The ABC�s of Brain Development and Dyslexia: Are Reading problems all in your Head?
Dr. Lynley Ebeling, Ph.D
Neuropsychologist, Licensed Clinical Psychologist
808-B Turner Avenue, SW
Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone 426-2615
Email [email protected]
We were happy to have Dr. Ebeling with us today for part two of her great information on the Brain and this time specifically on dyslexia and the brain. We reviewed the brain development info Dr. Ebeling gave us last fall and then focused on dyslexia.
Dyslexia is a language disorder! Reading is taught, not caught, like speaking.
Dyslexia: Core Symptoms:
1. weak phonemic awareness
2. slow rapid automatized naming
3. poor orthographic processing
4. exceptionally poor automatization
5. poor coordination
Statistics:
17-20% of children have a significant reading disability. One in five children will experience significant reading difficulties. As many girls as boys have dyslexia, while public schools identify boys four times more often. 74% in the third grade remain reading disabled at the end of high school. Dr. Ebeling says the problem with diagnosing dyslexia at older ages that the brain development has moved past that area of the brain. The brain becomes more rigid as we age.
We talked about the NIH Dyslexia Study results.
Dr. Ebeling does diagnosis of dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, Asperger�s, Autism, and other disorders. She said for remediation there are good programs designed for dyslexia like Orton-Gillingham and Wilson reading programs.
NIH results released in 1994:
� Dyslexia affects at least 1 out of every 5 children in the United States.
� Dyslexia represents the most common and prevalent of all known learning disabilities.
� Dyslexia is the most researched of all learning disabilities.
� Dyslexia affects as many boys as girls.
� Some forms of dyslexia are highly heritable.
� Dyslexia is the leading cause of reading failure and school dropouts in our nation.
� Reading failure is the most commonly shared characteristic of juvenile justice offenders.
� Dyslexia has been shown to be clearly related to neurophysiological differences in brain function. Dyslexic children display difficulty with the sound/symbol correspondences of our written code because of these differences in brain function.
� Early intervention is essential for this population.
� Dyslexia is identifiable, with 92% accuracy, at ages 5 1/2 to 6 1/2.
� Dyslexia is primarily due to linguistic deficits. We now know dyslexia is due to a difficulty processing language. It is not due to visual problems, and people with dyslexia do not see words or letters backwards.
� Reading failure caused by dyslexia is highly preventable through direct, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness.
� Children do not outgrow reading failure or dyslexia.
� Of children who display reading problems in the first grade, 74% will be poor readers in the ninth grade and into adulthood unless they receive informed and explicit instruction on phonemic awareness. Children do not mature out of their reading difficulties.
� Research evidence does not support the use of "whole language" reading approaches to teach dyslexic children.
� Dyslexia and ADD are two separate and identifiable entities.
� Dyslexia and ADD so frequently coexist within the same child that it is always best to test for both.
� Children with both dyslexia and ADD are at dramatically increased risk for substance abuse and felony convictions if they do not receive appropriate interventions.
� The current "discrepancy model" testing utilized by our nation's public schools to establish eligibility for special education services is not a valid diagnostic marker for dyslexia.