In my last post I had written about the various difficulties that children with LD face while reading. Most of these difficulties occur because of visual and auditory perceptual problems. Let me explain.
Children will have normal vision, normal hearing ability, but may have difficulty in:
visual and auditory discrimination – they may be unable to discriminate between similar looking letters, like, ’b’ and ‘d’, ‘p’ and ‘d’, ‘q’ and ‘p’, ‘m’ and ‘n’, ‘n’ and ‘u’, ‘m’ and ‘w’ etc During the developmental phase, young children can recognize the object ‘chair’ as a chair in whatever position it is – upside down, sideways or turned in any other way – it still remains a chair. As they grow up and enter the school age of 2 1/2 to 3 yrs, they start looking at letters in books and are made to understand that certain letters may look similar, but the direction of the strokes and curves differentiate them from each other. Children with visual perceptual problem will not be able to understand this concept and hence unable to discriminate between similar looking letters and confuse one for the other. Reversal of letters, reversal of words – mirror reading and writing occur because of this perceptual issue.
They may have difficulty discriminating the geometrical shapes, between an oval and a circle, between a square and a rectangle and have more confusions with polygons. They may find it extremely difficult to copy drawings from science lessons. The minute differences go unnoticed.
Coming to auditory discrimination, children with LD may have problems perceiving minute differences between sounds, like in words ‘tin’ and ‘thin’, ’sign’ and ’shine’, ‘pin’ and ‘bin’. This difficulty is more pronounced in our regional languages where there are ‘mahaa praanaas’ and ‘alpa praanaas’.
They may not be able to understand the nuances of speech like pitch and tone and hence their reading a passage sounds very monotonous.
Children may have visual and auditory memory problems. It becomes difficult to keep in memory the order of letters in a word and hence have spelling problems. When the teacher writes notes on the black board, these children may not have enough short term memory or working memory to keep the words they have seen on the black board in their memory and bend down and transfer it to their notebooks. Their notes always remain incomplete. While writing dictation, they may not have sufficient auditory memory to keep the words in mind and write them. Or while listening to a story, they may have difficulty connecting the various pieces they have heard as they may forget many things inbetween the narration. Also, because of comprehension difficulties, many things that they hear or read or write remain as isolated fragments of information, unconnected and meaningless that they soon forget.
Figure-ground perceptual problem that I have explained in my previous post is another kind of perceptual difficulty that these children may face.
Apart from sequential difficulties mentioned in another post, they may sometimes have difficulty in categorization. This is evident in their writing when they mix up upper case letters with lower case letters. They may find it difficult to sort out pictures of vegetables, fruits and flowers. They find it difficult to write long answers to questions because of their inability to organize matter, categorize them according to themes and present it. In higher classes, it may become difficult for them to classify the elements and compounds, or classify the animal kingdom into reptiles, birds, mammals etc
Visual and auditory closure is another perceptual difficulty many of these children face. We are able to read a word or a sentence even if some letters or words are missing inbetween or the print is hazy. We have the ability to picturize the whole even if parts are missing from a figure or a story. But kids with LD may not. Presented a piece of poem in between, children may find it difficult to know from which poem it is extracted or how to complete it.
………………… to be continued
This is a very informative series, I am carefully reading them and trying understand many things I didn’t know. “Perception” is a favourite topic of mine. I think a lot of us need to understand this and help children who have this difficult overcome it.
I have been focused ( no pun intended ) on the visual perceptual problems of dyslexia for years. After an analysis of visual factors that cause the visual problems I realized that those causes resulted from a finite set of wavelengths associated with autofluorescence of proteins in the eye structure.
This lead to the development of a filter that removes that set of wavelengths with the final result of dyslexia glasses that successfully remove all the visual problems of visual dyslexia and a side benefit of restoring normal depth perception for those dyslexics with poor depth perception.
While I haven’t been able to determine if dyslexics are more sensitive to the visual noise or actually have larger absolute amounts of autofluorescence ,the results of eliminating the visual noise with the filters I named See Right Dyslexia Glasses have a 100% success rate of removing described visual problems that make reading difficult.
I use ” removing described visual problems that make reading difficult” as a description of what these dyslexia glasses do because if I make broader claims my success rate would fall below 100 % and also if a visual problem can be described then the person describing the problem knows when it is removed.
For more information you might want to visit The Visual Dyslexia Solution at http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com .
# Pradeep
Thanks for your feedback. i am happy the series on LD is helping people understand this condition and look for ways of helping and encouraging children with Learning Difficulties.
John Hayes, thanks for visiting and taking interest in adding to the information that I have provided in my posts. The link you have given gives loads of information on visual dyslexia! The “see Right” reading glasses that you have invented looks interesting. I would like to know how many have started using it and how much they have been benefitted so that I can recommend it to children here who exhibit visual perceptual difficulties. It was interesting to read about the autofluorescent reactions and the UV and IR wavelengths causing ‘visual noise’.
The images of visual dyslexia that you have provided in the web page throw lot of light on the reading difficulties faced by these kids. May I know how those images have been developed? I know fMRI does give an image of functional brain. But would you be able to develop such an image out of it with such clarity? Kindly enlighten us.
Thanks again for your informative comment. Please keep adding to it.
To start with a response about how visual dyslexics have benefited from the See Right Dyslexia Glasses I need to separate them into at least 3 groups.
1. Adults with visual dyslexia , defined as having visual problems that make reading difficult . already have acquired many reading skills and basically are plagued with slow reading speeds and inaccurate reading because of their visual problems or to a lesser extent develop physical symptoms such as headaches or tiredness. With removal of the visual problems by the See Right Dyslexia Glasses, increased reading speed and accuracy as well as the the elimination of reading induced headaches and other physical symptoms are usual. Most of this improvement is immediate.
2. Children with visual dyslexia , in addition to slow ,inaccurate reading and physical symptoms , may or may not have been successful in developing reading skills and also may suffer from a reduced vocabulary that is due to their more limited reading experience. So while an immediate increase in reading speed and accuracy is seen another benefit is the increase in the ability to develop reading skills at a normal rate. Associated with this is being able to build a better vocabulary and improve spelling over time.
3. Both adult and children visual dyslexics may also have
the more common phonological problems associated with dyslexia. The elimination of their visual problems does result in some improvement to their reading speed and accuracy but does nothing to address their phonological problems. The remaining problems will also need to have other interventions to help.
To sum up, a dyslexic may have either visual and / or language processing problems. The See Right Dyslexia Glasses remove the visual problems.
An indication of whether a dyslexic child has language processing problems can often be seen as slow and inaccurate language skills even before reading is attempted. Dyslexics whose problems are mostly visual do not usually show these early language problems. They understand and use language in a normal manner. Their first experience of failure occurs when they find learning to read a battle.
The representations of what types of visual problems visual dyslexics have, as shown on my website dyslexiaglasses.com , are really just the easiest to represent with limited computer skills. I interviewed hundreds of visual dyslexics when I was doing research and asked about their visual problems. There are many more examples that involve motion that are difficult for me to image such as the visual dyslexics that describe seeing the printed page as if it is behind a waterfall or where the words are sliding down the page. Some visual dyslexics have described being able to only see one word in focus at a time as if the page was water and the words keep changing depth and are only in focus when they appear on the surface.
Visual problem are very individualistic ,what is striking is that for a particular dyslexic there is usually a specific problem with a specific pattern. This is expected as the specific locations in the eye structure and specific proteins are stable for an individual but still vary across the population of visual dyslexics.
I thought my post was done but I saw a need for a comment on fMRI testing on dyslexics.
It has long been known that there are different locations in the brain related to different mental functions. An historical note: The different locations were usually identified by doctors with brain injury patients ( this injury resulted in the loss of this function) .
Researchers looking for the glory of determining the cause of dyslexia have looked at 5 or 6 different areas of the brain and how a dyslexics brain differs from a non dyslexic
(visual brain area,word forming area,word processing area ect.) . Tests were developed to challange specific areas of the brain and then taken when the subjects were actually inside a running fMRI machine.
All the testing of any area has come up with the same results. The researchers have seen differences between groups of dyslexics and non dyslexics. This is sometimes reported as finding the cause of dyslexia in the media. Big News on the blogs.
However a closer examination of the data always shows that there is so much overlap of results that not 1 researcher can determine if an individual is dyslexic or not by fMRI testing of any one area of the brain.
I am sure that at some future time it will be determined that by evaluating many different areas of the brain with fMRI that the identification of an individual as being dyslexic or not will be possible as well as what his/hers particular problems are.
The importance of the fMRI testing is that it is a source of some false claims of dyslexia having one cause. This implies that there can be 1 intervention to address the 1 cause.
It must not be ignored that individual dyslexics have individualistic problems ( very likely caused by having problems associated with different areas of the brain).
Different dyslexics have different problems and different interventions are needed. I certainly don’t have the expertize to say how that is to be determined. I would think that a collection of the tests given to the fMRI participants for each type of study could likely be used as a way to determine if a dyslexic had problems in that area without the need for an fMRI.
I will say that an individual dyslexic looking for help must first have his/her particular problems identified so that an individualistic program that addresses those problems can be developed.
To get back to fMRI. To date, all testing has shown that different areas of the brain associated with different reading skills are indeed related to dyslexia for some dyslexics but appear to be normal for other dyslexics.
Any fMRI researcher who claims to have found the cause of dyslexia needs to be questioned about why individual dyslexics can not be indentified by the same method.
I feel fMRI /dyslexia studies have resulted in too many people claiming that they know what causes dyslexia . Those people remind me of the story of the blind men trying to describe an elephant. One grabs the tail and says an elephant is like a rope. One grabs a leg and thinks an elephant is like a tree. One feels the side and thinks the elephant is like a wall.One feels an ear and thinks an elephant is like a fan.
Dyslexia is many factors.
thank you, john, once again for explaining in detail who would be benefitted more by “see right” glasses and also for that explanation about fMRI and its efficacy or inefficacy in determining which child might be having Dyslexia and which child may not be dyslexic.
I have son who we have just discovered is learning disabled. (Auditory Memory). Are there any resources or books that I may obtain? I live in New York.
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fran, thanks for the visit and the enquiry. i am sure the professionals who have assessed and diagnosed your son as having dyslexia would have given references to various resources.
as far as i am concerned, all my knowledge on dyslexia is through the course materials that i got during the studies, lectures and seminars that i have attended and through internet browsing and most importantly through the parents of dyslexics and the children themselves.
you may visit these sites to know more about dyslexia or learning disability. the two are only indicative and there are number of sites explaining LD and they quote many books on LD that can help parents.
http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/
http://www.ldonline.org/
listening skill can be improved by playing games and activities in which the child recognizes various objects that you name, various colours that you name, giving a set of instructions to follow, the game “simon says…….” where the player has to listen and do as per the instruction, narrate simple stories and ask questions inbetween to find out if he is following the story, both of you playing a game of giving out words beginning with the sound that is the ending sound of the previous word, like, dog – gate – tomato – orange – gem or jane…………..
auditory memory can be helped by the activity of digit and letter span that you say and the child repeats in the same order. this helps in improving the sequential ability. every day when he returns from school, ask him to narrate the day’s events in a sequence. whenever the family returns from an outing, ask the child to recount the day’s happenings. as he watches a TV serial, ask him to explain to you the story in its right sequence. you may innovate your own games and activities like this to improve his auditory perceptual skills.
please do not get perturbed by the diagnosis. just be there for him, encourage and support him and he will surely make his own strategies to overcome the issues as he grows up. get him remedial education. my best wishes to your efforts and love to your son.
fran, i was going through some old files of mine on dyslexia and i found the titles of two books that i had referred to then and had found them very useful in understanding the subject better. i am sure the books published in recent years inculcating the recent-research results would be more appropriate and useful to you. these new titles can be had through internet. however, i mention here those two books that i had referred to, which i am sure would have lot of relevence even today:
“Learning Problems” by Mercer
Merill Publishing Company, London and Melbourne
“Overcoming Dyslexia” by Dr Beve Hornsby
P G Publishing Pvt Ltd, Singapore and Hongkong
hope the information helps you.
Dear Latha,
Your blog makes for some very interesting reading. I was interested to note the various comments, queries and inputs posted on hte blog. After reading severall comments and write-ups, I thought I would pen down some of my reflections…
1) Reading is a complex process that involves serveral processes to occur together (smoothly) at the same time for the individual to read, understand, remember and then react/respond to. these seemingly easy processes have to occuer within a small period of time for it to appear like an automatic process. Disruption in any one process can result in severe impairment in the output i.e. oral response or written form.
The written form, in itself a complex process, also draws heavily from the ability to read and spell fluently. thus difficulties in writing, though often seen in dyslexics, is not necessarily part of the same problem.
2) there appears to be some confusion regarding acquired and developmental reading difficulties. When an individual has the ability to read and spell accuratley but has lost it subsequent to head injury, adutitory deficits or visual deficits we are referring to those individuals who have the ability to read /spell but have lost it secondary to a more primary problem. treat the primary cause and then the reading and spelling automatically gets better.
However developmental reading difficulties is a completly diferent ball game altogether. The brain functions differently in these individuals compared to non-disabled readers. thus the concept of poor versus beter environment or structured inputs (tutions) does not seem to be the answer to the problems faced by these individuals.
3) Remedial measures for secondary/acquired dyslexia appears to be more effective as we are not looking at indivuduals who are inherently poor readers. While those that are meant to target the developmental kind claim to be more long drawn procedures. Thus when one claims to have 100% accuracy rates in remediating reading difficulties it would be useful to keep in mind the population (and the prevleance of reading dificulties in this population) for which is targetted.
3) I do quite agree with John’s comments on the limitations of fMRI studies. However several studies have pointed to the involvement of these same areas in the brain that are different from disabled to non-disabled readers. thus it would be unwise to completely ignore these findings. Also (to my knowledge) the studies do not cliam to know the causes of dyslexia but refer to these differences as the neurobilogical marker of dyslexia. Better understanding of the circuits in the brain tells me that these area can cause disruption in several functions that they mediate and thus we see so many other associated difficulties in these children in additon to their reading and spelling difficulties.
In the recent years there have been a few studies which have looked at providing remedial training to these circuits known to be invlived in reading and have reported success.
4)Remedial training has been proved to be successful and several studies claim that they have been able to help dyslexics become better readers. Accuracy in reading and spelling is easier to remediate than speed of reading and writing.
5)Dyslexia is often used to refer to a number of signs and symptoms assumed to be part of reading difficulties. However those who work with children with reading difficulaties know that each child is different from the other in that one child does not have the same kind of problems another child has. Thus there is not single package that is available yet to help all children with reading difficulties. However, if a through assessment is carried out, then the remedial training can be aimed accuratley at the deficits noticed in that particular child. We have come a long way in understanding the disorder but still infants in the field of remedial training.
Akila
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Dr Akila is a Child Neuropsychologist, a PhD scholar researching in the area of Learning Disabilities in Children from a University in Newzealand. She has done her MA in psychology and MPhil in LD at NIMHANS. She runs her own psychological clinic “SAMVIDH” where she conducts assessment, therapy and remedial programmes for children with learning disorders. she can be contacted through email: akila.keshav@gmail.com
dr akila, that was very kind of you to have written such a detailed comment on my posts and adding very interesting information that would benefit all the readers. i have taken the liberty to add a few words about your area of work and have provided your email id to my readers. hope it is ok with you.
it was a nice explanation of acquired and developmental dyslexia and the efficacy of the remedial measures in these cases.
also interesting was the information about problems in brain circuitry that mediate several other functions other than reading and spelling that manifest as associated difficulties.
here i would like to know from you if there are any disruptions found in the connecting nerve circuitry between the left and the right hemispheres in these cases, which may lead to the difficulty of associating the parts (left-logical) with the whole (hollistic-right). because many of these children are able to give out the answers to arithmetic sums without being able to work out the different steps involved!!
the truth in your sentence, “We have come a long way in understanding the disorder but still infants in the field of remedial training” should humble all of us special educators!
thank you, akila. keep your comments coming and we would be happy to receive independent posts also from a knowledgeable person like you on child psychology and learning disorders. we wish you the very best in your practice.
hello mam,
i wanted to know how can we help kids with visual discrimination to over come…is it going to be a life time support need for kids …like mirror image and the spellings and writing is really effected…with lack of visual memory…pls let know…its a learning.thnks,
many children with LD suffer from visual perception problems that cam be overcome with suitable visual exercises by which the neural apparatus get exercised and get reoriented to help perceive better.
in children magazines we come across drawings that are very similar to look at, but through close observation many differences can be spotted. these ’spotting the differences’ can be fun and they improve child’s visual attention and observation and discrimination. we can provide children “sorting out” games in which they are asked to sort out colours, shapes or sizes. ask them to “match” similar looking letters, like, ‘m’, ‘w’, ‘u’, ‘n’, ‘g’, ‘p’, ‘d’, ‘b’etc. and also to “pick the odd one out” exercises where an odd word/picture is introduced among a group of similar words or pictures.
memory games with pictures and objects can be played to improve visual memory. let not the number of pics or objects be too huge to confuse the child. the number should be within the comfortable range initially and slowly increased as per the comfort of the child and not push the child to frustration levels.
“visual closure” can be improved by introducing incomplete pictures/words with blanks inbetween and the child asked to guess the right picture/word.
here i have only indicated few of the activities to improve visual perception. one can use his/her creativity to come up with number of such exercises to help children. you may even browse the web to catch hold of similar activities.
my child 6 years old has slight disailty to grasp as he remains in hurrry. he jumps to conclusion too early e.g
arranging no. in ascending order he will arrange correctly at some time and some times wrongly.
he doesnot understand 5 is bigger than 3 but knows 5>3.
can any one help
there are many centres in bangalore that can assess your child’s learning abilities and if any issues are to be addressed, the special educators and counsellors can help you.
you may refer to the resource directory on LD published by Banjara academy, bangalore. tel: 080-2353 5787, 2353 5766
email: banjara@bgl.vsnl.net.in
best wishes to you.