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The Four Ds of Dyslexia
Defining, Deciphering, Diagnosis and Dealing
By Ruth Brister
Mary Weidler's son, Steven, has always been intelligent. Before entering school, he learned at a fast rate and had mastered an extensive vocabulary for a child his age. But his first year of school was not what his mother expected. He struggled, and his problems were dismissed as "behavior issues." During the second grade, he fell further behind despite efforts to tutor him using phonics curriculum. After several other methods failed to help Steven achieve his academic potential, his mother took action.
Armed with his latest set of achievement test results, Weidler approached the school. "I insisted there was obviously something wrong with how this child processes words," she says. He had no problems in math, scoring near genius level. But reading was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Upon her insistence, the school system tested and diagnosed Steven with dyslexia.
To better understand the struggle that Steven and the 15 to 20 percent of children have, it is essential to comprehend what they must deal with on a day-to-day basis. Sally Jess, learning differences consultant for Schwab Learning, says, "Dyslexia is a lifelong, neurologically-based condition in which a person is unable to acquire the basic language skills of reading. A child is considered to have dyslexia if he or she has difficulty learning to read despite having adequate intelligence, attention, motivation and exposure to education." It is virtually the opposite of reading.
While a child without dyslexia can recognize and remember sound/symbol correspondence, one with dyslexia cannot. Steven Weidler's own account of his trouble details how some dyslexic children view trying to read. "I could see the letters move or fly off the page, and no one else could see that," he says. "I thought maybe the problem was my eyes, but the eye doctor said they were fine."
As for what causes dyslexia, Jess explains. "We don't really know," she says. "Research has shown that some dyslexics may have slight differences in brain structure and function in the areas connected with language and learning. Dyslexia is often inherited and other family members may have similar learning patterns." A good example of inherited dyslexia can be found behind the reason Schwab Learning and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation was started. Charles Schwab, a professed dyslexic, was reminded of his own struggles in school upon the discovery that his son had inherited the reading difficulty.