Dyslexia

Synonyms in a broader sense

Dyslexia, dyslexia, dyslexia isolated or circumscribed reading-spelling weakness, reading-spelling disorder, LRS, partial performance weakness, partial performance disorder

definition

The term “dyslexia” comes from the Greek and roughly translates as: reading weakness
Based on this definition, various starting points emerged in the history that tried to regulate the cause and how to deal with this problem. The changed designations (dyslexia, LRS, reading and spelling weaknesses) and perspectives result from looking at the history.

frequency

Reading and spelling weaknesses can be found everywhere where a written language is learned.
It is assumed that around 8% to 12% of all people in three different problem levels (difficult / medium / easy) suffer from a reading and spelling weakness.
The gender distribution shows the occurrence of this reading and spelling weakness in a ratio of about 1: 3 to the disadvantage of the boys, whereby it is assumed that this is due to a different level of motivation and not, as is often assumed, to a gender-specific tendency to development delays or the like.
Combinations with ADS or ADHD are also conceivable. A reading and spelling weakness can be caused by the ADD or ADHD, but the cause of an ADD or ADHD is not justified in a reading and spelling weakness.

Difference to the LRS

Dyslexia can - in contrast to reading and spelling weaknesses - also occur in the form of a partial performance weakness in the case of a gifted person.
If the child is also weak in numeracy, dyslexia can usually be excluded as a partial performance disorder. The simultaneous occurrence of dyscalculia and dyslexia can be excluded. Both learning problems are sub-areas that are affected by a learning problem. As soon as problems arise in both learning areas, only one part (partial performance weakness) is no longer affected by a problem.
A numeracy weakness and a reading and spelling weakness are conceivable, because the child then shows general weaknesses in class.

Read more about the topic of learning disabilities in children

Symptoms of dyslexia

Symptoms are generally of an individual nature and must be viewed and assessed on a case-by-case basis.

We differentiate between:

  • The primary manifestations of reading and spelling weakness / dyslexia
  • The secondary manifestations of reading and spelling weaknesses / dyslexia

If you would like to know more about the symptomatic symptoms, please click here: Symptoms of dyslexia

Concomitant symptoms

In children who suffer from dyslexia, accompanying symptoms such as temporary inattentiveness can be observed. This can be caused by impaired sensory perception, but also by learning methods that are not tailored to the child. In addition, some children have difficulty concentrating, which means that some activities are only carried out briefly or superficially. It is important to mention that the poor concentration usually only occurs during writing and reading tasks; the child can deal with other activities both intensively and persistently.

Furthermore, children who suffer from dyslexia often suffer from a lack of motivation to attend school. This can even lead to fear of school. The reason for this is mostly due to the excessive demands at school, which take away the child's desire for teaching and learning.

The children mostly have noticeably poor grades in several subjects and not just in languages. This is due to poor understanding of the text. In addition, it is possible that children who suffer from dyslexia have a very low self-esteem because they are often confronted with their deficits compared to their classmates in everyday school life. With the accompanying symptoms mentioned, it should always be noted that not every child diagnosed with dyslexia must also show these symptoms.

Read more on the topic: Learning problems

Causes of Dyslexia

On our Causes of Dyslexia page, we fully describe all possible causes that can contribute to the development of reading and spelling problems. A distinction is made between

1. Social factors:

  • Causes in the family area
  • Causes in the field of school

2. Constitutional causes:

This is understood to mean all causes that can be considered for the development of dyslexia on a genetic, physical or emotional level.

More information about the causes: Causes of Dyslexia

The diagnosis of dyslexia is made by a psychologist or child and adolescent psychiatrist.
Various tests are carried out for this purpose. This includes a standardized reading and spelling test, a neurological and possibly an internal examination, a vision and hearing test, checking the motor skills and an assessment of the child's emotionality, personality and behavior. Furthermore, the weakness in reading spelling is often compared with the intelligence by means of an intelligence test. A so-called discrepancy diagnosis is made, this means that the child has a significantly lower reading and spelling performance than would be expected based on the existing intelligence. Based on these tests, a disorder-specific therapy plan is drawn up for the person affected.

More on this: Diagnosing dyslexia

What does a test for dyslexia look like?

A test for dyslexia is done by a child and adolescent psychiatrist or a child and adolescent psychotherapist. A social pediatric center offers another test option. Testing is particularly relevant when parents want to apply for compensation for their child. According to the Federal Association for Dyslexia, the following three areas are examined in a child in the test.

The first area deals with the assessment of school performance and learning status. These include:

  • case of performance
  • grades
  • Reading comprehension
  • Reading accuracy
  • Reading speed
  • spelling, orthography
  • and as speech-free intelligence diagnostics as possible.

In the second area, the overall development and the subsequent problems are assessed. These include:

  • Linguistic and motor development
  • Visual and hearing performance
  • attention
  • concentration
  • Social behavior
  • Emotional stress and psychosomatic complaints, such as abdominal pain or headache.

In the last sub-area, framework conditions and external factors are assessed. The type of school and the quality of teaching, the number of class or school changes, school motivation and the family situation all play a decisive role.

Read more on the topic: Early detection of dyslexia

What are the different tests?

There are various tests for dyslexia that are tailored to the age of the child and, accordingly, the possible school level. It should be noted, however, that there is no test that accurately diagnoses dyslexia, only tests that show the severity of symptoms. In summary, it can be said that the different tests always test one of the following three areas or a combination thereof:

  • Spelling skills
  • Reading ability
  • Intelligence.

For this reason there are many different tests on the market. There are already tests for preschoolers, such as the Bielefeld screening, so that children at risk can be detected at an early stage. The difficulties that dyslexia brings with it are often particularly noticeable in elementary school, so many tests are tailored to elementary school students. From the second grade, for example, the Hamburg writing test provides a good insight into the state of development of language and writing.

A standardized test that examines spelling performance and is often used is the Salzburg spelling test. In addition to tests for elementary school students, tests have also been developed for grades 5 to 8. The so-called adult tests exist for even older test persons. Only a test that corresponds to the age should be carried out in order not to falsify the results.

What is the relationship between dyslexia and dyscalculia?

Often dyslexia and dyscalculia occur together in one child. Dyscalculia is a problem of understanding basic arithmetic, the decimal system and the general concept of numbers. With both learning disorders there are often difficulties in the area of ​​perception. Such difficulties are often seen as the cause of learning disorders, but it remains unclear whether there is a connection if both learning disorders occur together.

Another common feature of both disorders are the problems with retrieving short and long-term memory. It can be summarized that both dyslexia and dyscalculia are learning disabilities. When diagnosing it, it must be precisely ascertained whether the problems and difficulties a child has are caused by two learning difficulties or just one. For example, it is possible that students in math classes have problems reaching an age-appropriate level because of their dyslexia.

Read more on the topic: Dyscalculia

Is there a link between intelligence and dyslexia?

Dyslexia and intelligence have no scientifically proven connection. This means that children who have dyslexia shouldn't do badly on an intelligence test.
The distribution of intelligence is the same among dyslexics as it is among people without dyslexia. When diagnosing dyslexia, an intelligence test is usually also carried out to assess this. It is possible that people with very high intelligence or even giftedness suffer from dyslexia. Often, however, children with dyslexia are mistakenly viewed as stupid by their classmates, as the learning content of the German school system can sometimes cause great problems for dyslexics.

Can giftedness trigger dyslexia?

The connection between giftedness and dyslexia seems very absurd to many people. A person who suffers from dyslexia does not have to be less intelligent, nor is it excluded that he may have a gifted person. So it is very possible that in addition to dyslexia there is also a giftedness, but these are not related to each other.

Accordingly, people with dyslexia can have particular strengths in areas that have nothing to do with cultural techniques. Often, however, a gifted or particularly high intelligence of these students remains undiscovered, as they have major deficits in certain areas. The areas of spelling and reading comprehension are also often mistakenly equated with intelligence, so that gifted children are not considered from the outset in a child with dyslexia.

Read more on the topic: Problems with giftedness

Therapy options for dyslexia

Therapy should always be individually tailored to the child's deficits and, if possible, be holistic. At this point, holistic means that therapy / therapist, parents and school pull together in order to want to achieve the best possible results through cooperation with one another.

Holistic support should also take place in relation to the child and thus address the socio-emotional area as well as the psychomotor and cognitive areas.
The educational work should be based on the level of learning, the learning conditions and the work opportunities of each child.

Read more about the topic here: Therapy for dyslexia

Which games help with dyslexia?

Games that have been developed for dyslexia patients are usually very motivating, because such children are often discouraged because, despite a lot of practice and learning in school, they often only achieve poor results. For this reason it is important that the games for such patients are designed in such a way that small successes arise again and again. The child regains confidence in their own abilities. This leads to the children playing with joy and learning with joy.

Card games that also trigger a tactile stimulus in the child are ideal for this. As an example, a memory or a canasta can be mentioned, in which the picture side is also described with words. The child has to read the word on it each time before putting the card down, so the children automatically have inconspicuous reading training in addition to having fun playing.

There are numerous games for the computer that help with dyslexia and that the child can play alone. With such computer programs, the level of difficulty can be individually adapted to the level of the child. There are, for example, search or error images to train optical differentiation. The ability to differentiate is very important when reading and writing, as it can be used to differentiate between like and unlike, such as certain letters (h and k or n and m).

Another game in dyslexia is drawing letters on the child's back, with the child taking turns being the painter and guessing party. In this game, the letters are particularly well imprinted in the child's memory through several senses.

How can speech therapy help?

Dyslexia is often treated by speech therapists, as it can often occur as a result of late effects of speech development disorders.
Speech therapy can help to develop, automate and improve sub-processes of reading and writing, including, for example, learning about orthographic rules and spelling rules. In this way, sub-processes that are important for reading and writing can be learned and thus contain the problems with reading and writing.

It should be noted, however, that speech therapy for dyslexia is not listed in the health insurance companies' catalog of services.

Dyslexia today

However, since the school problems could not be disputed away and have not yet been discussed away, there was an innovation in the decrees that no longer judges the pupil in terms of his intelligence but in terms of his school performance. The decrees no longer speak of dyslexia in the actual sense, but of a reading and spelling weakness (LRS), which now all children, regardless of their origin, their intelligence or any attempts at explanation from the child's environment, from this reading - Spelling problems can be affected. The “classic dyslexics” with a partial performance disorder in the area of ​​reading and spelling with normal to above-average intelligence only account for a small percentage in this group.
While in children with a partial performance disorder (dyslexia) the weakness is limited to reading and spelling, children with an LRS (reading and spelling weakness) can also be assigned problems in other school areas. They are often considered to be generally inferior.

The situation is similar in the area of ​​mathematics. While there are children there who have problems in the form of partial performance weakness or partial performance disorder (dyscalculia) in the mathematical area alone, there are also children who generally have weaker school performance. Then one speaks of a numeracy weakness.

The history of dyslexia at a glance

1895 Hinshelwood

  • congenital word blindness; inherited (genetic) or congenital

1916 Ranschburg

  • Term: dyslexia; mental developmental delay ("auxiliary student")

1951 Lindner

  • Dyslexia = partial performance disorder with normal to above average intelligence; Exclusion of generally weaker students

50s to 80s

  • Dyslexia boom and anti-dyslexia movement
    lead to the amendment of the edicts. There is a demand for edicts to give all students with reading and spelling problems help and targeted support. Dyslexia becomes part of the weakness in reading and writing (LRS)

today

  • LRS - dyslexia
    LRS includes dyslexia. Even today, dyslexia represents the partial performance weakness with normal to above average intelligence. In general:
    • Problems in reading and spelling should be recognized at an early stage (early detection; early diagnosis)
    • Individual support should follow the diagnosis (support diagnostics)

history

The change in the term from dyslexia to reading and spelling weakness (LRS) took place gradually and is due, among other things, to the fact that, on the one hand, the many different attempts at definition led to confusion. All too often, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, failure at school was justified by dyslexia without a rational justification being available.

At this point, a short historical outline should serve to clarify the terminology.

The ophthalmologist Hinshelwood first observed cases of the so-called “congenital word blindness” in 1895. The children he examined were unable to read words or individual letters. Although no signs of brain and / or organ damage were found at the time, the doctor's records indicated that the children came from families with poor talent. It was therefore assumed that “congenital word blindness” is due to a congenital or inherited brain defect.

Ranschburg was the first educator who coined the term dyslexia from his work in 1916. Conceptually, he equated dyslexia with reading disabilities and pointed out a higher degree of backwardness in the mental development of a child. This developmental delay manifests itself between the ages of 6 and 8 years, sometimes also later through the inability of the child to acquire sufficient reading fluency. As a result of Ranschburg's definition, children with reading difficulties were referred to auxiliary schools until after World War II.
In general, it should be noted that the period before, during and after World War II largely eliminated research into dyslexia. While a genetic disposition was considered in those years in the USA, for example, this was almost completely ruled out due to the prevailing ideas at the time.

In 1951, Maria Lindner took up the discussion about dyslexia again and tried to refute Ranschburg's definition. Unlike her predecessors, she examined the intelligence of those children who were weak in reading. It was she who redefined dyslexia as a partial performance disorder: She understood dyslexia to be a special weakness in learning to read, and indirectly also in writing with a relatively good intelligence. For them, partial performance disorder or a special weakness meant that none of the other school areas had any noticeable problems. For the first time, Lindner also indicated that the weakness does not have to be limited to reading, but that the spelling can also be affected. Unlike before, the child's living conditions were now examined more closely. As a result of the integration of intelligence, Lindner's definition of all so-called “learning disabled people” excluded them as “dyslexics”. So dyslexia could also be considered in combination with giftedness.

On the basis of Lindner, many attempts have been made to get information about the cause of the development of dyslexia. Different directions of research had different explanations. On the one hand, attempts were made to find causes in the pre-, peri- and postnatal area, i.e. any problems before, during and after the birth; on the other hand, left-handers in particular were considered “at risk”, as they deviate from the dominant rule of law.
Other research groups, on the other hand, saw spelling performance to a large extent as dependent on the environment, as they found in their series of experiments that children with spelling problems often belonged to the lower class. The level of intelligence always played a decisive role in this phase of the dyslexia movement. A limit range for “normal intelligence” was defined, which was in the range 85-115.

Lindner's definition also found its way into almost all LRS decrees in the school sector, whereby Ranschburg's definition was almost completely deleted. However, the innovations resulted in a real “dyslexia boom”, which in turn triggered an “anti-dyslexia movement”. Representatives of this movement accused those responsible of trying to cover up inadequacies in the school sector with a learning disorder similar to that of illness. Dyslexia was described as a construct that only tried to distract from bad school grades. The main reason for this claim was, among other things, that one could not find THE cause as such. Thus, time and again other children became dyslexic - depending on the type of examination.

Related topics

  • ADHD
  • Learning disability
  • Poor concentration
  • Speech disorders
  • Educational games