1. Supporting Dyslexic Children with IT and more general Knowledge about Dyslexia
What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a hidden handicap
It affects children and adults worldwide and at least students in the EU
Properly assisted it can lead to successful careers and the unlocking of creative potential
The actual situation:
- dyslexic learners are often
labeled “lazy” and “stupid”
their condition is not understood
- they fail constantly
In 2004 Marta Bogdanowicz and Alan Sayles from the European Dyslexia Association published a book called „RIGHTS OF DYSLEXIC CHILDREN IN EUROPE“ which was based on a questionnaire that all member-states were asked to fill out.
This book shows clearly that there is still a huge task to be accomplished in many European countries, if we want to make sure that dyslexic young people get the necessary support and help for their integration into our society.
According to the Research Project NEURODYS Europe has to cope with at least 2 ½ million dyslexic school children.
Until recently dyslexia was a hidden learning disability. But researchers have found out a lot about it and early recognition and special support for this kind of learning difficulties are now possible.

2. A simplified Reading Model for the Understanding of Dyslexia
Left Hemisphere
specialized on:
words,
language,
logic,
sequential and
analytical thinking
Right Hemisphere
specialized on:
pictures,
forms,
imagination,
creativity and
holistic thinking
Area 1: The Phoneme Producer
Broca’s area
Left inferior frontal gyrus
Area 2: The Word Analyzer
Left parieto-temporal area
Area 3: The Automatic Detector
Left occipito-temporal area
Area 4: The frontal areas 1 and 4 are more active in dyslexic brains, because a neurological glitch prevents these brains from easily gaining access to the areas 2 and 3
Right inferior frontal gyrus
Area 5: \
(ongoing research)
Area 6: /
In order to understand dyslexia it is necessary to understand how the brain reads.
The areas 1 to 3 are the key regions in the left hemisphere that the brain uses normally for the process of reading.
Scientists have found out that dyslexic children have difficulties to gain access to the word analyzer and to the automatic detector.
Dyslexics appear to compensate by leaning more heavily on the phoneme producer as well as by recruiting areas from the right side of the brain that process visual clues from, for example, accompanying pictures.
This explains why dyslexic children have a hard time learning to read and why they are quite often more creative then others.
Sources: TIMEeurope Magazine and Readingsuccesslab.com

3. OF THE LOST LETTERS THE MYSTERY
Dyslexia International – Tools and Technologies - a Nonprofit-Organisation opened up the topic of dyslexia in 2006 at UNESCO with:
THE MYSTERY
OF THE LOST LETTERS
A tri-lingual CD-ROM with a linked Website
produced by the BBC for DITT
up to now in English, French and German
Dyslexia International – Tools and Technologies (DITT) is a Nonprofit-Organisation which has been founded in 2000 at Brussels. Since that time we try to improve the situation of dyslexic learners with a team of volunteers, European researchers and different supporters.
We promote awareness for dyslexia on parliamentary and ministerial levels with a video-film and a handbook called “Language Shock - Dyslexia across cultures” which can both be found in different languages on our website.
Our latest tool is the interactive CD-ROM “The Mystery of the Lost Letters – adventures with Tintin and Snowy on the road to success”, which has been produced by the BBC for DITT. It has a linked website with many different resources and it exists already in English, French and German.
Even so it helped us to open up the topic of dyslexia at UNESCO in the summer of 2006 we think it should be made available and accessible in the relevant languages to all schools in Europe.
More information at
Tintin and Snowy help young dyslexic learners to discover their talents
and find out more about their personal learning style and assistive technologies.
With this program they could help as well to improve the general knowledge about dyslexia.