The exact nature of the problem has eluded doctors, parents,
teachers and dyslexics themselves since dyslexia was first
described over one hundred years ago. The mystery, and
perhaps some of the stigma, is starting to lift. The more
researchers learn about dyslexia, the more they realize that
it is not a flaw of character but a biological fault. Indeed,
it is so difficult for a skilled reader to imagine what it is
like not to be able to absorb the printed word effortlessly,
that many teachers suspect that the real problem lies in
laziness, obstinacy or a proud parent's inability to
recognize that they have a slow child. Now, however, with
modern technology, there is positive proof that true
dyslexics are just made differently.
What most neuroscientists know about the brain has come from
studying people who were undergoing brain surgery, or had
suffered brain damage. Obviously, this is not the most
convenient way to study the brain, especially if you are
trying to determine what is normal. Even highly detailed
pictures from the most advanced computer-enhanced X-ray
imaging machines could reveal only the organ's basic anatomy,
not how the various parts worked together. Researchers needed
a scanner which didn't subject patients to radiation, and
which would show which parts of the brain were most active in
healthy subjects as they performed various intellectual
tasks.
The breakthrough in technology came a little less than ten
years ago, with the development of a technique called
functional magnetic resonance imaging. That is MRI, with an
F. FMRI allows researchers to see which parts of the brain
are getting the most blood at any given time. Without boring
the reader with names of the various parts of the brain, the
researchers identified three parts which are needed for
reading alphabetically. The phoneme, or sound producer, the
word analyzer and the automatic detector.
Interestingly, a Chinese neuroscientist performed these same
tests using FMRI on dyslexic children and on non-dyslexic
children whose mother tongue is Mandarin Chinese. Alphabet-
based languages, like Hebrew, Russian or English, are based
on letters or groups of letters which always sound a certain
way. Once a child has mastered the rules, he can concentrate
on the meaning of words.
Languages like Chinese are different. Their characters are
equvalent to words. Children have to learn the meaning and
the sound of each character simultaneously, so they can't
tell the sound of a character just by learning it a few
times. This scientist from Hong Kong University found that
different parts of the brain were used by readers of Chinese
and Japanese type languages. One test done on a bilingual
Japanese boy showed that he was dyslexic in Japanese but not
in English. Unfailingly, a child who is dyslexic in one
alphabet-based language shows the same problems in any other,
e.g. Hebrew and English.
It has been proven that the brains of dyslexic children are
`wired' differently from non-dyslexics. They are perfectly
normal and not brain damaged in the least. On the contrary,
dyslexics are often skilled problem solvers. Some studies
have shown that early identification and appropriate
intervention can cause the brain to become `rewired' like any
other brain and the child reads with normal fluency.
Dyslexia cannot be outgrown. Therefore, parents who wait and
think the child is a slow developer, are making a big
mistake. After the age of around nine or perhaps a little
older, it is much more difficult to train different parts of
the brain to change. The person never achieves real fluency,
and reading will always remain a struggle.
Any developmentally normal child will learn to speak by
imitating others. Reading has to be actively taught, and I,
personally, find it a minor miracle every single time a child
learns to process these hieroglyphics which they see on
paper, into the sounds they make. At first, the phoneme
producer part of the brain is used most. The child spells out
k/a/t = cat. Later, the analyzer comes into play, where the
reader breaks down the word into different parts: a/ni/mal.
But after a while, as the reader becomes more skilled, the
third section, the automatic detector, takes over. This third
part of the brain builds up a permanent repertoire which
enables a person to recognize words on sight and which, in
time, makes reading an effortless pleasure for most
people.
Time and again, boys are brought to me at the age of seven or
even later, able to recognize just a few of the letters of
the alef-bais, although they have been learning for
three years. "The Rebbe kept saying he was fine and was doing
well, and now, suddenly, he needs help. We knew that he
wasn't reading at all, yet he knew so much by heart."
How is a parent to know if their child is dyslexic? Many slow
learners may be just a little below average, but not
dyslexic. Does your child have difficulty in rhyming words?
(Hat, cat, mat) Does he have difficulty in recognizing his
own name? Does he find it hard to break spoken words into
syllables (grape/fruit, blan/ket)? Does he fail to recognize
phonemes? (Ask him which word: dog / car / bed starts with
the same sound as cot.) When he is a little older, does he
just guess wildly instead of sounding out words?
Mirror writing is not a pointer to dyslexia. Most children do
it at some time or other, in any language. Because dyslexics
do not gain access to the analyzer and the automatic detector
parts of the brain, they have an inherent difficulty in
making sense of the phonemes. Furthermore, because they do
not easily build up a repertoire of words, reading is
labored.
Imagine having to deal with each word you see as if you have
never come across it before!
There are still many teachers who deny the whole existence of
the phenomenon. A certain teacher with many years of
experience insists, even now, on sending weekly lists of
words home with a child who is severly dyslexic and having
private lessons daily. What she doesn't realize is that he
might spend hours learning these ten words, and perhaps even
get them all right in the test, but the next day, he will
have forgotten them again.
So what can parents do when they realize that something is
amiss? If the school refuses to refer you to an expert, or if
you disagree with their findings, go elsewhere. Brain scans
of five and six year olds who have benefited from a year's
targeted instruction have shown that they are beginning to
resemble the brains of non-dyslexic children.
The sooner the child starts on a program of intervention, the
more likely he is to overcome the dyslexia completely. As
mentioned before, he will not outgrow it! Mothers of
kindergarten children can help their children by playing
games to improve their phoneme awareness. All the words
starting with the `b' sound. Games like `I spy,' are very
useful. Repeat the same words regularly so that eventually,
some of it will be internalized. Not all methods work for all
children; the intervention program must be tailor-made.
Dyslexics need to overlearn. For instance, if you feel your
child has learned the days of the week, ask him again, and
again, and then another time. This is the one thing dyslexics
have in common. They need far more repetition than other
children, even if they are potentially high achievers. To
prevent them from having a low self-image, don't forget to
praise them for things which they CAN do well.
