Summer went by quickly like a fast-forward movie. We barely had time to catch our breath and before you know it, the children are back to school and everything is all of a sudden happening in full swing!

Here, I think it is the right time to do a little refresher on what “reading disability” is. The following was written for the benefit of our readers who are teachers or parents of dyslexic children:

Medical Name: Dyslexia (reading disability)

Clinical Features
Cases usually present themselves as seemingly normal children whose reading ability lag behind that of their peers. Characteristics include:

• Poor spelling
• Early word recognition
• Poor grammar (e.g. syntax)
• Poor recall of content read
• Speed of reading extremely low
• Inaccurate reading (e.g. skip lines and words)
• Hesitant reader
• Nervous during reading
• Avoids and dislike reading
• Poor recall of verbally given information/instructions
• Uncomfortable in noisy environment where reception of audio information may be more difficult

Diagnosis
Standardized tests tapping into the core deficits will in most cases identify dyslexia. Full-scale psycho-educational testing is unnecessary unless there is co-morbidity.  Clinical observations can also be used to diagnose dyslexia.

Clinical Management
Timely and appropriate educational intervention will help the dyslexic child improve learning. Each child with dyslexia has a different combination of learning problems. That is why each dyslexic child needs Full Service Learning Management covering these areas:

• Diagnosis
• Intervention Design
• Intervention Delivery
• Monitoring of Progress

Thanks to the Biomedical Branch Librarian, Dean Guistini, at VGH, a wiki was created in UBC Health Library Wiki under Research into learning disabilities – “Dyslexia”.  This was intended to give evidence-based research information to professionals and parents.  Check it out.

Tags: Dyslexia
Posted in Blog