Dyslexia Answered

Heather created this piece to help other dyslexic kids recognise that having the
visual thought process is an amazing positive ability, not a negative one.

By acknowledging her different processing style and learning how to use it and work with it,
Heather was able to complete her HSC. Previously, due to her struggle to retain information
and overwhelming anxiety, she had little hope for a good outcome.

Heather created and produced this clay stop-animation for her major HSC artwork. Her HSC
mark for Art was 87/100 (high band 5) and she is hoping to take this talent further into tertiary study.

I am proud to have worked with Heather to help her realise her potential and have a future that is positive, creative and fulfilling.

Common learning disabilities

Dyslexia - a language-based disability in which a person has trouble understanding written words. It may also be referred to as reading disability or reading disorder.
Dyscalculia - a mathematical disability in which a person has a difficult time solving arithmetic problems and grasping math concepts.
Dysgraphia - a writing disability in which a person finds it hard to form letters or write within a defined space.
Auditory and Visual Processing disorders - sensory disabilities in which a person has difficulty understanding language despite normal hearing and vision.
Auditory Sequential Processing Dysfunction - may be identified by speech and language problems, sensitivity to sounds, poor attention, difficulty following directions, difficulty expressing oneself, difficulty with listening comprehension as well as reading comprehension, difficulty with social interactions, or auditory self-stimulation, such as constant humming or self-talk. Children who have had a history of ear infections or chronic middle ear fluid are at a higher risk for having difficulties in auditory perception and processing.
Phonic or Decoding Problems - Phonics is the ability to identify that there is a relationship between the individual sounds (phonemes) of the spoken language and the letters (graphemes) of the written language. Decoding is being able to use visual, syntactic, or semantic cues to make meaning from words and sentences.
Poor phonological awareness - Phonological awareness involves the detection and manipulation of sounds at three levels of sound structure
Gifted but Disabled - This group is easily identified as gifted because of high achievement or high IQ scores. As they grow older, discrepancies widen between expected and actual performance. These students may impress teachers with their verbal abilities, while their spelling or handwriting contradicts the image
Poor short term memory - Short-term memory (STM) is a temporary store for information. The information in this store will later either be forgotten or, if important, transferred to our long-term memory store. Poor short-term memory, especially in the visual and auditory modalities, is often associated with dyslexia.
Poor working memory - Working memory is the ability to actively hold information in the mind needed to do complex tasks such as reasoning, comprehension and learning.

What is a Learning Disability?

A learning disability is a neurological disorder. In simple terms, a learning disability results from a difference in the way a person's brain is "wired." Children with learning disabilities are as smart as, or smarter than their peers. However, they may have difficulty reading, writing, spelling, reasoning, recalling and/or organizing information if left to figure things out by themselves, or if taught by conventional methods.

If unaware of a child's learning differences, parents and teachers may see a child with exceptional qualities who ‘does not try hard enough'. This could not be further from the truth. The child with a learning disability exerts great effort to complete difficult tasks. Yet without adequate supports, they often fail.

If you are aware of the common signs of learning disabilities, you will be able to recognize potential problems early. The following is a checklist of characteristics that may point to a learning disability. Most people will, from time to time, see one or more of these warning signs in their children. This is normal. If, however, you see several of these characteristics over a long period of time, consider the possibility of a learning disability. The most common learning disability is dyslexia, which is a language-based learning disability.

Preschool

Speaks later than most children
Pronunciation problems
Slow vocabulary growth, often unable to find the right word
Difficulty rhyming words
Trouble learning numbers, alphabet, days of the week, colours, shapes
Extremely restless and easily distracted
Trouble interacting with peers
Difficulty following directions or routines
Fine motor skills slow to develop

Grades K-4

Slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds
Confuses basic words (run, eat, want)
Makes consistent reading and spelling errors including letter reversals (b/d), inversions (m/w), transpositions (felt/left), and substitutions (house/home)
Transposes number sequences and confuses arithmetic signs (+, -, x, /, =)
Slow to remember facts
Slow to learn new skills, relies heavily on memorization
Impulsive, difficulty planning
Unstable pencil grip
Trouble learning about time
Poor coordination, unaware of physical surroundings, prone to accidents

Grades 5-8

Reverses letter sequences (soiled/solid, left/felt)
Slow to learn prefixes, suffixes, root words, and other spelling strategies
Avoids reading aloud
Trouble with word problems
Difficulty with handwriting
Awkward, fist-like, or tight pencil grip
Avoids writing assignments
Slow or poor recall of facts
Difficulty making friends
Trouble understanding body language and facial expressions

High School Students and Adults

Continues to spell incorrectly, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing
Avoids reading and writing tasks
Trouble summarizing
Trouble with open-ended questions on tests
Weak memory skills
Difficulty adjusting to new settings
Works slowly
Poor grasp of abstract concepts
Either pays too little attention to details or focuses on them too much
Misreads information

A learning disability can't be cured or fixed; it is a lifelong issue. With the right support and intervention, children with learning disabilities can succeed in school and go on to successful, careers later in life.

The most common learning disability is dyslexia, which is a language-based learning disability.

There is a report produced by the American Academy of Paediatrics entitled "Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision," published in the March 2011 issue of Paediatrics and supported by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Association for Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, and the American Association for Certified Orthoptists, which clearly states that; "language processing and decoding issues are the cause of primary learning disabilities, not physical eye problems." They go on to suggest to "avoid ineffective costly treatments such as vision therapy."

The report goes on to say: "Often learning disabilities are difficult for the public to understand and for educators to treat. Vision problems can interfere with the process of reading, but children with dyslexia or related learning disabilities have the same visual function and ocular health as children without such conditions. Learning disabilities, including dyslexia, are not caused by physical eye problems but rather complex language processing difficulties."

Solutions ...not labels

Professional services described as Davis^TM,Davis Dyslexia Correction®, Davis Symbol Mastery®, Davis Orientation Counseling®, and Davis Math Mastery® may only be provided by persons who are employed by a licensed Davis Specialist, or who are trained and licensed as Davis Facilitators by Davis Dyslexia Association International.