Understanding Dyslexia & Learning Disability Treatment
Dyslexia is not a disease to have and to be cured of, but a way of thinking and
learning. Often it's a gifted mind waiting to be found and taught.
- Girard Sagmiller,
Dyslexia My Life
I Don't Understand Dyslexia. What is it?
Dyslexia is a learning disability that includes
difficulty in the use and processing of linguistic and symbolic codes, alphabetic
letters representing speech sounds or numeric representing numbers or quantities.
It can affect spoken language, written language
and language comprehension. Dyslexia is the most-common
learning disability, affecting nearly ten percent of the population, despite intelligence,
motivation, and education. While not the result of neurological damage, it is the
product of neurological development. Dyslexia commonly runs in families and varies
from mild to severe. Children don't outgrow dyslexia, and adults
with dyslexia suffer emotionally and financially because of it. However, research
has proven that explicit, systematic phonics can actually help 'rewire'
the brain and help dyslexic students learn to read. The use of the
Orton-Gillingham approach by a knowledgeable and experienced teacher can
significantly moderate the language learning and processing problems that arise
from dyslexia.
What are the Symptoms of Dyslexia?
Read these common, identifying symptoms of dyslexia.
Dyslexia Research
Research studies have shown that the
dyslexic brain can be "rewired"
through an investigation of systematic phonics. Click on the links below to learn
more about dyslexia and how the
Discover Intensive Phonics method can change
the lives of dyslexic students.
Learning Disability Treatment
According to Dr. Sally Shaywitz, author of Overcoming Dyslexia, programs
that teach phonics systematically and explicitly are the most effective in learning
disability treatment. Reading Horizons teaches
how to break the reading code in a sequential, systematic and cumulative format
that helps all readers understand, retain and apply this code. Reading Horizons
provides the foundation concepts that govern the language.
Reading Horizons will empower your students,
even those with learning disabilities, with decoding strategies that will help them
confidently read unfamiliar text. Most students are able to read high school level
words upon completion of the reading program.
This does not mean that they are reading at a high school level, which includes
vocabulary,
fluency, and comprehension; however,
those areas will continue to improve as they are exposed to additional text.
Reading Horizons can be taught using direct instruction, computer software, or a
combination of the two. Best treatment results
for dyslexia occurs when students are allowed to work autonomously at the computer
and then receive reinforcement through teacher-lead direct instruction.
Reading Horizons gives teachers the tools to help all their students, whether
automatic or struggling readers, become effective readers who are able to decode
any word they encounter and increase their fluency and comprehension.
Speak to a dyslexia or reading specialist ›
What are Orton-Gillingham Principles?
In the 1930s, physician researchers Dr. Samuel
T. Orton and Anna Gillingham concluded that struggling readers, including
those suffering from learning disabilities like dyslexia, flourished when
exposed to the structured patterns of explicit, systematic phonics instruction.
The Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself method is sequentially infused
with the Orton-Gillingham methods, including:
- Multi-sensory applications that engage kinesthetic, auditory, and visual cues.
- Teaches alphabet and phonics principles sequentially.
- Practical, language-based applications.
- Logical repetition using familiar styles of learning that allows learners to make
language predictions about new language patterns.
Orton-Gillingham Correlation
Systematic phonics instruction has been used widely over a long period of time with
positive results, and a variety of systematic phonics programs have proven effective
with children of different ages, abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds. These
facts and finding provide converging evidence that explicit, systemic phonics instruction
is a valuable and essential part of successful
reading program.
- National Reading Panel Report
More Information to Help You Understand Dyslexia
Helpful Books About Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities
- Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz
- Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World by Jeffrey Freed, M.A.T.,
and Laurie Parsons
- Helping Your Dyslexic Child by Eileen M. Cronin, Ph.D.
- You Don't Have To Be Dyslexic by Joan M. Smith
- When the Brain Can't Hear by Teri James Bellis - Medical - Simon &
Schuster