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Subscribe to Our NewsletterDyslexia
Dyslexia can be identified and quantified at a level that makes treatment practical. Call today and schedule a consultation.
Most people don’t realize that there is more than one kind of dyslexia. There are three recognized types, and they can occur separately or together in several forms. The best known kind of dyslexia has a strange name. It’s called dysnemkynesia, and it relates to reversals of letters, either in terms of sequence (was instead of saw) or in terms of the image of the letter being reversed, as in a mirror image. This kind of dyslexia is most commonly resolved without treatment as a child develops.
A more difficult kind of dyslexia is Dyseidesia. It affects visual memory, and causes real problems with spelling. A dyseidetic person cannot recall from memory the way a letter or a word “looks” on a page. They can spend an hour and a half studying a spelling list, and not be able to recall the images next morning. This kind of dyslexia causes real reading difficulties, and is difficult to manage. It is caused by a problem in communication between parts of the brain, and is a true brain structure issue. This is why constant efforts to work harder and longer don’t produce results. Telling a dyseidetic to work harder will only frustrate him or her, because it can’t alter the fact the structure of the brain is at fault.
The third kind of dyslexia is dysphonesia. With this kind of dyslexia, the person can’t look at a word and reproduce its sound. To some degree, it is caused by the fact that phonics skills are not taught or have not been learned, but it is also related to brain structure issues. With dysphonesia, you can recall the word visually, but you can’t pronounce it correctly. Typically, a word can be decoded and understood if it can be sounded so that pronunciation is normal, and its meaning is understood.
With reading difficulties, the important functional element is the kind of word-attack skills a person has. A dyseidetic must use phonics clues, so if you have both dyseidesia and dysphonesia, reading is going to be very difficult and unresponsive to standard remediation approaches. Treating this combination is arduous, and requires that teachers understand the limitations and adjust teaching and testing methods to allow for the reality of the disability.
The good news is that dyslexia can be identified and quantified at a level that makes treatment practical. There are two tests available, one for screening, and one for in-depth analysis. An in-depth analysis leads to the selection of appropriate remediation by providing an accurate picture of the disability, and a clear path to improved function.
An evaluation using the dyslexia determination test takes about an hour, and needs to be scheduled ahead of time. Because concentration is required, it is done in a closed environment. When testing and analysis are complete, a report is created for parents and teachers, with recommendations for treatment options and suggestions as to how to modify the learning plan in general to capitalize on the strongest and most effective skills.