Dyslexia is not an avoidance from learning. This is a real dysfunction that requires attention and help. For some, dyslexia is a buzzword that allows students an extended exam time and comfortable conditions in the exam room. This view of the topic can harm a child for life. If a student diagnosed with dyslexia does not receive adequate help at school and does not find parental support, the defect will worsen and result in low self-esteem. 

Parents sometimes doubt whether dyslexia is a disease? If so, what are its symptoms, is it hereditary? And how to help a child with dyslexia? We answer these and other questions in the article below.

What is childhood dyslexia?

Dyslexia is considered to be a medical condition which, although intellectually capable, causes difficulties in learning to read and write. There are several areas that may include learning difficulties. These include:

• dyslexia;
• dysgraphia;
• dysorthography;
• dyscalculia.

To this day, questions arise: is dyslexia a disease? In the past, dyslexia was called gifted laziness. A bright student who reads poorly, makes spelling mistakes, as if he were sloppy, not attentive. He seems to be trying, knows the spelling rules, and even works more than others, but it does not help. The effects of his work are weak, he gets ones. Teachers make motivation in the form of words - you can, but you don't want to. And the student feels trapped. I want. It can't. He notices that the requirements are high, and he does not feel accepted by the school environment, and sometimes at home as well. I am talking about dyslexia. 

A child who feels trapped in school will lose his self-esteem. Even an extremely gifted dyslexic student may not complete his studies. How to help a child with dyslexia? There is one rule - a student with learning difficulties should be placed in the hands of a specialist so that he can determine the type of problems and the possibilities of working on them.

What is dyslexia in children and what are its causes? 

How is it that a dyslexic person has so much difficulty reading and writing? What Is Dyslexia In Children Really? Is it hereditary? According to the sources, dyslexia is caused by disturbances in basic cognitive functions. This may be constitutional. In children with dyslexia, visual and auditory perception and perceptual-motor integration disorders are usually found.

Prof. Marta Bogdanowicz (1) distinguishes the following types of dyslexia and related disorders: 

• visual dyslexiaat the root of visual perception and memory disorders associated with impaired visual-motor and movement-spatial coordination;
• auditory dyslexia conditioned by impaired perception and auditory memory of speech sounds, most often associated with impaired linguistic functions;
• integrative dyslexiawhen individual functions do not show disturbances, but coordination is disturbed, i.e. there are disturbances in perceptual-motor integration;
• mixed type dyslexiawhen there are simultaneous disturbances in perception and auditory memory, memory and visual perception, spatial imagination;
• visual dyslexiawhen there is a disorder, the so-called disorder.

Is dyslexia a disease?

A dyslexic has a problem with coordinating movements and setting directions. Once he is an adult, he cannot sign the same name twice. So he has troubles, for example in offices or in a bank. It's hard to imagine, but it's a bit as if a right-handed person could only write with his left hand. And that's just the tip of the dyslexic iceberg.

The term dyslexia was first described in the USA in 1968 at the World Conference of Neurologists. There, the definition was formulated: dyslexia is a disorder that manifests itself in the inability to learn to read and write despite good intelligence and good environmental conditions. In Poland, dyslexia began to be talked about in the 70s.

Developmental dyslexia

Dyslexia that occurs in children is called developmental dyslexia. Associated with it are:

• dissorthography - difficulties in mastering the correct spelling, including making spelling mistakes;
• dysgraphia - that is, an ugly handwriting;
• dyscalculia - difficulties with counting.

Dyslexia is reaching 10-15% of Polish students, and intensified 3-4%. Dyslexia is four times more common in boys than in girls. On average, there are 3–4 dyslexic children in each class, but in some regions of Poland there are none at all because they have not been diagnosed. This is due to the ignorance of teachers and parents, as well as the lack of access to a counseling center.

Is dyslexia hereditary?

When answering the question of whether dyslexia is hereditary, it is important to point out that this disorder is more common in children of parents with dyslexia. Swedish scientists have identified a gene that, if damaged, increases the likelihood of dyslexia. This may not be the only gene responsible for this defect, but others are yet to be discovered.

Neurologists take note too acquired causes. They count among them microtraumas of the brain and central nervous system, that took place in utero, during or shortly after birth.

Dyslexia in children: how to spot symptoms

Symptoms of dyslexia in children, already in early school age, are visible to the naked eye and quite unambiguous. Parents notice most errors in notebooks, confusing letters, and unsightly handwriting that does not stick to the prescribed lines. However, there are already earlier signs of the risk of dyslexia in children than those observed in early school age. They appear in early childhood. 

Some parents emphasize that their child is very physically agile, because it did not crawl, but started to walk immediately. This may be the first sign of a problem - because the child did not practice alternating movements. Similarly, when a child (usually a boy) starts talking late and has difficulty building sentences. The parents then explain to themselves that it happens to boys.

Dyslexia in children: other symptoms

Other symptoms of dyslexia in children include:

• problems with directional orientation (wrong right - left);
• lack of domination of one side of the body (a two-handed or right-handed child looks through the hole with his left eye, ear);
• disturbances in attention, memory (does not remember the days of the week, seasons, has difficulty remembering a poem);
• disability in movement, as well as manual disability, especially in boys: trouble fastening buttons, lacing shoes, washing hands, eating with cutlery, maintaining balance, learning to ride a bike, playing ball;
• monkey catch - pressing the pencil too hard or too weakly;
• hyperactivity, impulsivity, emotional imbalance;
• difficulties in building blocks, arranging puzzles;
• twisting words, speech impediments (child lisps, does not pronounce "r", stutters);
• at school, writing letters from right to left or in mirror image, changing prefixes and prepositions, rearranging sounds, twisting words.

Dyslexia in children and the rights of the child

Every child, whether early school or older, with writing and reading difficulties, has the right to take advantage of the help and diagnosis at a psychological and pedagogical counseling center. The opinion of the counseling center must be reliable, supported by the results of the tests, up-to-date and submitted to the school no later than by the end of September of the school year in which, for example, the exam takes place. Everything that all indications were taken into account in the case of the student.

 Depending on the opinion issued by the authorized clinic, the dyslexic has the right to:

• half the time of the examination;
• reading tasks aloud by the teacher;
• writing in a separate room;
• changing the print font in the question sheet;
• writing in capital letters;
• marking answers directly on the sheets, without rewriting the questions.

The basis of such rights is ROrdinance of the Minister of National Education of March 21, 2001, amended on April 4, 2002 (Journal of Laws No. 29/2001, p. 323, as amended). According to it: the teacher is obliged to adapt the requirements to the student's defect (which does not mean that they should be significantly reduced), to take into account the opinion of the counseling center and to respect its orders. Opinions are not honored during university exams, because there are no regulations that would regulate it.

Diagnosis of dyslexia: how to help a child with dyslexia?

The claims that a child is "too early to be diagnosed" or "will outgrow it" cannot be believed. You do not grow out of dyslexia, but you can and must correct it. So how do you help a child with dyslexia? Effective action on dyslexia in children depends on its early detection and competent, reliable therapy and exercises.

To make sure it is dyslexic, the educator and psychologist must first rule out other causes of school difficulties, i.e .:

• hearing and vision defects;
• mental (biological) underdevelopment;
• and delays due to negligence at home (social) or inadequate learning (cognitive).

Merely making mistakes is not always dyslexia in children. Those in early school age have the right to make mistakes, and even learn from these mistakes. How do you recognize dyslexia in children?

Dyslexia in children: nucleoside 

The diagnosis is not the end, it is not the solution to the problem. This is just the beginning of the path on which parents must ensure that the school respects the rights of a dyslexic. But most of all, the child should be supported on a daily basis and actively involved in therapy and exercises.

Some parents think that the school should improve and streamline everything, but it is up to them that depends the most, because the child has to exercise every day. You have to keep an eye on this, check notebooks, notice and praise for the slightest success, constantly developing the child's strengths. This is of great importance because it supports them in hard work and motivates, and at the same time we make the child care for his self-esteem.

Where to go for help?

Polish Dyslexia Society, Main Board, Gdańsk, ul. Polish mothers 3a http://www.ptd.edu.pl/kontakt.html. Addresses of regional offices on the website www.dyslexia.waw.pl and all important information are available from psychological and pedagogical counseling centers and the school pedagogue.

Dyslexia in children: exercise

You have to work on spelling all your life. With early school children - this work is fun, but at the same time the beginning of improving their cognitive skills.

They can contribute to exercises that support the development and therapy of dyslexics simple games:

• All puzzles and puzzles that develop the ability for visual analysis and synthesis. (picture cut into four parts and for a child to assemble, gradually more and more parts);
• Hand and eye coordination exercises - the child uses a finger and then a marker to outline the contours of the pattern;
• Football game;
• Development of the use of language: choosing rhymes, separating sounds from words, dividing a word into sounds.

Dyslexia in children and gymnastics

We distinguish certain types of physical movement, which:

• stimulate the production of new nerve connections between the brain hemispheres,
• improve visual and motor coordination, reading fluency, concentration and memory,
• and also activate thinking.

It's worth taking care of exercise exercises that relieve stress, regulate breathing, have a positive effect on emotional stability, and strengthen self-esteem (relaxation, visualization, autogenic training, reflection on your own work, sensitivity and the goal that the child wants to achieve).

Speech therapists train not only the speech apparatus, but also activate the child's entire body during the classes (alternating movements: touching the raised left knee with the right elbow and vice versa, drawing eights in the air with the thumb). Such gymnastics is well combined with relaxing massage and the use of relaxation techniques. The therapists' efforts are also aimed at emphasizing the strengths of people with dyslexia and adequate management of their further education and activity.

Dyslexia in a positive light

Ronald Davies, author The gift of dyslexia, gives its positive aspects. Belong to them: 

• innate ability to create and process perceptual experiences;
• bigger sensitivity on the surroundings;
• thinking in pictures, not words;
• excellent intuition and acumen;
• thinking and perception is polysensory and polymodal (use of all senses);
• living your thoughts realistically;
• vivid imagination;
• creativity.

It is worth adding that such famous people as Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Adam Mickiewicz, Andy Warhol, Anthony Hopkins, Agatha Christie, and John Lennon - all of them have dyslexia.

Źródła:
Prof. prof. dr hab. M. Bogdanowicz, The Decalogue for teachers of dyslexic children;
Ed. Grażyna Krasowicz - Kupis, Diagnosis of dyslexia. The most important problems;
Anna Radwańska, How to help a child with dyslexia. A guide for parents and teachers;
Ronald Davis, Eldon M. Braun, The Gift of Dyslexia;
Regulation of the Minister of National Education of March 21, 2001 on the conditions and methods of assessing, classifying and promoting pupils and students as well as conducting examinations and tests in public schools (Journal of Laws 2001 No.29, item. 323)