Dyslexia Francisco Cordova

What is Dyslexia? Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is characterized by poor spelling and decoding abilities. 10-15 percent of the US population has dyslexia, yet only 5 out of every 100 dyslexics are recognized and receive assistance

Back in the Day Dyslexia was discovered around the 1960s when people with brain injury loss abilities to read and speak which is considered Aphasia. Alexia is losing the ability to read but able to speak and read still. In 1891, Dr. Dejerne reported that aphasic and alexic are caused from cerebral vascular accidents

What causes dyslexia? There are 3 different types of causes of dyslexia: Trauma dyslexia- it is an injury to the brain that controls reading and writing. Primary dyslexia- is a disfunction of the cerebral cortex which is in adults who can only read at a fourth grade level. Secondary/ Developmental dyslexia- it is caused by hormonal development during early stages of fetal development. It diminishes, though, as the child matures.

Symptoms? There are many symptoms of dyslexia such as: Children get frustrated and cause bad behavior Noticeable difference between pupils ability Family history of learning difficulties Trouble spelling words Confusion between left and right Often write letters backwards Difficulties in organizing themselves Have trouble following 2-3 step instructions

How is it diagnosed and how can you treat it? For dyslexia to be diagnosed, the patient would take reading/writing tests and the doctor would study how the patient can take information and process it. They use the results of those tests and compare it to the expected level they should reach. The only real cure for this is maturing. There is no medication needed for dyslexia. Many mothers who have a dyslexic child use helpful treatments such as: Have the child play hopscotch with letters in the boxes and you have to make the sound of the letter for them to step on. Put arrows on their shoes pointing to each other so they know which shoe goes on which foot. Dry and erase boards help to learn how to spell and it also helps for the child to not get frustrated easily.

Organic or Functional? Dyslexia is considered to be both. It is a functional disorder because it can be passed down in genes It is an organic disorder because, physically, you could damage your brain where you cant spell, write or even speak.

Sources http://www.region10.org/dyslexia/Dyslexia-Definition.html http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/ubnrp/dyslexia/hist1.html http://www.medicinenet.com/dyslexia/article.htm http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/hints.html http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_functional_and_organic_mental_disorder