Dealing with Dyslexia

Diagnosing the Disorder

By Sue Poremba

"We've been researching reading disabilities for 40 years, and we don't have the background yet on math," Mazzocco says. Based on her research so far, she estimates that nearly half of all reading dyslexics have problems with math. She is quick to point out that while the two may occur together, having one type of dyslexia doesn't automatically lead to the other.

According to Laurie LeComer, author of A Parent's Guide to Developmental Delays: Recognizing and Coping With Missed Milestones in Speech, Movement, Learning, and Other Areas (Berkley Pub Group, 2006), early signs of dyslexia include the following:

• Difficulty remembering letter or number symbols.
• Guessing at words by looking at the pictures on the page.
• Trouble remembering the visual pattern of common site words, like "the."
• After sounding out a word, being unable to remember the sounds and saying a different word.
• Speech and language difficulties.

  Parents should also be aware of their child's learning style, according to Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, a co-author of Discover Your Child's Learning Style (Prima Publishing, 1999). "We learn things in different ways," she says. People can be picture learners, hands-on learners or print learners. Non-print learners don't always get the "code" of the letters, such a associating a certain letter to a certain sound, she adds.

  
  
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  Want to see more?

  • Making the Grade: What Parents Should Know About Psychological Testing
  • Dyslexia: Different, Not Dumb
  • The Four D's of Dyslexia: Defining, Deciphering, Diagnosis and Dealing
  • Talk about it!