Dyslexia and the Good Life Essay Example

Dyslexia and the Good Life Essay Example Dyslexia and the Good Life Paper Dyslexia and the Good Life Paper In her book Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level, Sally Shaywitz says, †¦Dyslexia can infiltrate every aspect of a person’s life. It is often described as a hidden disability because it was thought to lack visible signs, but dyslexia is hidden only from those who do not have to live with it and suffer its effects (Shaywitz, 4). Shaywitz says further that dyslexic children are often misjudged on the level of intelligence due to the difficulty of reading. For example, when a child’s progress seems impeded, the blame is usually set on sociological or educational issues. Even though the general public is more aware of dyslexia and its effects, not enough people recognize it in small children. Given the ‘normal’ issues teachers face on the preschool level, sometimes dyslexia will be diagnosed as something else pertaining to learning difficulty (e. g. attention deficit disorder). The purpose of this essay is to engage the reader in the different aspects of this unique condition. It is not uncommon for dyslexic people to be seen as having an attention deficit disorder when the reality is that they are having difficulty seeing the letters the same way as the other children in the classroom. Some letters in a word are reversed or rearranged giving a preschool child an erroneous symbol for specific letters of the alphabet. Other issues accompanying letter distortion include poor organization and introversion due to the ‘difference’ realized in the mind of a dyslexic child. The word ‘dyslexia’ actually comes from a Greek word which means difficulty with words. It includes a wide range of learning difficulties where a person of normal intelligence has persistent and significant problems with reading, writing, spelling and sometimes mathematics and musical notation (Hicks, www. bbc. co. uk/health ). It should be known that people in the past have associated poor parenting as a cause of dyslexia. This could not be further from the truth. Although a cause has not been pinned down yet, there are a number of ways to detect dyslexia in children and adults none of which has to do with the way they are treated. Some of these include phonics, letter identification, and even counting. Since dyslexic people suffer with differing symptoms, helping them to cope with everyday life must be done on an individual level. If detected early enough there are three widely used methods to help dyslexic children overcome this barrier in learning. The first method is called the developmental approach and uses previous methods that are believed to be instructional and helpful and center on the extra time these special children need to learn specific tasks. Because the symptoms vary with each individual, the specific symptom would have to be predetermined in order for the developmental approach to work. A second method uses corrective measures in that it breaks the children into groups and emphasizes special interests and assets of the special child. This method is based on the hope it will give the child to overcome the disability. If used properly, this method could strengthen a child’s resolve to overcome which results in them feeling normal. Specific corrective measures are taken on the child’s initiative which enables the child to understand they have the power to do something about this problem they face. The last approach is a remedial approach. It attempts to overcome dyslexia through education and psychology. It is thought that dyslexia is just a learning disorder that can be overcome through educating the sufferer and psychologically helping them to cope with it. This approach is really the most involved of the three, but it only involves people on a professional level. This could be seen as a detriment to children with dyslexia. The time spent with psychologists and other medical professions takes away from the time they could spend with children their age. With enough interaction on their level they may be able to see their difference, and with the help of the other children psychological help is provided. WebMD states that dyslexia could be genetic in that people who suffer with it usually have someone else in the family lineage that also suffers with it. Genetic disorders are diseases that can be passed from parents to children. Some disorders may be inherited if only one parent has the gene, while others can be inherited only if both parents have the gene (Cooke, http://children. webmd. com/tc/Dyslexia-Cause). Cystic Fibrosis and Sickle-Cell are two samples given by WebMD as being on the list of genetically inherited medical problems. The examples below give a better understanding of the processes in the brain of a dyslexic person. The word sare n otsp aced cor rect ly We spell wrds xatle az tha snd to us Sometimesalltheletterarepushedtogether The brain suffering from the symptoms of dyslexia uses both the left and right sides of the brain to do what the left side does in brains not suffering from dyslexia. The above samples of how dyslexic people see words and sentences demonstrates the level of difficulty just to communicate written messages. Every textbook they encounter will be six times harder to read for them than the other children with the same textbook due to the inadequacy of the left side of the brain. In an effort to demonstrate the efficiency with which normal brains operate and make sense out of words that are collected for the purpose of communication look at these wrds tht are msing lttrs. Se hw esy it bcms to rd smthng lke ths? Imagine words and letters being even more mixed up than this and you have a day in the life of a dyslexic. A University of Auckland study showed mostly left hemisphere brain activity when normal readers were asked to perform three different reading tasks, including a phonics-based reading task where letter strings must be silently sounded-out to get the correct answer. In contrast, the dyslexic adults showed very limited left-brain activity during these tasks, with most activity being in the right brain ( engineering. auckland. ac. nz/uoa/engineering/news/2006/04/dyslexia. cfm). It is the left side of the brain that controls the phonics of words. When the normal brain sees a sentence it recalls the learning process and calls into action the left side of the brain which deciphers the letters and the sounds which causes the words and letters to make sense. To a dyslexic brain, with little or no left brain activity, the problem arises. The right side of the brain, which is not the center for decoding messages, tries to take up the slack of the left side and therefore hinders the learning process. Doctor Karen Waldie, of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in an interview stated, The only significant activity in the phonological dyslexic group was in the frontal lobes of the right hemisphere of the brain, she continued. This might be the result of the dyslexic brain trying to compensate for an inefficient left-brain language system a system that might have been compromised during brain development or is simply genetically hard-wired to be a bit different from the norm. † The brain is so complex an organ that to understand how the right side of the brain compensates for the left side not functioning properly is a mystery. In relation to normal activity of the brain, dyslexia causes such a different pattern of activity that there are scientists who believe it is no more than a differing in brain activity and if the effected brain is properly trained it can lead a normal happy life. â€Å"The mental function that causes dyslexia is a gift in the truest sense of the word: a natural ability, a talent. It is something special that enhances the individual,† so says Ronald Davis in his co-authored book on the subject, The Gift of Dyslexia. He lists some well known people that were fortunate enough to have dyslexia; Hans Christian Anderson, Whoopi Goldberg, General George Patton and more. Davis, in an interview on a talk show, was asked if there was a positive side of dyslexia, when he gave her the list of famous people that had it, she was reported to have stated how fascinating it was that these people excelled in life in spite of their handicap. Davis notes in his book that he feels that they are famous as a direct result of their handicap, or as he says ‘their gift. ’ This book and others he has written have helped many people see their handicap as a gift and offers them a solution for their unique way of seeing the world. The brain is such a magnificent part of the human body. Some believe that the average person uses only about ten percent of their brain at any given moment. While this may lead to some fairly wild assumptions, it is clear and measurable that the dyslexic brain uses right brain matter to do what the left brain usually does. If this is the case, then it could be logically concluded that man does not really know what would happen if he was able to utilize more than that assumed ten percent at any given moment. It is a logical assumption (if you can use those two words together) then, that the human brain adapts to its surroundings. If a child is diagnosed as dyslexic the learning process will become different for him than it would be for one without it. When readers are asked to imagine cat without the kah sound, they readily summon at. The MRI photographs show their brains lighting up like pinball machines. When the brain gets it, the light bulbs really do go on. However, the brains of people who cant sound out words often look different on MRI pictures. There is less blood flow to the language centers of the brain and, in some cases, not much activity evident at all. Scientists are not sure why this is or what it means. But simply put, without the ability to sound out words, the brain is stumped (www. healthyplace. com). The main trouble dyslexics have when trying to read is the phonic sounds that the brain hears when it sees a word. According to the 2006 November edition of Scientific America, the dyslexic brain has little or no capability to phonically hear a word and thus has no reference point for the sounding of that word (101). The frustration is in the dyslexic’s ability to understand what they hear but not what they read. It’s like trying to remember something that you have remembered before, but now something is blocking the ability to recall that information again. Therefore people say things like â€Å"Until I remember it, it will drive me nuts! † The major life complication that most physicians will see as pertaining to people with dyslexia is self esteem issues. The fact that a basic fundamental part of everyday life is nearly impossible for them; dyslexic people are more prone to depression, withdrawal and isolation. Overall health can ultimately be affected depending on the depth of the depression or other complications arising as a direct result of being dyslexic. The remedies, for there is no known cure, are more home-grown than anything else. This means siblings and parents should read to them often to help them understand what they see, and should interact with them enough to be sure they feel as they are an important part of the family. Winston Churchill, a man who could move the masses, was dyslexic. Walt Disney, Henry Ford and Cher all dealt with, or in Cher’s case, still deal with dyslexia. The best treatment a dyslexic person can get is the friendly help from people who genuinely care about them. If your child has dyslexia, doctors would recommend that you be very supportive, talk to them about it, and develop study practices that will enable them to function in school. Self esteem goes a long way in children and youth alike. There will always be those who will ridicule, or make some other type of demeaning remark, so all the encouragement they can get will help them become productive members of society. Ronald Davis did something positive when he wrote Dyslexia the Gift, Cher sings and writes music, and there are probably people in your city dealing with dyslexia right now. As long as humans are in control of society, they will always have a way to cope with whatever life deals to them. Shaywitz, Sally, MD. Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level. New York: Random House Publishing, 2003. Hicks, Rob MD. Dislexia. December 2005. 18 April 2007. bbc. co. uk/health/conditions/dyslexia1. shtml Cooke, Kerry V. Genetic Disorders. 27 May 2005. 18 April 2007. http://children. webmd. com/tc/Dyslexia-Cause Faculty of Engineering. Map of the human brain sheds new light on dyslexia. 20 April 2006. 18 April 2007. engineering. auckland. ac. nz/uoa/ engineering/news/2006/04/dyslexia. cfm Davis, Robert D. and Braun, Eldon N. Dyslexia The Gift. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group. 1994. 4 10 Years of Brain Imaging. HealthyPlace. com. 2000. 18 April 2007.