Should You Have Your Child Screened for Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a learning disability that accounts for approximately 80%of learning disabilities. It is a condition more common in boys than girls and is thought to affect more than 10% of the school age population in most Western nations. There is often an upside to having dyslexia that many educators over look. Most dyslexics are capable of multilateral thinking and are more creative than their non dyslexic counter parts.

Sometimes it can be hard to diagnose a learning disability in school aged children. In general the symptoms of many learning disabilities look the same. Most students with learning disabilities are poorly organized, have a poor sense of time, and no sense of direction. Children with learning disabilities often cannot concentrate on tasks given them by the teacher; and appear to have issues with their short term memory. Most will show a pronounced difficulty in dealing with language based tasks and will find even following simple directions difficult.

No two dyslexics demonstrate the same symptoms. It is also unlikely that, unless a child has multiple learning disabilities that they will have all of the symptoms of dyslexia. The problems with most general symptoms of learning disorders are very much the same. Other conditions as attention deficit disorder, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, may have the same sort of presentation. Treatments for each learning disorder are different, so correct diagnosis for your child is essential. Many parents do find that conditions like dyscalculia many times are present with dyslexia in a child with severe learning issues in school.

There seems to be some genetic predisposition to learning disabilities in general. A child with a sibling with ADHD or a parent with dysgraphia is more likely to be diagnosed with dyslexia. Sometimes the signs of dyslexia are present from the earliest days in school. It can still be hard to diagnose. Most young child have difficulty learning letters that look similar like p, b, d. Dyslexic children fall behind in all developmental language tasks . Developmental language delays along with a general inability to understand verbal based directions can be a good way to spot a young child with dyslexia.

It can be hard for even the professionals to distinguish a learning disability such as dyslexia from ADHD. The lack of ability to complete the task at hand or follow directions in both disorders looks very much the same. The distinction is in that ADHD makes a person slow to focus or hyper focus on a given task. Children with ADHD tend to be impulsive and children with dyslexia are not.

A child with dyslexia has basic problems with tasks that are given verbally or written because it is a language based disability. It is not that they cannot concentrate on a verbal task, but they cannot easily understand the directions for the tasks. Dyslexics have general issues with written directions of all sorts. They tend to "push" on a shop door when the instructions say "pull". In the severest forms of dyslexia a child will see letters" jump off" a page and not be able to read the instructions at all.

The good news for parents is that most dyslexics are of average or above average intelligence. They are also tending to be more creative then the public at large. Most parents have to put aside their preconceived notions about dyslexia because only 30% of children diagnosed with dyslexia actually see letters reversed in words. You child's specific manifestation of dyslexia will be addressed by educational professionals.

It can be intimidating to get your school aged child screened for dyslexia. If your child is struggling in school; insist that your child be screened for learning disabilities. If the school administration hesitates bring information to the school why you think that your child has a learning disability. If it runs in the family be sure to share this with school officials. It is not something to hide, but a way to make sure that the school screens your child and makes proper educational arrangements for them. There are private groups like the Dyslexia Institute that can give you information and services. Their services tend to be very expensive and out of the average parent's price range.

Some people find that have an educational psychologist not provided by the school is a way to get their child's learning disability sooner. An educational psychologist can also help you evaluate the program the school put together to treat your child's learning disability. Most of these types of services are not covered by insurance. Still, it may be worth the out of pocket expense to see that your child is correctly diagnosed with dyslexia.

http://www.dyslexiaanswers.com/whatisdys.html

http://www.medicinenet.com/dyslexia/article.htm

http://www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/parents/ld_basics/ld.asp