Developmental Dyslexia

Hi Bonnie,

Thank you for your time the other day.  I looked over the report from my son’s testing.  They diagnosed him with Developmental Dyslexia. There are signs of it as being inherited, but not at the level he has, as far as we know. I am not sure what exactly you mean by “underlying cause”.  Could you please explain more in depth.

Thank you again,

Angie Taylor

Angie,

All the word dyslexia means is a reading difficulty. Developmental dyslexia is also known as a specific reading disability. This is a disorder in which children with normal intelligence and sensory abilities show learning deficits for reading. Its origins may be inherited.

That does not give you the information you really need in order to address the reading difficulty. There are 9 areas of visual perception. There are 9 areas of auditory perception. And there are 9 areas of tactile/kinesthetic perception. Each of these areas affect learning. When one or more of these areas isn’t working as efficiently as it should, reading/learning problems occur.

The areas that aren’t working effectively are the underlying cause of the dyslexia – reading difficulty. Most of these areas of perception are learned and can be improved. The key is to understand which areas are not working as effectively as they should. Then you get materials that address the underlying cause. The materials also should give the specific step-by-step instruction that a student needs to bridge the gap in their learning.

To find out what the underlying areas that are causing the dyslexia, use a comprehensive informal assessment. I go into a lot of information about this in the first webinar I did. Go to: http://bonnieterry.com/freevideosignup/

Hope this is helpful.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET