Learning Disabilities and Dyslexia

What is Dyslexia?

Sometimes parents ask if their child has "dyslexia." To answer that question, it is important to explain what dyslexia is and is not. The word dyslexia is derived from the Greek "dys" (difficult) and "lexicos" (pertaining to words) and is used to describe extreme difficulty reading and spelling words. The terms "specific learning disorder - impairment in reading," "reading disability," and "learning disability in reading" are synonymous with dyslexia. The term dyslexia is no longer included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fifth Edition (DSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) given the confusion and misunderstanding surrounding it.

In the educational system, the classification of Learning Disabled, specifically in reading, is used rather than the term dyslexia. As defined by New York State educational law, "Learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which manifests itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor disabilities, of an intellectual disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage."

Misconceptions about Dyslexia

According to Frank Vellutino, a prominent researcher in the area of dyslexia, the following misconceptions exist about dyslexia:

• It originates in the visual-spatial system.

• It is characterized by mirror writing and letter reversals.

• Children with dyslexia exhibit uncertain hand preference.

• Children whose first language is based on alphabetic rather than pictographic or ideographic characters are particularly susceptible.

• Dyslexia can be corrected through therapies aimed at strengthening the visual-spatial system.

Dr. Vellutino defines dyslexia as "a subtle language deficiency. The deficiency has its roots in other areas: phonological-coding deficits, deficient phonemic segmentation, poor vocabulary development and trouble discriminating grammatical and syntactic differences among words and sentences. Dyslexia appears to be the consequence of limited facility in using language to code other types of information.

Another prominent researcher, David Kilpatrick, defines dyslexia as "difficulty in developing word-level reading skills despite adequate instructional opportunities...in the simple view, a dyslexic has adequate language comprehension but poor word-level reading skills." Dr. Kilpatrick goes on to propose an approach to reading intervention that includes explicit instruction in phonological awareness and phonics skills.

Essentially, children who exhibit poor basic reading skills are not reading efficiently. Their comprehension of texts is compromised because of the amount of energy they expend decoding rather than attending to the text. If they can begin to read more efficiently, they should be able to understand what they read.

What to do if you think your child has a reading disability?

If you are concerned that your child might have a reading disability, you should talk with your child's teacher(s) about your concern. Federal and state regulations outline a process for schools to follow to identify students who have learning disabilities. This process is called Response to Intervention (RtI). First, the student must be significantly below same-grade peers on measures of academic performance, such as a test of phonological awareness, oral reading fluency, and/or comprehension. The second criterion is that the student performs poorly in response to carefully planned and precisely delivered instruction. The data used for this aspect of the determination are developed through ongoing progress monitoring of the student's performance on a critical academic measure during the course of the individually designed intervention. Interventions put into place will depend on the student's strengths and weaknesses, including phonological awareness and phonological decoding skills. If your child is significantly below grade level in reading, discuss with your child's teacher(s) the interventions that are in place, how progress will be monitored, and how you can support progress at home.

References

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.

(2013).

Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.

Kilpatrick, David A. (2015). Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Klotz, Mary Beth Ph.D, NCSP, Canter, Andrea, PhD., NCSP. (2006). Response to

Intervention (RTI): A Primer for Parents. (2006), Bethesda, MD:

National Association of School Psychologists.

Mather, Nancy, and Jaffe, Lynne E. (2002). Woodcock-Johnson III: Reports,

Recommendations and Strategies.

New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Regulations of the Commissioner of Education: Part 200, Students with

Disabilities. (2012 update).

Albany, NY: The University of the State of New York, The State Education Department.

Uhry, Joanna Kellogg, and Clark, Diana Brewster. (2004). Dyslexia: Theory and

Practice of Instruction.

Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.

Vellutino, F.R. (1987). Dyslexia. Scientific American, Volume 256, no. 3, pp. 34-41.

Vellutino, F.R. (2004). Specific reading disability (dyslexia): what have we learned in the past four decades? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45:1, pp. 2-40.