Understanding Dyslexia

1. Understanding Dyslexia Ros Lugg

2. Dyslexia or Specific Learning Disability?

3. Other Specific Learning Disabilities • ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) • Dyspraxia • Dysphasia, speech/language delay or deficit • Dyscalculia • Autism/Aspergers Syndrome/Tourette Syndrome

4. Neurological and biological basis

6. Brain structure MRI scanning results The planum temporale cortical language area, which is normally larger in the left hemisphere than in the right, is symmetrical in most dyslexics.

7. The corpus callosum is physically less well developed in dyslexics than in non-dyslexics.

8. Nutritional aspects Dyslexics are less able to convert EFAs to myelin in the brain

9. Study found that: Mothers of children with dyslexia had consumed significantly less EFA while pregnant than mothers of non-dyslexic children.

10. Brain activation fMRI scanning results Dyslexics were scanned while doing a simple rhyming task. In normal readers, the left frontal cortex lit up, but this does not happen in dyslexics.

11. Graduate dyslexics study Well-compensated graduate dyslexics studied. Equivalent non-dyslexic control group Simple rhyming task

12. PET scan findings Both groups completed the tasks with no problem. Dyslexic group – very different pattern of brain activity: Less activity in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas and no activity at all in the insula

13. Conclusion A specific failure in that particular brain system connected with language persists into dyslexics’ adult lives, although their performance indicates that they were compensating well.

14. Effect of correct remediation Several studies have shown that brain activation patterns can be changed with the right remediation – even in adults.

15. Current conclusions “The evidence is consistent with an increasingly sophisticated account of dyslexia that does not single out either phonological or visual or motor deficits. Rather, temporal processing in all three systems seems to be impaired. Dyslexics may be unable to process fast incoming sensory information adequately in any domain.”

16. Gene links • Chromosome 6 (DCDC2) linked with dyslexia • Chromosome 15 (KIAA0319) also implicated • Genetic abnormalities in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas (the main language areas in the left hemisphere)

17. Links with other conditions Left-handedness Eczema Allergies Schizophrenia Dyspraxia ADHD Glue ear Irlen Syndrome

18. Dyslexia and behaviour Internationally, 60 – 80% of prison populations are dyslexic Dyslexia causes huge anxiety and self-esteem problems, particularly with brighter pupils. This magnifies behavioural issues at school age and beyond.

19. Fallacies about dyslexia • “He’s not ready for reading yet. Wait until he’s ready and he’ll be fine.” • Dyslexia doesn’t exist. It’s just a middle-class parent’s excuse for a thick child.”

20. Possible Indicators • Obvious ‘good’ or ‘bad’ days with no reason • Confusion between directional words • Difficulties with sequences, days, months, tables • Family history • Discrepancy between oral and written language • Reversals/mis-sequencing letters

21. Poor concentration • Forgets or misunderstands instructions • Has difficulty understanding what has been read • Takes longer to do written work • Slow processor • Problems copying, particularly from the board • Problems planning essays

22. Poor confidence or self-esteem • Poor social skills • Can appear awkward or clumsy • Very inconsistent abilities • Unexpected difficulties with certain tasks • Sometimes tongue-tied • Anxious about answering questions in class

23. Home and social implications • Fatigue • Homework • Organisation • Social isolation

24. Famous dyslexics Alexander Graham Bell Nelson Rockefeller John Britten Henry Ford Thomas Edison Walt Disney Michael Faraday Cher Erin Brockovich John Lennon George Patton Auguste Rodin Orlando Bloom Nigel Kennedy Tom Cruise Henry Winkler

25. Whoopi Goldberg Jackie Stewart Susan Hampshire Muhammed Ali Keanu Reeves Thomas Jefferson Kiera Knightly Winston Churchill Oliver Reed J F Kennedy Robin Williams George Washington Leonardo da Vinci Agatha Christie Picasso W B Yeats Andy Warhol Terry Goodkind

26. Patterns of difficulty One feature of dyslexia is that there is no link between dyslexia and intelligence. There are typical patterns, but huge variability between individual difficulties.

27. Memory implications • A non-dyslexic child takes between 4 and 10 exposures to a word to fix it in long-term memory. • A dyslexic child can take anything between 500 and 1300 exposures. Therefore: teaching needs to incorporate huge amounts of ‘overlearning’

28. Common language problems • Interpretation – very literal, don’t understand ‘figures of speech’ • Language of mathematics – “70% of dyslexics experience difficulty with number language words (sum, total, odd, take away)” Chasty 1985 • Comprehension – reading and oral

29. Dyslexic or low ability?

30. Low ability profile

31. Typical dyslexic profile

32. More extreme dyslexic profile – very able but indicators of dyspraxia

33. Dyslexic profile

34. Low ability profile

35. Low ability

36. Very able, but major perceptual difficulties

37. Assessment options • Specialist assessment centres • SPELD • Step by Step Centre • Assessment software – available in schools