Dyslexia in Children: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments

BY BENETTA STRYDOM, B.Occup.Ther.

Reading and learning are the two things that determine the success of a child during his school career. First he learns to read. Then he reads to learn. Reading is therefore of paramount importance in the educational process.

Unfortunately poor reading skills, and therefore poor learning skills, have become a reality for an alarming number of children. The word “dyslexia” is often used to refer to reading problems, while the symptoms below indicate that a child has dyslexia and therefore needs help:

• One of the most obvious — and a common — telltale signs is reversals. People with this kind of problem often confuse letters like b and d, either when reading or when writing, or they sometimes read (or write) words like “rat” for “tar,” or “won” for “now.”

• Another sure sign, which needs no confirmation by means of any form of testing, is elisions, that is when a person sometimes reads or writes “cat” when the word is actually “cart.”

• The person who reads very slowly and hesitantly, who reads without fluency, word by word, or who constantly loses his place, thereby leaving out whole chunks or reading the same passage twice, has a reading problem.

• The person may try to sound out the letters of the word, but then be unable to say the correct word. For example, he may sound the letters “c-a-t” but then say “cold.”

• He may read or write the letters of a word in the wrong order, like “left” for “felt,” or the syllables in the wrong order, like “emeny” for “enemy,” or words in the wrong order, like “are there” for “there are.”

• He may spell words as they sound, for example “rite” for “right.”

• He may read with poor comprehension, or it may be that he remembers little of what he reads.

• The person may have a poor and/or slow handwriting.

For children with dyslexia, going to school can be a nightmare. Behavior problems often result from their negative experiences at school. The stress and frustration they have to endure as a result of their poor achievement cause them to be reluctant to go to school, to often have temper tantrums before school and sometimes even to play truant. Cheating, stealing and experimenting with drugs can also occur when children regard themselves as failures.

A plethora of theories has arisen as to the cause of dyslexia, ranging from brain dysfunction through uncoordinated left/right hemispheres, imbalance of the inner ear, and so on. Treatments are designed accordingly.

While there are many factors that may contribute to dyslexia, one should not overlook the age-old — but ageless — principle that learning is a stratified process. This is a self-evident fact, yet its significance in the situation of the dyslexic child has apparently never been fully comprehended. Throughout the world in all educational systems it is commonly accepted that a child must start at the lower levels of education and then gradually progress to the higher levels. If human learning had not been a stratified process, if it had taken place on a single level, this would have been unnecessary. It would then not have been important to start a child in first grade. It would have been possible for the child to enter school at any level and to complete the school years in any order.

By way of a simple and practical example I have to remind the reader of the fact that one has to learn to count before it becomes possible to learn to add and subtract. Suppose one tried to teach a child, who had not learned to count yet, to add and subtract. This would be quite impossible and no amount of effort would ever succeed in teaching the child these skills. In the same way, there are also certain skills and knowledge that a child must have acquired first, before it becomes possible for him to benefit from a course in reading.

Terry-André Eleftheriou

The Audiblox program, which aims at teaching the foundational skills of reading, helped Terry-André Eleftheriou to beat dyslexia. He had had remedial lessons for three years for his reading problem. “I have taught him to cope with the work but I have not been able to teach him to read. His reading has always been a serious problem and he has been diagnosed as dyslexic,” said Jennie van Zyl, Terry-André's remedial teacher.

By the middle of fourth grade Terry-André's reading ability was like that of a first-grade/second-grade child. His spelling was poor, he confused b's and d's, and found creative writing a problem.

Terry-André was very untidy, always in a hurry, happy with second best and just generally not coping at all, remarked Mrs. Leslie, his class teacher. Because the children laughed at his efforts, reading in front of the class caused him great embarrassment.

Terry-André started on the Audiblox program in the third term of fourth grade, a few weeks before the examination. He and Mrs. van Zyl spent half an hour, five days per week, on the program. He nevertheless failed third term with an aggregate of 54 percent.

Rapid improvement was noted during the fourth term. By the end of the school year Terry-André was no longer reversing letters. “The other day,” said Mrs. van Zyl, “he picked up a book and I was amazed to hear him actually reading without any stammering, hesitation or repetitions. It was the first time he had ever managed without being taught the words first. Now, whenever there is any spare time, he asks if we can read.”

“He has settled down, completes all his tasks to the best of his ability and takes pride in his work,” said Mrs. Leslie. “He is also able to read aloud in front of the class without any of the problems which had caused him such embarrassment before.”

Terry-André passed fourth grade with an aggregate of 66 percent. Audiblox was continued into fifth grade, with attending progress.

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An example of Terry-André's schoolwork just before he started on Audiblox.

The striking improvement in Terry-André's work after only six months.

Benetta Strydom holds a B.Occup.Ther. Degree