PURPOSE The audience will gain a deeper understanding about the disability and how it affects the people who are afflicted by it. INTRODUCTION Take a few seconds to read the following paragraph. It does not make much sense. The photo illustrates one variation of how people with dyslexia read and in most cases, how they write, too. Despite being the most prevalent learning disability, occurring in 1 out of 5 people, dyslexia occurs on a spectrum. Not everyone is going to experience all the same symptoms. Having dyslexia does not have to prevent you from succeeding in life, be it academically or otherwise. In fact, a lot of prominent figures are reported to have dyslexia. Examples include Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Steven Spielberg, and Keira Knightley. CENTRAL IDEA We need to understand what constitutes dyslexia in order to effectively manage children or adults with dyslexia. PREVIEW The public should be educated on what dyslexia really is and what it isn’t, recognise the characteristics of this disability and be aware of the management strategies. BODY OUTLINE Dyslexia is a language-based disorder that has specific tell-tale signs and there are effective ways to help people with dyslexia. Dyslexia was traditionally defined as an unexpected difficulty learning to read despite intelligence, motivation and education (Shaywitz, 1996). An article by a group of researchers, published by The American Academy of Pediatrics (2011) describes it as a receptive
David Bois, a dyslexic lawyer and litigator, has struggled with reading all his life, but he had a "childhood fascination with the law and decided that he would go to law school," which requires a lot of reading, but because of his dyslexia, he could not read like everyone else (2). Although, ever since he was born, he has been meticulously listening, because as he says, “Listening… was the only way I could learn,” he had to scramble and adapt and come up with some kind of strategy that allowed him to keep pace with everyone around him (2). His peers would be reliant on reading and studying to succeed in school, and to succeed in a law career. Thankfully, when he was in school his listening is what kept him ahead of the game because, “while everyone else furiously made notes or doodled or lapsed into daydreams,” he would focus in on everything that was said and written, and paste it all into his memory (2). He was mentally advanced compared to his fellow students, because everything he needed to study or review has already been drilled into his mind.
Ordinarily, most who hear this term believes it means seeing words wrong or reversing letters. Dyslexics ' are categorized as being unable to read, write, or spell (Schmitt & Clemens, 1994, Preface). The literal translation of dyslexia means “impaired words” (Schmitt & Clemens, 1994, p. 142), nevertheless dyslexia stretches far beyond reading and writing, although these are the most obvious handicaps, which Schmitt struggled with daily. Dyslexia causes a person to favor the right hemisphere of their brain than the left hemisphere, therefore “people with congenital or acquired dyslexia often have left-side handicaps that are so severe that most of their mental processes are delegated to the right hemispheres of their brains” (Schmitt & Clemens, 1994, p. 133). The left hemisphere of the brain is normally specialized in taking care of the analytical and verbal tasks, i.e. language skills, skilled movement, and analytical time sequence processing3.
In Scott Sonnon’s book A Mountain Stands: Confessions of a Suppressed Genius Sonnon says, “Dyslexia was not my deficit, but my advantage.” By clinical definition, dyslexia is a language-based learning disability, which affects an individual’s aptitude to read due to complications identifying sounds and linking letters and words. In elementary school, I was diagnosed with severe Dyslexia. Since my diagnosis, many aspects of my life have been defined by others’ perception of Dyslexia, which caused me to have a negative outlook on my learning disability. Through the progression of my educational career, I began to realize that my learning disability was a blessing in disguise.
One of the things that has been a struggle for me over the years is the slowness of my reading and the process of absorbing written materials. I was always a bad speller and had a very low self esteem on my academic abilities. Eventually, I came to realize that I must have some sort of reading disability, inherited from my mother who struggled as well with the same issues. When I was in elementary and secondary school nobody ever talked about these kinds of disabilities and I was ridiculed many times from many teachers for not trying hard enough. I was labeled as not living up to my potential, as teachers could tell that I was bright, but couldn 't seem to come up with better grades.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia during my 10th grade as I was slow in learning and writing. I was provided with accommodations for my 10th and 12th grade Board examination by the Central Board of Secondary Education. However, I did not use accommodations during my undergraduate study in MBBS and I had progressively improved in my scores and writing speed with the help of peers and teaching faculty and my own perseverance. With how far I have progressed scholastically, I strongly believe I can independently perform tasks without any aid.
Speech-language pathologists are people who “work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults” (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 1997). Speech-language pathologists can work in different fields including schools, nursing homes, in private practices, and for the state. However, many speech language pathologist choice to work with kids in early intervention, schools, and in private practices. Early Intervention is a program offered by the state that provide services to babies and toddlers with delayed development or disabilities. “Nearly 1 in 12 (7.7 percent) U.S. children ages 3-17 has had a disorder related to voice, speech,
Studies have shown, for example, that children with dyslexia who
They just have trouble with things like reading, spelling, or writing. Sadly, it can not be cured, however there are types of medicines that can somewhat improve it and make it easier to live with. Just because you have a learning disability doesn’t mean you can’t go and do greater things in this world. Alexander Graham Bell and Theodore Roosevelt both had a learning disability and look what they have accomplished. Bell was dyslexic, but that didn’t stop him from inventing the telephone.
The Predominant Theory is a theory that tells dyslexia is caused by a fundamental deficiency in the processing of phonological information. The Double Deficit Theory is a theory that tells dyslexics have a weak phonological awareness(of sound in words) and also tells that dyslexic suffers inherent problems in processing information at a given speed, which cause interference in many cognitive activities that includes reading and writing. Magnocellular Impairment Theory is a theory that tells dyslexics ' visual, learning, and processing issues are caused by a deficit in the magnocellular pathway. Cerebellar Impairment Theory is a theory that believes that the mild dysfunction of the cerebellum leads to an inability to effect the timed eye movements
Individual participants are identified as treatment responders or non-responders based on evaluating the immediacy and the magnitude of change in a target outcome. Assuming that the responder’s data meet the design requirements, the growth is attributed to the treatment rather than to other factors. When there are a large enough sample of individual responders and non-responders, these studies can examine the differences in putatively important pre-treatment characteristics and represent the critical element for identifying the predictors of response to treatment. On the basis of the intergenerational multiple deficit model of dyslexia, there are two groups of variables which can be used for studies as
Many people believe that dyslexia does not exist or it is very rare. This is a myth. Scientists have been aware of dyslexia as far back as the 1800s, and even then some believed that it was somehow related to the brain. In the United States, NIH research has shown that dyslexia affects 5-10% of the population, with estimates as high as 17% (Debunking the Myths about Dyslexia).
Persuasive Speech: Mental Illness Generally when people think if the word illness they think of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hemophilia, etc. These are all physical illnesses. Not many people realize that mental illnesses are also just as impactful on lives. One in four people suffer from mental disorder today, however few receive help; only 50% of the ill receive proper treatment.
I had a brutal lisp and wasn't able to pronounce the “s”’ in words. Several years after the commencement of my speech therapy, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. This news came shortly after my family relocated from the Midwest to Ipswich, Massachusetts. My parents determined that the most effective way to combat my dyslexia was homeschooling and additional special education from the local elementary school. My years homeschooled were arduous.
Too often the success of a student is solely based on GPA or ACT scores — a number. In exchange, we 're quashing the core of a student, which reaches far beyond academics. I often see peers consumed with securing a membership into the acceptable numbers club — leaving little room for personal growth and development. This logic is flawed! A numerical value should never be the basis of a student 's worth.
People diagnosed with dyslexia have other skills they are good at, they are very smart in other subjects, and they can still become successful just like someone without dyslexia. A person with dyslexia can do anything a person without dyslexia can do. Children and adults with dyslexia struggle to fit in with others who feel like they are outsiders. Based on an article done by the University of Michigan, “The current definition of dyslexia in the literature: Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by the difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities” (What is Dyslexia? 1).