How
does kids with Dyslexia read
?
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Joleen finds
reading difficult, and she is working on her
reading skills. But, somehow, it is as if she
is not improving. In her own thinking, she feels
that she is smart. But how come she can't read
just like the others? She is suffering from
a problem known as dyslexia.
Dyslexia
is a kind of learning problem among kids. Dyslexia
makes it difficult to spell and read for them.
Although the problem starts inside the brain,
it does not necessarily the kid is dumb. Those
who suffer from dyslexia are commonly talented
and smart.
However, this
should not be a disappointment to a child. With
a helping hand and support from the child's
loved ones, a dyslexic child can still gain
much improvement in reading and spelling.
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How
Does The Brain Process Reading?
Dyslexia
can be understood by learning something about reading.
When you are reading, you are actually exercising
your brain. These steps listed are all happening in
your brain at the same time as you read:
1) Recognize
the way different speech sounds compose words.
2) Concentrate
on the printed symbols, like the letters or the words.
3) Correlate
the speech sounds to each letter.
4) Blending
of the sounds of the letters smoothly to form words.
5) Having
eye control as you go on reading across the page.
6) Building
of images and ideas of what you are reading.
7) Having
a comparison between the known and the new ideas.
8) Retain
these ideas in the memory.
And these
dyslexic kids tussle over the first steps, making
it too difficult for them to do the rest. It's no
wonder why the kid's brain gets tired easily as they
put some effort in trying to read something.
How
Kids Develop Reading Skills
Most of
the children learn how to read by knowing how speech
sounds form words. Then, as they recognize the sounds,
they connect them to each of the alphabet letters.
For instance, they learn that the sound of the letter
"b" is "buh". Then, they will begin blending the sound
to make words, as they learn "b" and "at" creates
the word "bat". Finally, there is no need for these
kids to say the sound of the words; instead, they
can easily determine the words they have come across
with formerly. On the other hand, this is really difficult
for children with dyslexia. They find it hard to retain
the simplest words they have encountered a lot of
times and to speak out longer and multi-syllabic words.
What makes
this so hard? Dyslexia is characterized by the trouble
in processing the letters and the sounds in a person's
brain. As a result, the breaking of words into individual
speech sounds is really tough, just like b-a-t for
the word "bat". If that is hard, connecting each speech
sound to the alphabet letters, such as "buh" for letter
"b" and blending those to form words become even harder.
You can
notice for a dyslexic kid, he is somewhat slow in
reading and speech mistakes are more common. Mixing
up the letters in a word is also common.
How
is it to have Dyslexia?
You can
expect kids with dyslexia to have a little problem
recognizing letters with their specific sounds before
they enter kindergarten. After some time, the teacher
might notice that the child is indeed smart; it is
just that his reading skills that are problematic.
Or even parents can notice that their child is striving
hard. So, an advisable thing for you to do is to visit
and consult a specialist to deal with the problem
appropriately.
These
specialists in learning disabilities can determine
the learning problems a child may have and they can
determine the appropriate solutions for these. Upon
noticing some of the signs of having the disability,
you may bring your child to a specialist then let
the child undergo some tests. These tests are specially
designed to determine the problem, so that a proper
diagnosis is established. To help your child learn
the easy way, the first step should then be to identify
if your child does have a learning disability of some
sort.
How
to Make Reading Easier ?
If the
proper way of teaching is executed, majority of the
children with dyslexia will be able to read normally.
There are chances that they will learn other ways
to remember speech sounds. Take this for instance,
letters "p" and "b" are named as brother sounds or
"lip poppers". In order to produce the sound, you
need to press both of your lips together for you to
create the sounds.
Teaching
kids how our mouths have to move to create particular
sounds is one way to help the child read easily. Now,
these learning specialists have formulated numerous
special tasks or activities similar to this, to teach
dyslexic kids how to read properly.
Flash
cards or recorded classroom sessions, as well as homework
and assignments, are better than writing notes. They
also need the support of their parents and private
tutors in helping them stay focused.
It is
also important to have extra time in taking some tests
to give them some time to finalize and show their
teachers what they have done and learned. Using computers
is also a good tool for learning. You can simply download
certain programs or lessons from the internet with
"read along" audio, or just save them on your iPod
or MP3!
Giving
Importance to the Feelings of Kids with Dyslexia
Frustration,
anger, and sadness are often felt for when children
find spelling and reading are too hard. They also
do not like to be different by joining another reading
group or by seeing a special tutor aside from his
regular teacher at school.
However,
this is essential in helping them make great changes.
If you don't know yet, some of the most successful
and talented people are dyslexic. Tom Cruise is one
of these successful people. These people did not let
their condition stop them from reaching their dreams
at all!
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