children s health issues
Dyslexia
Introduction
Dyslexia is a specific reading disorder involving difficulty separating single words from groups of words and parts of words (phonemes) within each word. Affected children may be late in speaking, have articulation problems, or have difficulty blending sounds or identifying sounds in words. Academic and intelligence tests are given. Treatment involves direct instruction in word recognition. Dyslexia is a particular type of Learning Disorders . No estimates of the number of children affected by dyslexia exist, but about 15% of school children receive adaptations or special instruction for reading difficulties. It is identified in more boys than girls. However, it may simply go unrecognized more often in girls. Dyslexia tends to run in families. Dyslexia occurs when the brain has difficulty making the connection between sounds and symbols (letters). This difficulty is caused by poorly understood problems with certain connections in the brain. The problems are present from birth and may cause spelling and writing errors and reduced speed and accuracy when reading aloud. Although the letter reversals that often occur in children with dyslexia suggest visual problems, in most cases the problems are related to how sounds are perceived by the brain, that is, how the brain understands and interprets them. People with dyslexia do not have problems understanding spoken language. 