Dyslexia is not a death sentence. How to recognize symptoms and who to contact

Dyslexia is the generic name for a group of disorders that cause problems reading and understanding printed information. A deviation occurs against the background of a person’s normal mental, neurological and psychological state. This disease manifests itself in several forms, one of which is semantic dyslexia.

Definition and types of dyslexia

Dyslexia is a disorder in the development of reading skills, caused by underdeveloped mental functions that take part in this process. A characteristic feature of dyslexia is repeated persistent deviations in the reading process:

• mixing and replacing sounds;
• letter-by-letter reading;
• reversal of syllables;
• difficulty composing or understanding complex sentences;
• misunderstanding of the meaning of what is read.

Dyslexia is called the problem of geniuses. Winston Churchill, Hans Christian Andersen, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, George Bush, Quentin Tarantino suffered from this disease

Dyslexia is often called the problem of geniuses. Celebrities such as Winston Churchill, Hans Christian Andersen, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, George W. Bush, Quentin Tarantino and others suffered from this disease. But, of course, not everyone with dyslexia becomes a genius.

To diagnose dyslexia, it is necessary to assess the level of developed spoken language, grammatical skills, reading, attention, thinking and memory. Dyslexia can be overcome by developing all of the above skills. Therapy is aimed at:

• correct pronunciation of sounds;
• sentence construction;
• development of coherent speech.

According to statistics, the number of students with developed intellectual thinking who have signs of dyslexia is 4.8%. Schoolchildren who have severe speech problems and who have mental retardation are susceptible to dyslexia in 20-50% of cases. In boys and girls, the disorder occurs in a ratio of 4.5 to 1.

Types of dyslexia

Based on the form of defective reading, speech therapy distinguishes two types of disorders:

1. Dyslexia - reading skill is partially impaired.
2. Alexia is the inability to master reading or complete loss of skills.

If dyslexia is not corrected in a timely manner, children may develop low self-esteem and depression.

These problems arise separately and precede the development of dysgraphia. If dyslexia is not corrected in a timely manner for children and primary schoolchildren, they may develop low self-esteem and depression, and they will also be characterized by bad behavior.

Based on external signs, the following types of dyslexia are distinguished:

• Literal - characterized by partial assimilation of some letters.
• Verbal - characterized by a problem reading words.

Taking into account impaired mental functions and mechanisms, the main types of dyslexia are distinguished:

• Phonemic - characterized by unformed phonemic understanding, synthesis and analysis.
• Semantic - characterized by underdevelopment of syllabic integrity, a poor vocabulary, and the inability to establish connections between words.
• Agrammatic - appears due to underdeveloped written speech, lack of skills to conduct morphological and functional synthesis.
• Mnestic - formed due to memory impairments associated with speech, difficulties in the relationship of letters and sounds.
• Optical - occurs when optical concepts are underdeveloped.
• Tactile - manifests itself along with unclear tactile perception in children with poor vision.

Examples:

• saw - linden;
• clear day,
• sitting;
• com - tom - house;
• beautiful vase;
• cow - carpet.

Based on the above list, underdeveloped speech functions provoke the appearance of phonemic, semantic and agrammatic dyslexia; and ZPR becomes the cause of mnestic, optical and tactile.

What is semantic dyslexia?

This type of violation in the acquisition of reading skills consists of a lack of understanding of read words, phrases and, in general, printed information. This type of pathology is also called mechanical reading, since technically the child verbalizes information completely correctly, but cannot convey or retell the essence of what he read.

Semantic dyslexia is based on:

• difficulties of sound and syllabic analysis, that is, the child’s inability to mentally connect combinations of sounds into their complexes (words, phrases) and, accordingly, perceive their meaning;
• misunderstanding of syntactic connections - each word during the reading of information is perceived as a separate unit, in no way connected with other members of the sentence.

Causes and symptoms of dyslexia

There is still no general consensus about the causes of dyslexia in our time. Foreign speech therapists in their works describe the theory of genetic inheritance of reading and writing problems in people with a more active right hemisphere. Some scientists develop the idea that these problems appear in schoolchildren who write with their left hand.

Many researchers who carefully study dyslexia in primary schoolchildren point to the effects of pathological disorders that lead to minor brain dysfunction:

• brain deformation during childbirth;
• heart disease and maternal anemia during pregnancy;
• congenital heart defect of the newborn;
• placental insufficiency;
• impaired development of the umbilical cord;
• early placental abruption;
• difficult childbirth;
• suffocation of a newborn entwined in the umbilical cord.

In the process of child development, psychospeech development delay (PSRD) may occur, which leads to dyslexia with such damage:

• infectious diseases of the central nervous system;
• head injury;
• childhood diseases: chickenpox, polio, rubella;
• debilitating infections.

With alalia, dysarthria and aphasia, dyslexia is provoked by damage to certain brain areas. Children with mental retardation, serious speech defects, cerebral palsy, and mental retardation are susceptible to dyslexia.

The main social causes of dyslexia:

• lack of communication;
• child's privacy;
• neglect on the part of teachers and educators;
• negative communication environment;
• bilingualism (bilingualism);
• early education;
• fast pace of learning.

The beginning of dyslexia in schoolchildren is unformed spoken speech.

Symptoms

Let us describe the symptoms by type of dyslexia:

• Spoken speech dyslexia. Children make mistakes when pronouncing phonemes, misunderstand the meaning and use of words, and have a small vocabulary. They cannot correctly compose a sentence and connect words in it.
• Phonemic dyslexia. Characterized by the substitution and mixing of phonemes that are similar in articulation or acoustics. In other circumstances, words are replaced by changing, adding, or omitting phonemes and syllables.
• Semantic dyslexia. It is characterized by impaired comprehension of an accurately read text or word. A problematic change occurs during syllable and cursor reading.
• Agrammatic dyslexia. Incorrect reading of endings in words of all parts of speech, confusion in the correct construction of words in the required number and gender. Agrammatisms are present in spoken and written speech.
• Mnestic dyslexia. It manifests itself as impaired optical perception and pronunciation of letters. It is difficult for the student to remember the letters, so he replaces and mixes them up. A study of auditory and speech memory in schoolchildren with this problem showed that children cannot repeat a series of 4 sounds or words or analyze them.
• Optical dyslexia. It manifests itself in the fact that the student confuses and changes letters that are similar in appearance. This anomaly occurs if, when reading a text, a child jumps from one line to the second. Sometimes this can manifest itself as mirror type reading - the student reads from right to left.
• Tactile dyslexia. Blind people often make mistakes and replace letters when reading Braille. Students with these problems, while reading, move from one row to the next, miss letters and phrases, distort the semantic meaning of what they read, and are prone to chaotic hand waving.

Mechanism of manifestation of the disorder

The reading process is characterized by the involvement of optical, auditory and motor speech analyzers.

Reading stages:

1. Optical perception, recognition and differentiation of letters.
2. Correlation of letters with phonemes.
3. Addition of phonemes into syllables.
4. Combining syllables into a whole word.
5. Grouping words into a sentence.
6. Comprehension of the material read.

If these processes are disrupted, then, according to psycholinguistics, these are signs of dyslexia.

Psychologists consider dyslexia as a consequence of a delay in the development of functions in the fetus that ensure the reading process.

Dyslexic disorders are accompanied by underdevelopment of optical vision, poor orientation in space, poor perception of sound, altered construction of correct speech, improper visual and auditory coordination, poor concentration, weak will, and lack of control of emotions.

Reasons for the development of the disorder

The causes of dyslexia are varied; they are associated with organic damage to the areas of the brain responsible for mastering reading and writing skills. The appearance of this dysfunction may be due to the following reasons:

• severe pregnancy;
• birth and postpartum injuries;
• damage to the central nervous system;
• genetic predisposition;
• head injuries, concussion;
• incorrect speech environment in which the child grows and is brought up;
• insufficient functioning of certain parts of the brain.

Dyslexia can appear as a result of GSD (general speech underdevelopment) or other speech disorders (dysarthria, alalia).

Diagnosis of dyslexia

If symptoms of dyslexia appear, you should contact a speech therapist. The specialist will examine the child and draw up a profile that includes the level of correct formation of spoken and written speech, reading, memory, attention and thinking.

The initial stage of a speech therapist’s work is collecting information about the formation of the child’s personality and life activity. The specialist examines the child’s articulatory apparatus, his speech and manual motor skills, and evaluates the student’s progress in reading and the Russian language.

Diagnosis of spoken speech occurs by assessing the pronunciation of phonemes, the construction of syllables, and the ability to construct sentences and texts.

To diagnose written speech, the speech therapist gives the student the following tasks:

• rewrite part of the text;
• write a text from dictation;
• write a personal letter.

By testing children's reading aloud and silently, the specialist evaluates speed, accuracy, reading method, comprehension of what they read, and takes into account specific defects.

When studying dyslexia, it is necessary to find out the degree of development of visual perception, the ability to analyze and synthesize, and optical orientation in space.

If necessary, speech diagnostics is supplemented by medical examinations, including consultation with doctors: a neurologist and an ophthalmologist. A neurologist can prescribe an EEG, echoEG, and an ophthalmologist conducts ophthalmological examinations.

Classification

Dyslexia is difficulties in mastering reading due to insufficient development of higher mental functions. It manifests itself in specific errors that are persistent. Depending on which parts of the brain are impaired, there are several forms of dyslexia.

• Phonemic is associated with a violation of phonemic hearing. The reason for its appearance is the immaturity of sound-letter analysis and word synthesis.
• In the semantic form, reading comprehension is impaired, while the technical side of reading is ideal.
• If the grammatical structure is not sufficiently formed, then agrammatic dyslexia may appear. With this form, children have difficulty mastering grammatical categories.
• The mnestic form is associated with difficulties in remembering new letters and what has been read.
• Optical dyslexia is characterized by difficulty in mastering the graphic image of a letter or number. With this form of reading impairment, mirror writing may occur.
• The tactile form is characteristic of blind children and manifests itself in the difficulties of mastering Braille.

Depending on the form of dyslexia, the specialist will draw up a plan of correctional work and select treatment methods.

Correction and treatment of dyslexia

In order for a student to successfully study at school and university, so that the child has high self-esteem, good relationships with children and teachers, and the ability to achieve goals, it is necessary to correct dyslexia in a timely manner. The sooner you start eliminating visible errors in spoken and written speech, the more positive the result of the work done will be.

Classes with a speech therapist and a child psychologist to correct dyslexia are aimed at correcting speech defects and developing thinking, memory, and perception.

Correction by type of dyslexia:

• Phonemic dyslexia. Violations of phonemic pronunciation are corrected, sound functions are developed, and the concepts of composing words from sounds and syllables are formed.
• Semantic. It can be eliminated by increasing vocabulary, synthesizing syllables, clarifying words unknown to the child, and studying grammatical language norms.
• Ungrammatical. The speech therapist forms the student’s syntactic concepts of word formations and changes.
• Mnestic. Elimination is based on the formation of all types of memory through games and solving puzzles.
• Visual. Defects are corrected by the formation of visual and spatial concepts, as well as visual synthesis and analysis.
• Tactile. It is corrected by differentiating tactile things and by forming visual concepts.

Ronald D. Davis argues that dyslexia occurs in children with above-average intelligence

Ronald D. Davis, in his book “The Gift of Dyslexia,” recommends an unusual method of correcting the disorder, based on the mental revival of letters, which removes gaps in memory. The author of the book independently coped with dyslexia at the age of 38. He argues that this problem occurs in children with above average intelligence.

Treatment

A child psychologist and speech therapist take part in the therapeutic course of treating dyslexia in a child at the center. Classes are conducted using specialized correction methods, selected personally for each patient. Thanks to such courses, the child learns to read correctly and his self-esteem increases.

Working with the development of speech function, using a variety of technical aids and alternative teaching methods allows patients with such disorders to overcome problems with reading, number and word recognition.

The right approach to teaching a student with dyslexia guarantees a great chance of recovery. The child learns to technically control his personality so that the signs of dyslexia disappear without a trace over time.

If a child is diagnosed with Dyslexia, but the disorder is not corrected, the problem will not go away in adulthood

If a child is diagnosed with Dyslexia, but the disorder is not corrected, the problem will not go away in adulthood. The person will still write with errors, which will negatively affect his business image.

Sign up for a consultation. The center's children's speech therapist and psychologist will determine the individual causes of dyslexia, give recommendations for correction, and also draw up a plan for classes in the center and at home. This system of work will make the correctional route the most effective and will successfully harmonize the baby’s development process.

Our advantages

Differential diagnosis

To determine the type of dyslexia and draw up the correct correction route, we conduct an examination of oral speech, written speech, neuropsychological diagnostics, tests for spatial orientation, the state of auditory and visual memory, level of intelligence, etc.

Neuropsychological approach

We actively use sensorimotor correction to eliminate dyslexia, which, along with other techniques, gives effective dynamics.

Hometasks

Our center’s specialists always offer a variety of homework assignments. Completing them contributes to more successful learning of the material.

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Features of correctional work for this form of dyslexia

During training, you need to teach the child to combine syllables into one word, so that later he can establish connections with other words in a sentence and understand the meaning of what he read. For each form of dyslexia there are specific tasks aimed at eliminating the causes of their occurrence:

1. An adult names a word by individual sounds, making pauses between them. The child’s task is to name this word.
2. Now the adult pronounces the word syllable by syllable, pausing longer between pronouncing them. The child's task is to connect them together.
3. Complete the word with the missing syllables.
4. Suggest changing the first syllable so that a new word is formed.
5. Make one word out of two words.
6. Children are given cards with syllables arranged in a chaotic order and asked to make a word from them.

These exercises are aimed at developing the skills of sound-letter analysis and the ability to connect syllables. In addition to these tasks, invite children to match the names with the pictures shown. The specialist must form syntactic connections between words and the basics of grammar.

Therefore, in order for your child to learn to read and understand what he read, include exercises related to reading sentences and completing tasks for matching with suitable images, searching for a sentence that matches the meaning. You need to ask them to talk about what the child read and answer the question asked in the text.

An important area is working with deformed text. Children are offered incorrectly composed sentences. You need to distribute the sentences so that you get a single story. This task develops the ability to work not only with small syntactic units, but also with entire sentences.

These exercises will help the student overcome the difficulties of syllabic reading and learn to combine parts of words into a single whole and relate them to an object or action. But any specific form of dyslexia is rare; most often there are symptoms of several varieties. Corrective work should include tasks to eliminate these shortcomings.

Symptoms

Diagnosis of this disorder is carried out in elementary school, when the symptoms manifest themselves most clearly. In preschool age, only the prerequisites for the appearance of dyslexia can be determined. When children are just beginning to learn to read and write, the presence of errors is natural, so it is difficult for a specialist to determine whether they are physiological in nature.

The main symptom is errors in reading.

The baby does not remember the letters, pronounces them incorrectly, rearranges them, replaces them with others, and does not understand the meaning of what he read. He has difficulty translating sounds into letters, and recognition of familiar words is slower than other children, and there are difficulties in mastering writing skills.

In addition to speech symptoms, children with dyslexia exhibit the following signs of impairment:

• spatial disorientation (confuses where is up and down, right and left);
• disturbances in coordination;
• motor sphere is impaired;
• memory is insufficiently developed;
• with a high level of intelligence, the child has difficulty mastering reading;
• violations of the tempo-rhythmic aspect of speech.

If you notice that your child has most of the listed symptoms or had a complex speech disorder during the preschool period, then you should seek advice from a speech therapist.