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Dyslexia Is it a disease or a condition By Dr Maha Abdullah Orkubi
Welcome back to a second season of articles from our sunny Jeddah. I hope you guys had a good summer, I did miss my writings and I do apologize for my readers who I did not respond to during the summer vacation.
These weekly articles are directed towards raising awareness on special needs population so we as society understand who are they from why does these conditions occur, what are their issues so we can offer them their rights that they deserve. I do hope that the reader can become an educated individual to differentiate between real facts from myths that surround this population and prevent them from living normally and have a productive future.
Special needs populations are those individuals who have certain needs that is not met by the regular education settings they include individuals with learning difficulties, individual with physical and mental disabilities and individuals with gifts and talents.
In the first issues I tried to highlight the fact that our vocabulary has to change in order we treat special needs individuals fairly as human worth of equal respects and rights in our societies. We do not use the word handicapped معاق handicap/disable person any more because it is what societies act towards individuals, who are born with certain conditions or diseases, to prevent them from having a normal productive lives. In another word, a society can handicap the individual from living his utmost potentials. Thus we call these individuals’ special needs individuals’ ذوي الفئات الخاصة . So you can refer to a person by his name and may indicate that he/she has exceptionality: physical disability or gifts.
In the previous articles the characteristics of individuals with hearing disabilities, visual disabilities, physical and mental disabilities, learning disabilities, gifts and talents, multiple and severe disabilities, health disabilities, down syndrome, autism, Attention deficit disorder were addressed. Furthermore, I highlighted the major education consideration to be used with such individuals. By doing this, I wished to stress on making, you the reader, knowledgeable about what are kinds of suitable programs for them.
I have a new formula to suggest to you and I would like your comments about it. I suggest beginning a weekly questions and answers column, where I can answer particular questions to parents or educators that is important for them to address. This column will have a format of questions and responses. Furthermore I will write a monthly article were I can address particular subject or issue that I think it needs thorough consideration. Please let me know; I am grateful for your patience.
Today’s’ topic is Dyslexia
Q. How can a parent know if his child has dyslexia?
A. To diagnose a child with dyslexia, the child must go through a complete psychological and educational evaluation by clinical psychologist and assessment specialists in educational diagnostic center. Furthermore, the child must be seen by a neurologist specialized to diagnose such cases.
Usually they are children with average and above average intelligence who show difficulties in academic and nonacademic areas. An academic difficulty is association of sounds with letters and words. The child cannot differentiate between letters that has similar shapes for example the letter b is mixed with d & p. Some words are reversed: such as was becomes Saw, some words gets confused: such as now becomes new. Some times the child confuses words in his speech and he might add a letter or drop a letter in spelling.
Difficulties in non academic areas means a child may have problems in knowing the directions, left and right, they have difficulties in cutting, coloring, and struggle with space or time concepts. Comprehending information involving linear thought such as shopping lists, or any information comes in steps or procedures are also problematic.
Q. What are the effect of having dyslexia on children and adults?
A. Because of all these difficulties most children become extremely distressed and may become withdrawn, feel worthless, feel inadequate, have low self-esteem. They all hate schools. As an adults they Feel frustrated, worthless because they were unable to finish their education. Even in work they get fired because they’re in ability to read or write or follow instructions and responding improperly to a social circumstances, as consequence they are misunderstood and often avoided.
Q. How can a parent help their child with dyslexia?
A. First parents should watch their children development and observe them for early signs such as does the child get over stimulated by sights and sounds; does the child have trouble understanding the concept of time, distance or can he follow directions; does the child bump into furniture or walls; do they have trouble separating sounds or ideas or symbols. The early parents discover this condition the better opportunity the child will have for his development and learning.
Second get the child diagnosed usually at first grade to know if the child is dyslexic or he is immature or is having developmental delays. Third, once the child is diagnosed, parent must learn about this condition and it’s effects on the child development. There are so many books about these conditions or you can search through the Internet. You can ask about centers that serve this population, or ask your doctor or children doctors or psychologists or psychiatrists in hospitals. Another source look for you’re nearest universities or colleges that have special education departments so they can refer you to the right organization. Another source for information is any UN or UNISCO regional office in the country you live and ask for
their education office. Parents should take the opportunities to go to lectures and seminars about the subject.
Fourth, parents must collect the information about any special education programs for learning disabilities or for dyslexia so they can the right help for their child. Fifth, parents should seek the help of psychologist, psychiatrists to get some appropriate intervention whenever the child show any signs of negative thoughts about himself before the problems becomes bigger and complicated which may effect his future for the rest of his life.
Q. How can a family help their children with dyslexia to be participate and be responsible?
A. Families should teach their children responsibilities as the other sibling. Parents must emphasize to the child his/her responsibility in household’s works as well participation in family’s activities. Parents might need to teach the process step by step. For example when teaching him to wash say first get the soap then turn on the faucet then foam your hands and rub it together then put it under the faucet and so on. Furthermore, repeat the process several times and rotate chores so the child can learn all the skills and learn to take instruction.
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