Is Your Child’s Behavior Masking Dyslexia?

Halloween masks can be great fun, but there are students in every school who are wearing “masks” all year long. ?

I remember a 10-year-old student, Mike, who was funny and gregarious. He showed his smarts in class discussions, but when it came to doing any kind of seatwork, he could be found entertaining his classmates instead of doing his work. ?

At home with all his unfinished schoolwork and homework, his mom sat with him in order to get through the load, inadvertently becoming his reader to speed up the process.? Work came back to school correct, causing Mike’s teacher to think the problem was lack of motivation and attention. ?

Mike was actually quite seriously dyslexic.?

Raquel’s doctor thought ADHD was the reason that as a third grader, she was still reading at first grade level.? She couldn’t seem to pay attention when the class was reading, spelling, or writing.? Unfortunately, medication couldn’t solve the reading problem, because Raquel was dyslexic.? She not only had difficulty processing the sounds in words – so phonics made no sense to her – but when she looked at print, she felt disoriented and “seasick” as the words seemed to swim around on the page.? No wonder it was so hard for her to pay attention.

Common Characteristics of Dyslexia

It is hard to pay attention when confused or when information doesn't make sense, as is so often the case for dyslexic students. However, the attention challenges experienced by dyslexic learners, which are so evident in relation to schoolwork and homework, are not generally pervasive, as in the case with true ADD/ADHD. ?

While every dyslexic student is different, common characteristics include:

• Good intelligence
• Good comprehension
• Strong ability to visualize pictures (versus letters and words)
• Creative thinker
• Weak ability to retain an accurate image of words (sight words for reading and spelling)
• Weak phonemic awareness (ability to think about the sounds in words)
• Extremely poor decoding skills (sounding out words)
• Visual disorientation when looking at the page (i.e. letters look 3D, wiggle, pulsate, or move around on the page)
• Family history of dyslexia
• Strong talents in other areas such as math, arts, mechanical, or athletic abilities

No More Need to Hide

It is commonly believed that dyslexia cannot be corrected – that you just have to cope with it.?

This is simply not true.?

ADD meds will not solve dyslexic challenges, but re-training the auditory and visual systems to process the sounds and letters on the page accurately get the brain ready to learn, retain, and comfortably use reading and spelling skills.

At our center, we identify and develop the weak underlying learning/processing skills that provide the critical foundation for learning but are not generally taught.? While there is no overnight solution, most learning and attention challenges can be dramatically improved or completely corrected. ?

Want to learn more about Dyslexia?

Check out our Dyslexia Information Page for definitions, symptoms, testing, and treatment.

Jill Stowell, M.S

Author

Founder and Executive Director, Stowell Learning Centers