Dyslexia: Causes and Treatments

Part 1 

Dyslexia in education terms 

Dyslexia is a Latin term that means ‘difficulty with words’. It is the most common form of learning disability experienced among young learners in colleges and schools. Measures are taken to ensure that people with these disorders get the best quality of education because their welfare has become critical responsibility in order to put them in the same academic level with people who do not have these learning disabilities (Pavey, 2016) . 

The conditions with which a child is categorized to have dyslexia are contained in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA defines this learning disorder as a defect which interferes with the learners’ capability to do mathematical calculations, spell, write read, think and speak. These manifestations showcase the internal interruption of the psychological processes involved in determining the comprehension and use of language. 

Stakeholders in the education of dyslexic children including the parents, the educators, national disability organizations and advocacy groups feel that the local educational agencies and the State have failed to address issues that relate to learners with dyslexia (McGill-Franzen & Allington, 2011) . These reference issues include the determination of eligibility, development of learner specific programs such as individualized education program under the IDEA and evaluations for these learners. 

Schools choose to implement a multi-tiered system so as to include the needs of all students including those with learning disabilities. The schools can then cater for the additional behavioral and educational support needed by these specific learners with a cognitive and neurological deficit (Pavey, 2016) . In a multi-tiered framework, research based scientific interventions can help schools in identifying the individual with a possible learning disability and they can therefore evaluate them and monitor their progress. 

Stakeholders can then adjust these forms of interventions based on their findings. Those who do not respond appropriately are referred to special needs classes after they fail to respond positively to determinant evaluations (Nijakowska, 2010) . Those who are responsive are put in a program of intense interventions which may bear progressive results in academic performance. This includes an intense series of practice on language and oral skills. 

A variety of strategies and assessment tools are used to gather and evaluate a child’s academic information and relevant information on behavior to determine whether a child has a learning disorder. Stakeholders refrain from the use of the term dyslexia so as to not stigmatize a learner with disability (Nijakowska, 2010) . They are further supported by Office of Special Education Programs that fund a number of technical assistance centers that have resources and materials that supports the education of learners with Dyslexia. 

Behaviors and symptoms manifested by Dyslexia 

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Description (DSM-5) acknowledges that Dyslexia is a learning disorder that is as a result of its negative effect on the normal development of the neurological structure. It is a clinical diagnosis that is based on a learner’s incapability of understanding words in a comprehensive manner. It is a type of a Neurodevelopment Disorder. Changes in the DSM-5 affect dyslexia by impacting on its clinical research, the education system and the treatment process of the learning disorder. 

Moreover, dyslexia is a type of special learning disorder that includes all learning disabilities therefore presenting an overall diagnostic approach to its symptoms. A student with the disorder has difficulty with words which entails difficulty with spelling, reading, writing and working with numbers. They may also confuse right form left and have a problem with following an order when given instructions the learner can have normal performance strengths as compared to their fellow classmates but develop a difficulty for reading for a particular subject which has no reason (McGill-Franzen & Allington, 2011). 

Symptoms of dyslexia can be observed from a very early age but especially during the child’s introduction to the education system at the age of two to around seven years of age. At pre-school, the child may have delay of speech. Consequently, the child may develop speech at a later age. They may not even be able to say a word at the age of two. The child can also have a problem of mixing up letters in word during pronunciation for example saying ‘aminal’ instead of ‘animal’ (Reid, 2007) . It is hard to use words that have the same letters and they become even harder to pronounce in the correct order for example top and pot and may often be confused. 

A child with a learning disability at this pre-school age develops a lot of throat and ear infections. The child also forgets the names of people frequently and does not grasp common nouns. The other behavioral characteristic is inability of the child to catch, throw or kick a ball. One of the main indicators is also the difficulty in saying and learning rhymes (Reid, 2007) . The child also has difficulties in learning the different type of shapes and color; they have a problem in writing and spelling their names correctly and are unable to retell a story in the same order. 

At the primary school level, the child is unable to read books around class and hates reading due to the characteristic of inability to read properly at that expected rate. The child has difficulty in recognizing punctuation marks and reads at a slow rate when required to read texts out loud. Another symptom is the inability of the student to differentiate the different sounds and often incapable of blending these sounds. They often change the sequence of words in a text fail to recognize repeated words in texts. In the absence o f pictures or storylines, they are unable to read out certain words (Joshi, Grigorenko & Hugdahl, 2003) . 

These learners often misread certain words and replace words with other words that are similar but are do not make the same meaning of the word. They often omit adjoining words and some short words such as the, on and is. They confuse letters such as n and u, b and d due to their left and right reflection similarities. Learners with dyslexia often write the letter d and b in capital letters. The student has a difficulty in comprehending words that seem as the reflection of others and often interchange them when reading to replace each other for example left and felt. 

Children who have dyslexia normally have the capability of learning how to spell but often forget the same words the next day. They are poor at how they hold pencils or pens; they often hold with a grip and their work is always messy with a lot of crossing over of the wrong work. They are poor at following instructions and are not able to proof read their own work. They are often very forgetful (Reid, 2007) . 

Part 2 Etiology of Dyslexia 

Dyslexia was historically known as word blindness and most people just thought that their children were stupid for lack of a better description. Students would be punished by teachers and ridiculed by classmates based on their incapability to understand language in the same way a normal person would. People came to understand, however that it is actually a disorder and have since then offered support to students who have this disorder. 

Dyslexia exists as a result of the inability of the phonological information process to be well communicated by the responsible neurological set up. It is a genetic disorder and their considered in a hereditary disorder. The Phonological Deficit theory examines the phonological defiance by an individual with dyslexia. The Double Deficits theorists however propose that this learning disability is caused by the inherent factors such as the speed of information uptake and the neurological issues that include the cognitive ability to read and write. Most children with dyslexia inherit it from their parents or relatives (Joshi, Grigorenko & Hugdahl, 2003) . 

It can also be caused by the early hearing loss that is sometimes experienced by infants. These may later affect the child’s cognitive abilities if and when introduced to a learning institution. It can delay the child’s ability to learn language and slow down the concentration level in child during class. 

The brain anatomy can also cause dyslexia. When the brain there is inefficiency the way the different parts of the brain connect and interact. The person may be prone to have a learning disability disorder because of this inefficiency (Funnell, 2013) . The brain function is distorted because the parts of the brain that convert speech into sound, pictures to images and letters into words are at a dysfunction. Dyslexics need an education system that incorporates there other capabilities. Most of them are normally very talented in other sectors that do not involve the usage of the cognitive system like singing and dancing. Multitalented schools should be built to accommodate the areas of competence achieved in individuals who have learning disabilities. 

Physical injury also causes dyslexia. There are adults who had normal learning abilities until they had the misfortune of having an injury that impaired their brain, throat and ear functions. Minor brain trauma to the brain during a child birth can also cause brain dysfunction and later in the year develop into dyslexia. Illnesses that cause damage to the function of the brain are also seen as causes of dyslexia. 

Part 3 

Treatments for Dyslexia 

Inner ear enhancements also known as CVs that initially treated motion sickness are successful ate reducing the symptoms associated with dyslexia. This is due to their capability of returning the balance of the vertigo and inner ear dysfunction (Rickheit & Strohner, 2008) . They treated the sensory motor dysfunction, neurological deficits and sensory deficits which are other characteristics that create a diagnosis for dyslexia. 

Infants can be treated at an earlier age due to the development of modern technology who use the technology of radiotherapy to heal parts of the brain that are affected by the trauma or injuries in earlier ears. This can completely eradicate any later symptoms that may be related to dyslexia. Other individuals however develop the symptoms later in their adult life if they suffer another trauma (Funnell, 2013) . 

Medical treatment of dyslexia at the school-going age is however difficult because the child has a learning disorder but not a sickness. A person cannot change the alignment of how someone brain works. The only way to treat this disorder is to link it with the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Most of the children or adults who have dyslexia also have ADHD. In a measure to treat ADHD, which has a clear medication, one can treat dyslexia concurrently. Children with dyslexia also happen to have anxiety and depression. The child can therefore take medication in form of antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. 

Speech therapy is a method that enables a child to have the ability to differentiate the different phonological structures that are found in words and this in turn helps the child to learn in a fast way (Thambirajah, 2011) . This is called phonemic awareness. The speech therapist can also be able to teach phonics, the study of the relationship between letters and the sounds they make. 

Psychological counseling can help a child have less anxiety and less depression. These are symptoms that characterize a child who has dyslexia. By dealing with these psychological issues, a child is able to feel less stigmatized and more excited about learning. Computer software application can be used as tools to aid the education of a child with dyslexia. The dictation app enables the child to do more practice with words and always keep up to date with the curriculum. 

Accommodations need to be made in all schools that have children with dyslexia. Modified instructional strategies need to be adopted so that teachers can coincide with the visual, hearing and feelings of the students. More practical methods of teachings are more effective to learners with learning disability than theoretical methods. So as to learn about letters and words, teachers need to come up with models of letters so that the students can feel the shape of the letters and have a better comprehensive capability (Rickheit & Strohner, 2008) . 

Part 4 

Recommendations on future research on Dyslexia 

Research objectives should focus on how to create a curriculum that is designed to be a step by step programme that introduces information at a more comprehensive pace with dyslexic children who at the end will keep up with normal learning class mates. The hypothesis can focus on the importance of introducing dyslexic child to earlier education so as to keep them at pace with the rest should be tried (Thambirajah, 2011) . 

Work places, public spaces and street paths should have signs that are accommodative of the dyslexic individuals. Such people need a platform to live normal lives without the challenge of living a life where they feel that they are left out. Some adults become uncomfortable and embarrassed in situations where they cannot read. Everyone assumes that most people know how to read and will be amazed of a person portrays a learning disability. 

Many people need to be informed about dyslexia as a learning disability and not a disease. If more people get to know the disease, the learners can get supportive systems where they are able to learn in the same platform as learners with the normal learning capability. This is known as compensatory functioning (Reid, 2007). 

Parents can find a way to involve their children in their own education process. This ensures that the child learns the importance of education and takes part in improving their overall academic performance. Children are brought up to understand that everyone has some kind of difficulty in the learning process and that if they put hard work and self motivation, they can achieve the standard set academic achievement. 

Parents need to use methods of learning that train the brain to retain information. This can be done by utilizing lots of brain games and brain teasers that engage the brain. Children are able to make more progress if the learning is fun and engages their brain. Puzzles and word games keep the brain active, which leads to the retaining of a lot of significant information. Moreover, numerous repetitions of the specific lessons or interpretation of the worlds help in language development and increases the child’s ability to understand words. 

Children need to be reminded of their strengths instead of entirely focusing on their learning disability. This improves their self esteem and self worth henceforth eradication of any form of depression or anxiety which is associated with dyslexia. 

References 

Reid, G. (2007). Motivating learners in the classroom . London: Paul Chapman Pub. 

Funnell, E. (2013). Case Studies in Neuropsychology of Reading . Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. 

Joshi, R., Grigorenko, E., & Hugdahl, K. (2003). Experimental Methods in Neuropsychology . Boston: Springer US. 

Nijakowska, J. (2010). Dyslexia in the foreign language classroom . Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 

Pavey, B. (2016). Dyslexia and Early Childhood . Berlin: Taylor and Francis. 

Rickheit, G., & Strohner, H. (2008). Handbook of communication competence . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 

Thambirajah, M. (2011). Developmental assessment of the school-aged child with developmental disabilities . London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 

McGill-Franzen, A., & Allington, R. (2011). Handbook of reading disability research . New York, NY: Routledge.