There is no doubt that complicated systems cannot exist without numerous problems that occur when some of their tiny parts are unable to perform their functions properly. Speaking about the most complex systems that exist in our world, it is necessary to pay focused attention to the human body that consists of a range of subsystems performing various functions that are responsible for survival. The human body is so sensitive that internal problems related to its parts never remain unnoticed. There are a great number of problems caused by the irregular functioning of different parts of the brain, and almost each of them can significantly decrease people’s quality of life. Various brain problems are believed to be the major cause of learning disorders affecting patients’ life and career development. Among the learning disorders that are pretty common nowadays, it is pivotal to single out dyslexia, a condition in which patients’ intelligence remains normal, but the speed of information processing is much slower than that of individuals who do not have this disorder.
The Features of Dyslexia
The chosen condition is known as the inability to read properly. In general, reading and writing present the functions that are strictly interconnected with numerous problems that are caused by the inconsistency between the work of the brain and the ability of the organs of speech to express the information that has already been analyzed. To put it in other words, those who suffer from dyslexia or other disorders that have a negative influence on people’s academic performance are not less intelligent than other people. Individuals who have so-called reading disorders usually do not have problems when it is necessary to systematize information and interpret it. Nevertheless, due to the uncoordinated work of the brain and the organs of speech, it may seem that such people do not understand the sense of words and the connections between them. Unfortunately, it often happens that children with dyslexia are regarded as intellectually delayed students.
According to the definition provided by Freberg (2016), dyslexia can be described as an “unexpected difficulty in reading fluently despite normal intelligence” and the presence of this condition is not related to the wrong choice of teaching methods (p. 462). Speaking about the most important features of the discussed disorder, it needs to be said that dyslexia is more typical for boys than girls; on average, girls tend to have more developed reading skills than their male peers (Parhiala et al., 2015). As for other findings reported in the article that can shed light on the outstanding features of children with dyslexia, it needs to be mentioned that the latter has additional problems apart from reading difficulties. In addition to the inability to read as their peers do, children with dyslexia have problems related to the development of social skills. Apart from that, it often happens that children who suffer from dyslexia have attention problems; it is difficult for them to focus on something due to their problems.
The presence of dyslexia in children is related to numerous stereotypes. Seeing children’s unsuccessful attempts to coordinate the work of their brain and organs of articulation, adults tend to make conclusions about their intellectual abilities and think that these children will never achieve success in life. Despite that, children with dyslexia can become professionals in the fields that they choose; among people who have this disorder, there are famous writers, politicians, and actors.
Discussing the key features of the disorder, Freberg (2016) pays close attention to the fact that genetics has a significant influence on the causes of dyslexia. Thus, adult people who have this disorder are very likely to have children who will suffer from dyslexia, too. In particular, it is true for people who have outstanding intellectual abilities.
In general, there is a range of features that are believed to be connected with dyslexia. Before the establishment of diagnosis, individuals who have this disorder often demonstrate the delayed development of speech. Apart from that, other signs require the attention of parents. For instance, children who may have dyslexia often have problems when they need to fulfill tasks where the direction needs to be determined. It can be difficult for such children to distinguish between left and right, and this is why numerous cases of mirror writing occur. Discussing the latter, it needs to be said that the inability to determine the direction often occurs in left-handed children. Several researchers claim that the factor of handedness is strictly interconnected with the presence of dyslexia or other learning disorders; despite that, the nature of the connection between two variables has not been thoroughly studied yet (Brandler & Paracchini, 2014). Considering the evidence that supports the link between left-handedness and the prevalence of dyslexia and other neurological disorders, parents of left-handed children should pay focused attention to the behavior of the latter and the way that they speak and read.
Among the most important signs of dyslexia that can be noticed in children who learn to read, there is the presence of specific mistakes that indicate the lack of coordination between the brain and the organs of speech. Even though dyslexia is primarily considered as a disorder that is manifested in problematic and slow reading, there is no doubt that it has a negative influence on a great number of activities that involve information processing. Considering that it is difficult for children with dyslexia to convert their mental images into words that other people can recognize and understand, many children who have this disorder have problems with the development of speech.
Thus, many of them start speaking much later than their peers, and the presence of numerous mistakes can be an important sign for their parents. Continuing on the topic, it needs to be mentioned that numerous mistakes that children with this disorder make when speaking stem from their inability to pronounce difficult combinations of sounds. Therefore, it often happens that such children switch letters in words when trying to pronounce them. Apart from that, many researchers notice that children who suffer from dyslexia face problems when it is necessary to memorize new words and understand their internal structure (analyze the meaning of each morpheme).
On average, the vocabulary of children who do not have dyslexia is larger than that of their peers who have problems with reading. Another important sign that should encourage parents to seek medical help is the inability of a child to memorize the name of objects that they are familiar with. Thus, it can be extremely difficult for such children to remember the names of colors, animals, birds, or insects. Having a decreased ability to make links between the combinations of sounds and objects that these combinations are connected with, children who have dyslexia often fail to remember their names or the names of people they know. Also, when it comes to the phenomenon of mirror writing, it is important to mention that its presence does not necessarily indicate that a child has dyslexia (Mather, Milford, & McRae, 2015).
It usually happens that even those children whose development is not affected by certain problems can write letters in the wrong way just because they do not understand the difference between correctly and incorrectly written words. Nevertheless, if such a problem occurs regularly and a child is unable to understand that he or she changes the way to write letters, it can be regarded as an important sign. Importantly, considering that dyslexia is strictly interconnected with spatial orientation problems, children who have this disorder can demonstrate a strange behavior in certain situations. Thus, it can be difficult for them to dance and memorize the sequence of different elements of dance. Also, it often happens that the fine motor skills of such children are undeveloped; therefore, performing tasks that involve the use of small objects can be a difficult task for them. The majority f these signs can also be manifested in adolescents.
Conclusion
In the end, dyslexia presents one of the most common disorders that stem from people’s inability to process information and turn it into words as fast as other people do. Unfortunately, due to the lack of awareness about the underlying mechanisms that cause dyslexia, many people tend to think that patients with dyslexia are intellectually disabled. Their intelligence remains normal. At the same time, the speed of information processing is slower than that of people who do not have this disorder. The most common signs and features of dyslexia include the presence of pronunciation mistakes and the inability to memorize words and sounds very fast. People with dyslexia tend to change the structure of words when they read, they add or omit different sounds, and have problems with spatial orientation.
References
Brandler, W. M., & Paracchini, S. (2014). The genetic relationship between handedness and neurodevelopmental disorders. Trends in Molecular Medicine, 20(2), 83-90.
Freberg, L. (2016). Discovering behavioral neuroscience: An introduction to biological psychology (3d ed). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Mather, D. S., Milford, T. M., & McRae, L. M. (2015). Does dyslexia develop from left-eye dominance? Perceptual and Motor Skills, 121(2), 569-601.
Parhiala, P., Torppa, M., Eklund, K., Aro, T., Poikkeus, A. M., Heikkilä, R., & Ahonen, T. (2015). Psychosocial functioning of children with and without dyslexia: A follow-up study from ages four to nine. Dyslexia, 21(3), 197-211.