To what extent can developmental dyslexia be explained by a phonological deficit?

Today, there is a momentum towards researching the possible hereditary influences of developmental dyslexia. As recently as 2013, The Oxford Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care considers that there is an “inherited component” to dyslexia. (Harris & White, 2013, p. 179) Today’s social work perspective is more flexible with the term itself, as it is considered by to incorporate a range of difficulties with lexical information-processing. However, The Oxford Dictionary does not provide a context for these “difficulties” as they are experienced by the language-learner, and therefore seems to support (perhaps unwittingly) the notion that there is a so-called “normal” way for a person to learn language. Blachman (2013) advances a more orthographical conceptualization of dyslexia, whereby the dyslexic language learner defies common literacy principles in favor of their own. These tend to be more visually-oriented, so that a picture or a feeling is associated with an entire word, as opposed to the sound-to-syllable associations learners are “supposed” to

A. Dyslexia is defined as a learning disability marked by impairment of the ability to read. In essence, it is a disability in which people jumble letters; for example, confusing God with dog or box with pox.

According to Hull Learning Services (2013), dyslexia continues to be a subject of great debate. The word dyslexia is originated from the Greek dys- meaning ‘difficult’ and -lexia meaning to do with language. There are multiple definitions of dyslexia, because the matter in which in manifest in children and adults vary greatly. Definitions of dyslexia often focus on difficulties with the processes of writing, reading, spelling and general organization of everyday tasks. Dyslexia has been defined as the inability to acquire literacy despite normal intelligence. Other definitions have described dyslexia in terms of a list of symptoms. The symptoms often included are laterality problems; reversals in numbers, letters and/or words; reading

Channel 4 Dispatches programme entitled ‘The Dyslexia Myth’¹ was aired in September 2005. The purpose of the documentary was to inform society of the proposed misconceptions and myths of the condition which affects 1 in 5 people. The programme details how the common understanding of the learning impairment is not only false, but how this particular diagnosis makes it harder for children with reading difficulties to receive help. The director of the documentary clearly wants to get across the message that dyslexia is a myth. The documentary has since faced a lot of backlash from the media and families affected by the developmental disorder.

On that basis the rationale behind this assignment is to further understand the term ‘dyslexia’, to consider the definition and diagnosis, as well as the barriers to learning it can generate. Consideration will also be given to the strategies that can be employed to assist learning, as well as promote the

Dyslexia is a neurological condition that affects ≈15% of the world's population (Ramus et. al, 2013). It is defined as a difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols (Pauc, 2015). This disability is associated with struggles in reading-related tasks such as word identification and spelling in spite of normal intelligence, adequate education and motivation to read proficiently (Ma et.al, 2014). People with dyslexia possess difficulties in taking notes, writing essays, finishing letters or reports, and showing their level of understanding in exams. The right hemisphere is impaired in a dyslexic's brain, which is responsible for speech and reading, and because of this, they have to rely on the left

The British Dyslexia Association welcomed these findings with care, stressing that the interesting new research would further endorse the fact that the dyslexic brain is different, and emphasizing a unique focus on language skills at a young age to help dyslexic children when they begin reading and writing (Make the Connection).

Dyslexia is a learning disability that many children have but are misunderstood until they have actually been diagnosed with the learning disability. Dyslexia does not mean that children are not smart; it just means that they learn different. This is why it is sometimes for parents to understand why their children are not doing well in school and struggle sometimes with a simple task of reading a book. My book report is about a 280 page book called “Can’t Rad, Can’t Write, Can’t Talk Too Good Either: How to Recognize and Overcome Dyslexia in Your Child.” In the book “Can’t Rad, Can’t Write, Can’t Talk Too Good Either: How to Recognize and Overcome Dyslexia in Your Child,” the

This article described reading difficulties aligned to the Simple View of Reading (as cited in Gough & Tunmer, 1986). They went into depth about three types of poor readers: (a) dyslexia- those with poor decoding, (b) language comprehension- poor reading comprehension, and (c) listening comprehension- impairments in both decoding and language comprehension. Further, they broke down how each reading difficulty is believed to manifest, is measured, and what it specifically affects.

Within current research, it is acknowledged that phonological impairment may result in dyslexia. A study by Lobier, Zoubrinetzky, and Valdois (2012) suggests that while phonological impairment may be the root cause in some dyslexic patients, visual processing deficits may play a significant role in dyslexia, especially in patients without phonological difficulties. More specifically, the research aimed to support the hypothesis that the “underlying impairment responsible for the VA span deficit is visual, not verbal” (2012, p. 768). To support the hypothesis, the study was designed to compare the performance of typically-developing children and dyslexic children on visual attention span tasks with verbal and non-verbal stimuli. Non-verbal stimuli were included to demonstrate the absence of

“Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability” (“Frequently Asked Questions”). It makes reading, writing, comprehending, summarizing, spelling, and many other things that involve words and letters difficult. Some people with it may even struggle with math while others could be astounding at it. Dyslexia is not a form of retardation, but sadly 80% of people associate dyslexia with some form of retardation (“Dyslexia Facts and Statistics”). In most cases, dyslexia is genetic, but researchers still do not know how it is caused, passed down, or generated with or without a genetic past (“Frequently Asked Questions”). Dyslexia will never go away, so people with it will have to learn to overcome it.

The term “dyslexia” was first introduced in 1887 by Dr. Rudolf Berlin when he suggested that difficulty with reading may be caused by “cerebral disease instead of brain injury” (Hennigh 1995).

The National Centre for Learning Disabilities says that dyslexia is a neurological and often genetic condition, and not the result of poor teaching, instruction or upbringing. Dyslexia is a specific reading disability due to a defect in the brain's processing of graphic symbols according to the MNT Knowledge Centre. It is a learning disability that alters the way the brain processes written material. It is typically characterized by difficulties in word recognition, spelling and decoding. People with dyslexia have problems with reading comprehension.

Dyslexia is a lifelong struggle with constant challenges with reading and speaking. About five to ten percent of the United States population deals with the learning disorder dyslexia (Van den Honert, n.d.). It is a neurological condition that is mainly caused by genetics but there are some rare cases in which it is acquired. Dyslexia interrupts the normal processes of reading and speaking (Van den Honert, n.d.). All of which are used in daily life and this makes life and school so much harder for dyslexics. They must learn to live with the condition for their entire life and there is not really a treatment for it. With the constant struggle and reminder of their

The characteristics of a dyslexic person can be very different from one person to the other, just as the characteristics of students without disabilities are different. These students show a different combination of learning problems. “Such characteristics are learning style, motor dexterity, time/math, memory/cognition, language/reading skills, behavior and vision. Sometimes the dyslexic youngster has early or late developmental stages, such as crawling, walking or talking” (Grolier’s).