, the letter confusion is primarily in the early stages of learning how to read and write, as children get older the disability grows to difficulty with words and sentences. I also thought that once a person with dyslexia was aware that they had the learning difficulty that they could improve and in some cases over come the disability. Instead, it was brought to my attention that children with dyslexia continue to have difficulties into adolescents and adulthood.

After reading this article, I am seeing many similarities between a student in my main placement and the specific behaviors mentioned in the article. This student was behind in so many subjects that he is now receiving title one services. It makes me wonder if he could possibly be dyslexic. In the article it mentions that children with dyslexia show two obvious difficulties, they will not be able to read as many of the words in a text as average readers and they show decoding difficulties. I see both of these symptoms in the student I spoke of above.

It's encouraging that with all of the brain studies that they seem to be getting close to being able to screen people for the learning disability. The fMRI machine, although not feasible would be beneficial to those with learning difficulties and save years of hardship on the students that are affected by dyslexia. Once a teacher is aware that a student is dyslexic they are able to adapt their teaching methods for these students and they can teach the skills that will hopefully benefit the child.