Dyslexia Children

Dyslexia Definition

Dyslexia is considered a SLD (DEA) of neurobiological origin, characterized by the presence of difficulties in accuracy and fluency recognition of written words and by a deficit in reading skills decoding and spelling. These difficulties are the result of a deficit in the phonological component of language. They do not respond to cognitive or visual difficulties.
International Dyslexia Association (IDA, 2002; Lyon, Shaywitz and Shaywitz, 2003)

Learning disorders, including dyslexia is included, they must be differentiated from normal variations in performance and lack of educational opportunities and cultural factors.
According to most recent studies, dyslexia is characterized by an alteration in phonological processing, ie the ability phoneme-grapheme decoding. In the most recent publications the unitary nature of dyslexia, attributing the pathogenetic basis of dyslexia (Shaywitz, 1995) to phonological impairment and obviating theories differing types of dyslexia it is emphasized. However, we must consider that we will not find two equal dyslexic.

Dyslexia children

Child Dyslexia is a deficiency in reading, writing and learning. Child dyslexia affects 5% of children of 7 to 9 years, especially boys and has a genetic basis.

Manifestations of dyslexia are varied and depend on the severity of the condition and age of the child, because they can affect functions related to memory, vocabulary, and speech motor areas.

The child with dyslexia He is able to learn to read, but it will differently, with a different method and special treatment, giving strategies and techniques to deal with their difficulties in reading and writing, teaching them different skills to help you understand and memorize the texts read.

Dyslexia Treatment

To program the most appropriate treatment, it is important from a good evaluation through standardized test, where you can pick up the involvement of reading routes and make a proper schedule objectives. Assessment and treatment of childhood dyslexia must make a speech therapist with experience in this field.

Initially it is advisable to conduct individual sessions to meet the specific needs of the child, a total of one or two weekly sessions, using a variety of materials and resources (visual aids, auditory, manipulatives ...) and making use of the new technologies (computers, ipad applications, Internet sites educational recorders ...). It should take into account the views of the child (tastes, preferences, hobbies ...) to prepare a personalized intervention material and thus increase motivation. Therefore ensure that the sessions are as playful as possible. Even taking into account these recomendciones, treatment duration marks the evolution of the child. Each person is different and the way we work is always unique, personal and distinct.

Speech therapy sessions are very plastic as the same language, which is affected in children with dyslexia, this means that spontaneity, improvisation, empathy and listening should be one of the basic and essential to work requirements. Obviously, with a clear pattern of previous work to be done or intends to do in each session. These specific objectives are based on the following areas that may be affected:

1. Phonemic awareness

Children with dyslexia often have many difficulties in phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness or consciousness segmental part of certain skills metalanguage. Examples of metalinguistic skills that need to be strengthened in dyslexic children are isolated words in a phrase or sentence, isolate the syllables of a word, isolate phonemes of a syllable, etc. For proper reading fluency work reading letters, syllables, words, phrases and text finally first. In this way we will work from the simplest and will progressively increasing complexity.

Related to phonemic awareness activities:

• Synthesize and spell syllables, words and phrases. Distort reading different ways: cut the bottom of syllables, words and phrases. Another way can be to disappear distorting vowels or replaced by numbers.


• Reading invented words or pseudo-words.

2. Lexical awareness:

Depending on age and managing phonemic route, the route lexical or visual work. Through this a faster and efficient machine readable get.

Lexical awareness related activities:

• Contouring words and try to read through your silhouette.


• Presentation of words to set speed: through computer programs or applications ipad, presenting frequent words of different lengths. It is important that this activity fits the drive speed and gradually increase.

3. Lectura comprehensive, also we begin with the words, then phrases and sentences, ending texts.

Can work reading comprehension through self-instruction training, development of bulleted text in question, presenting the reading accompanied drawings relating to the text, creating summaries, mind maps and concept maps.

Characteristics of Dyslexia

The diagnosis of childhood dyslexia will take place once the child begins to show the first difficulties in learning reading and writing. the existence of a delay in relation to age peers observed. Within each dyslexic child may have difficulties with certain variations. Although certain common symptoms and characteristics are recognized:

1. In the language:

• Delay in language learning.


• Confusions in the pronunciation of words that resemble their phonetics.


• Inability to remember the name of series of things, like the colors.


• Confusion in the vocabulary that has to do with spatial orientation.


• Inarticulate with precise terms.


• Difficulty in proper use of the verb tenses.

2. Cognitive performance:

• Difficulty learning the typical preschool rhymes.


• Particular difficulty learning to read and write.


• Difficulty in distinguishing left from right.


• Difficulty learning the alphabet and multiplication tables and in general to retain sequences, such as days of the week, fingers, months of the year.


• Lack of attention and concentration.


• Variability in performance: alternation of "good" days and "bad" in school work, for no apparent reason.


• Low self-esteem, frustration, impulsivity, attentional shorter periods, immaturity, lack of planning ...


• Difficulty copying carefully on the board and in the notebook.


• Difficulty following oral directions.


• There is big difference between your organization and structuring their thoughts orally and in writing.


• Inconsistencies grammatical and spelling errors.

3. In the lecture:

• Accuracy errors: omission, replacement and addition of letters or words.


• High altered mechanical rhythm in reading. Slowness.


• Unsynchronized breathing reading: punctuation marks are not used for the pauses are provided, whereby the sentences are cut pile or meaningless.


• There is a difficulty following reading, which manifests itself in line breaks at the end of each line, loss of continuity as reading text looks up. This causes many times again start reading the same line.


• When a correct reading is achieved because it is mechanical and decoding effort understanding the different content is reduced.

4. In Writing:

• Persistent tendency to write letters and numbers mirror or inadequate direction or orientation.


• They have, on many occasions, confusion of letters that look for spelling or sound.


• Similar omissions are often presented to those given in reading, letters, syllables or words.


• Mix uppercase letters with lowercase.


• groups and incorrect separations occur splitting words or joining several words in one "and enlacoruña viaunas muigrandes waves and mecudrian".


• Spelling is a great difficulty for these children and can speak on many occasions dysorthography.


• Writing in general also found a number of characteristics:


• Clumsiness and low hand coordination.


• Poor posture, both the child and the paper.


• inadequate muscle tone, which may be due to lack of pressure or excess thereof.

Types of Dyslexia

Normally in education we will discuss developmental dyslexia or developmental dyslexia because dyslexia is that acquired after brain injury caused in the areas in charge of reading-writing processing. Although there are numerous classifications and nomenclatures, in this case we establish the classification of the types of dyslexia in terms of processing routes or lexical access are affected, so we can differentiate between:

1. Dislexia phonological or indirect

It corresponds to the malfunctioning of the phonological route, ie the indirect route that uses the grapheme-phoneme conversion to enter the lexicon. This type of dyslexia difficult to read long words and infrequent and functional words and disables reading pseudoword, where they often make many visual errors that cause lexicalizaciones, ie, read "sword" when it says "espaca" Also present numerous morphological errors or derivatives in maintaining the root words but change morphemes.

More errors are observed in reading the words function in the words of contenido.Presenta best results in reading familiar words both regular and irregular.

2. Surface dyslexic

It involves the malfunction of the visual, lexical or direct route, so the subject does not present major difficulties in reading through the grapheme-phoneme conversion of regular words. If you have problems when reading irregular words (eg English language), tending to regularize, so we usually discuss numerous errors of omission, addition or substitution of letters. Have a better level reading assignments pseudoword compared to phonological dyslexics. They have major problems with spelling arbitrary and often confuse homophones, since only guided by auditory information.

3. Mixed or deep dyslexia

It is characterized by deficits in both routes, which causes semantic errors are discussed, namely, that a few words be read by others who have no visual resemblance but semantic.Besides semantic errors have difficulty reading pseudoword, function words, verbs and rare words, committing numerous visual and derivatives when read errors and presenting difficulties in accessing the meaning.