DYSLEXIA REDEFINED: What's In A Word?  DYSLEXIADOOR: AN OPEN GATE Much confusion flutters around the term dyslexia. It is used in two different ways: In the narrower sense, it refers to specific difficulties with language arts. In the wider sense, it encompasses a multitude of learning challenges that can affect one or more academic subjects -- and many other aspects of life. The latter definition is helpful because the seemingly distinct learning and living problems share a common root: Ron Davis calls it disorientation. When you meet the term dyslexia on this website, it always denotes the big tent that holds a crowd of trouble-makers. Issues caused by dyslexia of the latter kind can raise their heads right across the curriculum: in language arts, math, sciences, and social studies. Attention Deficit, another offspring of disorientation, can further aggravate the difficulties. Fortunately, our big tent also houses special gifts and great talents that are rarely found outside of it. These very talents are our most important allies: Davis Programs employ the student's strengths to address his weaknesses. To remind the reader that we are referring to the big tent, the term dyslexia will always appear in italics. ___________________________________________________________________ Every child is entitled to successful learning and to the carefree joy of being a child. Every adult is entitled to function well in career and relationship, and to experience the unencumbered joy of being alive. -- Wayne Aadelstone-Hassel ___________________________________________________________________ Dyslexia and Near-Dyslexia J. WITH CLAY FAIRIE "We've been told that our child is gifted. We have had her in tutoring for 18 months and she's receiving learning assistance in school, but she is still several grades behind in reading --or math, or both. She has gone through several days of psycho-educational testing. It showed that her auditory processing and word-attack skills are weak, but there is no sign of dyslexia, thank goodness!" This or a similar statement is often the first thing a Davis Dyslexia Correctionฎ Facilitator hears about a child (or hears from an adult describing his own situation.) The parents are understandably baffled, because the test results contradict their own observations. They are painfully aware that "Danny" (or "Katie") is going through agony with his daily homework. If they attempt to help him, they will only trigger tears and tantrums. The parents feel desperate and helpless as Danny grows ever more listless and despondent. Still, they consider themselves lucky. After all, "it's not dyslexia." The test results, recorded in minute detail on a dozen or more pages, are long on specifics, but short on solutions. In most cases, the report ends with several recommendations: a learning assistance program, accommodations in the classroom, special concessions for homework and tests, and most importantly a large dose of phonics-based tutoring or math tutoring. The child, of course, has already been through months or years of tutoring. It is the standard method for bringing students up to speed in language arts or math, and it works for most students --most, but not all. In a class of twenty-eight, between three and five students turn out to be immune to the standard methods. Still, these methods seem to be the only game in school. "If it hasn't helped over the past two years, maybe it will work in three.... "  AN ADULT CLIENT Where does this leave the parents of the "not dyslexic" child? And what are the consequences for the boy, girl, or adult who has been declared "not dyslexic"? For myself as a Davis Dyslexia Correctionฎ Facilitator, the common situation I have described can easily be solved by the concept of near-dyslexia. Rigid definitions tend to get in the way of reality: Does a child with a temperature of 39 degrees have a high fever, or do we have to let the thermometer climb to 41 degrees before we call the fever high? Reality dictates that the parent must intervene in both cases. The definition, in other words, is irrelevant. What counts is that the child needs help! Moreover, would any parent reach for a medicine that has never worked before? If we view learning challenges from the perspective of near-dyslexia and dyslexia, we are free to help even those children who have been labeled non-dyslexic in spite of their struggles in one or another academic subject. Near-dyslexia is a realistic term. It says two things: the child needs help, and the child needs something other than phonics or conventional math tutoring. Davis Programs are the appropriate answer to both near-dyslexia and dyslexia, because they do not impose a solution that is foreign to the child's own way of seeing the world. Instead, they rely on the strengths of the child to help him master his academic challenges. ___________________________________________________________________ Near-dyslexics need just as much help as dyslexics. Fortunately, both will benefit from Davis Programs, because the Facilitator adapts each program to the needs of each client. Davis Programs are not one-size-fits-all. They are finely tooled to do the job that's needed. --Wayne Aadelstone-Hassel ___________________________________________________________________ The Most Common Academic Consequences Of Unresolved Dyslexia And Near-DyslexiaA complete list of the academic consequences would be longer than most of us care to read. It is important to realize that dyslexia does not restrict itself to language arts alone. With disorientation at its root, it can strike separately or together in any academic subject. It can even manifest as the closely related condition of attention deficit. Happily, not every dyslexic or near-dyslexic will have to contend with all of the troubles shown here. Dyslexia and near-dyslexia come in a profusion (and confusion) of personal combinations! No two are alike. The free assessment offered by DyslexiaDoor will pinpoint what areas need to be addressed. GENERAL DEFICIENCIES: focusing and sustained attention motivation, responsibility, and self-discipline time management, planning ahead, being on time, organizing time organizing space, keeping an orderly room oral comprehension, oral presentation short-term or long-term memory, memorizing presenting thoughts in proper sequence study skills, note taking, categorizing, listening for major points DEFICIENCIES IN LANGUAGE ARTS: focus and attention, oral comprehension reading and reading comprehension spelling and handwriting putting thoughts to paper, sequencing thoughts composition and structure of a story or essay grammar, understanding sentence structure, punctuation ____________________________________________________________________ Once a child has learned to read and write, improvements are certain to follow in all other subjects. --Wayne Aadelststone-Hassel ____________________________________________________________________ DEFICIENCIES IN MATH: focus and attention, oral comprehension written addition, subtraction, multiplication, division fractions and decimals memorizing times tables understanding oral or written instructions step-by-step process in problem solving extracting math content from word problems algebra DEFICIENCIES IN SCIENCES: focus and attention, oral comprehension required reading and writing required math skills following required sequence memorizing DEFICIENCIES IN SOCIAL STUDIES: focus and attention oral comprehension much required reading and writing; therefore all aspects of language arts listed above memorizing data _____________________________________________________ ***For more on Learning Challenges*** CLICK HERE _____________________________________________________ ***For Psych. Consequences of Dyslexia*** CLICK HERE _____________________________________________________ ***For Psych. Consequences of ADD/ADHD*** CLICK HERE _____________________________________________________ ***For ADD and Drugs*** CLICK HERE _____________________________________________________ ***To take the Coping Mechanism Test*** CLICK HERE _____________________________________________________ ***To do your Multiple Intelligences Inventory*** CLICK HERE _____________________________________________________ [ top ] - [ previous page ] source: Wayne Aadelstone-Hassel |
