Dyslexia

Reading disorder

Nature

Dyslexia is a learning disorder arising from abnormality in the part of the brain that organizes written information. Dyslexics have difficulties in reading and writing. The disability may include words and not letters, figures and not letters, and so on. Symptoms include skipping words or lines when reading or writing, changing or reversing letter or number sequences, dizziness when looking at words, and daydreaming. Dyslexic children may be gifted in other areas; for example, they learn to walk earlier than non-dyslexics.

Incidence

Five to 15% of children have some form of dyslexia.

Claim

There is a gene for dyslexia, and it affects the brain's magnocells, which react to the changes in light required to read print.

Counter-claim

Dyslexia is not due to a malformation of the brain, but is a disorder of perception. Dyslexics think in pictures rather than in words. This is possibly a more intelligent way of thinking. Reading difficulties occur because abstract letters do not represent objects pictorially.

With early intervention, many of the dyslexic child's problems can be prevented.