How to know if your child has dyslexia
Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which affects your reading and writing skills. However, did you know that there are more areas affected that may not be so evident? In-Mentis Integrative Psychology explains.
What is going on in the brain of someone with dyslexia?
Dyslexia is not related to a person's intelligence or motivation to study and learn. Their brain simply works differently. People are born with it, and it often runs in families.
Most people are aware that dyslexia affects an individual’s reading and writing skills. However, the way their brains process information is also different, which can affect how they remember things they hear and see. This, in turn, can also affect their organisational skills.
When children start learning how to read, after learning the individual letters, they learn short words or syllables. Words are made out of sounds (phonology awareness), and each sound (phoneme) corresponds to a letter or combination of letters (grapheme).
Due to their brain characteristics, children with dyslexia have problems with phonological awareness and the conversion of graphemes to phonemes. Therefore, their reading does not become fluid; it is always slow and takes a lot of effort.
Now, if a child struggles with this first step of reading, they will have trouble comprehending the text; this means understanding the content of what they are reading.
However, dyslexia can strengthen a child’s reasoning skills, as well as their visual skills and creativity. They can use these strengths to develop their weaker skills.
How can we detect dyslexia?
In preschool, children may struggle to talk or pronounce long words, memorise rhymes, and learn the alphabet, days of the week, colours, shapes or numbers. They may have difficulties learning the letters and their sounds, reading and writing their name, and dividing words into syllables.
When it comes to older children, teenagers, and adults, we can see that their reading and writing levels are below those of their peers and the standards of their studies. They tend to avoid reading and writing entirely, and when they do, it takes longer.
For more information about dyslexia, contact In-Mentis
What can be done after diagnosis?
It is recommended to rule out dyslexia as soon as possible if you see some of the symptoms described above; otherwise, mental health issues may arise.
Children will notice that they struggle more than their friends, not achieving the same level of learning, reading or writing. Therefore, they may think that they are not as smart as the rest of the kids, which can affect their self-esteem and cause frustration, anxiety and even depression.
This emotional state can lead them to downgrade their academic goals or even abandon them altogether. This will have an impact on their education and socioeconomic status. It can also lead them to be bullied by their peers.
Furthermore, their frustration can be reflected by various behavioural problems. They might get aggressive or withdraw, avoiding situations where their dyslexia might cause difficulties.
Why is a diagnosis important?
Not only can it provide a great deal of context to the situation a child is facing, but it can also prevent the negative emotional consequences described in the previous paragraphs.
From an academic perspective, adaptations may be implemented. Teachers may take into account the content rather than the form (orthography, spelling, etc.) in some subjects or allocate more time for exams.
In conclusion, all these aspects can make a huge impact on a child with dyslexia, emotionally as well as academically.
If you need an assessment for dyslexia, you can contact In-Mentis Integrative Psychology. They can give you some recommendations for your family and the school, and they can work closely with you to implement these at home.