Learning Problems-The-

Causes of Dyslexia

Reading and spelling difficulties as a result of ADD / ADHD

Synonyms in a broader sense

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

Common typos

Dyslexia, dyslexi

definition

Dyslexia is similar to other learning problems. There are Not THE ONE causethat can be held responsible for the origin of the problem.

The causes for the development of dyslexia varied and to be determined in individual cases.

In the course of the dyslexia research, many causes were discussed and in some cases rejected. Today it is assumed that with regard to the partial performance weakness dyslexia, which only includes some of the children who have problems with reading and spelling, the causes can be found in the following areas.

At this point we refer again to the conceptual distinction of the two areas: Dyslexia and LRS. While the LRS (= reading and spelling weakness) includes all children with problems in the written language area, fall under the term "Dyslexia" only those Children with normal to above average intelligence who only have problems with reading and spelling. Dyslexia is therefore only one Section the LRS.

Need regardless of the conceptual distinction all children regardless of the causes one targeted and individually tailored support.

Causes - general

General information on the causes of dyslexia

According to the long history with many different, sometimes even contradicting statements, causes can be named in different areas. The extent to which they apply and ultimately have a triggering, accompanying or reinforcing character must be assessed individually.

A distinction can be made between:

1. Social factors
2. Constitutional causes

Social causes

Causes in the family area

Especially after the Second World War and into the 1970s, the causes were primarily sought in the area of social origin and upbringing. Linked to this were the research results in the USA, which the Inheritance attached great importance.
Studies by Renate Valtin in the 1970s, which examined the causes with regard to the development of dyslexia, showed that there was a connection between the accompanying factors in the home environment such as:

the social origin,
the income,
the living situation (no own room)
Learning from a model is made more difficult because parents read little or no reading themselves, for example,
School and success in learning are taken less seriously because you have experienced it yourself
general support in learning

exists, but these are reinforcing factors rather than cause areas. This finding is comparable to research into the causes of attention deficit disorder: the style of upbringing alone is not the cause of the development of the syndrome, but it can intensify the factors and, under certain circumstances, make therapy more difficult.

Causes in the field of school

After the parents couldn't be blamed one hundred percent, the school fell into the crossfire of criticism. Investigations in this regard are still taking place today, although the main focus of research was in the 1970s and 1980s. Causes in the school area were located in different areas.

The methodology for learning to read (reading learning method)

Historically, a distinction can be made between:

Synthetic methods based on letters or sounds:

Spelling method
Here the letters are in the foreground, as they are named in the adult alphabet (“Be” instead of B, “Ce” instead of C, ...). Reading is "adding" letters to a word. The problem with this method of learning to read, which is known from ancient times, is that the alphabetic naming of the letters means that words can often no longer be read aloud. The spelling method made “W - i - n - t - e -r” thus “We - i - en - te - er”. This made it difficult for many to learn to read as early as the Middle Ages, so it is all the more astonishing that this methodology was able to last for many centuries.
Lute method
From the fact that letters were named with their alphabetical name, at least in the early days of learning to read the letters were not named with their alphabetical name but as a sound. The “We” became the “Wwww”, the “En” the “Nnnn” etc. Also connected phonetic connections such as “Sch”, “Pf”, etc. are learned as such, not as the “addition” of several letters - names, such as “Pe” and “Eff”
The synthetic methods were accused of endangering dyslexia in the sense of delaying meaningful learning for too long. For too long, in the opinion of the critics, one restricts oneself to drawing letters and sounds together instead of penetrating words as a symbolic unit.

and

Analytical methods based on the whole word or sentence:

Holistic method or the holistic method
The analytical (holistic) reading-learning method, which differs significantly from the first mentioned, developed from the criticism of the synthetic methodology. It was only gradually integrated into teaching at the beginning of the 19th century. Up to the height of the method controversy in the 1960s and 1970s, it gained weight and was banned from the classrooms fairly quickly after the methods were integrated.
The starting point of this methodology was - as already mentioned - the criticism of the synthetic methods that were suspected of “causing” dyslexics. The holistic method does not start from the letter or the sound connection, but from the whole word, possibly even the whole sentence.
According to this basic principle, different primers were developed that tried to integrate this in different ways. For example, the image of a house became a symbol for the word “house” etc. to be read.
Similar to the synthetic method, this method was also accused of causing dyslexia, but on a different level. It was criticized that more was guessed than read, although meaningful reading was in the foreground

Since the criticism of one method was the advantage of the other methodology, after an endless discussion about the potentially better methodology, the two methods were combined with one another in order to promote and encourage both verbal reading as well as meaningful reading.

This method integration has prevailed and when examining today's primers and their didactic basics, it becomes apparent that many elements are based on the original methods. The method integration can be compared to “picking raisins” according to the motto: take the best of everything.

Unfortunately, even method integration failed to solve the problem that some students still have problems learning to read and write. This implies that the methodology as such is not necessarily causal.

Constitutional causes

What is meant by this?

By constitutional causes we understand all causes that can genetically, physically or mentally come into question for the development of dyslexia. This includes, for example

Evidence of genetic inheritance
Minimal cerebral dysfunction (MCD)
Evidence of a different organization of cerebral activity
Central deafness
Visual weakness in perception
gender differences
Developmental deficits, such as language, perception, thinking function and / or memory weaknesses
Reading and writing difficulties (LRS) as a result of ADD / ADHD

All of these factors are described below.

Inheritance

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Hinshelwood already pointed out that some families are more affected by the problem of “congenital word blindness” and that the problem is increasing in some families. As part of the research into the causes, it was found, in particular through twin studies and family examinations, that

Identical twins are generally more similar in reading and writing skills than dizygoti twins.
Children whose parents have problems reading and spelling themselves also represent “children at risk” with regard to reading and spelling problems.

It is now known that the problem can be inherited. One assumes an autosomal dominant inheritance. The word “autosomal” means that inheritance takes place via an autosome (= sex chromosome). On the part of the mother and the father, every person has a copy of all autosomal genes. A genetic defect from one side - be it from the father or the mother - cannot be compensated, so that the child develops the characteristic. In relation to dyslexia, this means that a main gene can act on a chromosome and develop dyslexia. So only one parent has to be affected by the dyslexia, and inheritance does not necessarily have to take place. At the moment it is not yet possible to pinpoint exactly which chromosome is affected by the main gene. Chromosomes 1, 2, 6 and 15 are up for discussion.

MCD - minimal cerebral dysfunction

The abbreviation MCD (= mminimal cerebral D.ysfunction) stands for all disorders in the area of brain function, which are due to different causes before, during or after the birth (= pre-, peri- and postnatal) have arisen.

In the 1970s in particular, minimal cerebral dysfunction as a collective term was overly recognized as the cause of learning problems. Early childhood minimal brain damage can prenatal, so prenatal for example through Infectious diseases in the mother, caused by bleeding or dietary errors during pregnancy arise. This includes, in a special way, the expectant mother's regular consumption of alcohol or nicotine, which puts the brain stem (thalamus) at risk of not being able to fully express itself.

The collective term MCD also includes all early childhood brain damage that during the birth process (= perinatal) enter. This includes in a special way the Lack of oxygen during childbirth, or various Birth delays as a result of positional anomalies.

To the typical postnatal causes The development of minimal cerebral dysfunction typically includes accidents, infectious diseases or metabolic diseases in infants and young children.

In addition, various studies show that children born prematurely (= Premature baby) often develop dyslexia as a long-term consequence if the birth weight is too low. Here, too, a connection with the increased likelihood of minimal, cerbral brain maturation disorders in prematurely born children is suspected. Particularly in the area of early diagnosis, attention should therefore be drawn to premature birth so that these late effects can be recognized and responded to appropriately.

As part of the diagnosis, reference should therefore be made to this early birth; as a rule, these time ranges are generally taken into account. It is therefore advisable to use both the Mother pass and to provide the results of the U-examinations of the child, as they can provide important information with regard to the development and delimitation of causes.

Central deafness

The concept of central hearing impairment must be viewed at a distance from the concept of hearing impairment. Therefore, the central deafness cannot be determined with the typical hearing tests, which are also carried out as part of the U examinations.
Children who suffer from a central hearing impairment do not or only with difficulty manage to separate or switch off background noises from the main noises that are important to them (entertainment, ...).
In the classroom or in the kindergarten group room in particular, background noises can hardly be avoided, so that important instructions, explanations, ... are difficult to perceive and perceive.

visual perception weakness

Visual perception includes the following areas:

Ability to absorb optical stimuli
Ability to distinguish between optical stimuli
Ability to interpret optical stimuli
Ability to respond to visual stimuli according to reception, differentiation and interpretation.

In order for the visual perception ability to be adequately developed, various requirements must be met:

well-developed eyesight that can be checked by an ophthalmologist. For example, ametropia (nearsightedness, farsightedness), astigmatism (= astigmatism), cataracts (= lens opacity) can reduce this ability to see.
an adequately trained eye muscles to be able to fix objects, letters, etc. over a longer period of time.

Visual perception weaknesses as well as the central deafness cannot be detected with the typical tests of the U examinations. These must be supplemented by additional measures. Not least because of this, these weaknesses are referred to as “discrete ocular disorders”.
Targeted observations can identify and diagnose the first signs of poor visual perception.

Anatomy eye

Lacrimal gland
Eye muscle
eyeball
Iris
pupil
Eye socket

Development deficits

On closer inspection, many children with poor spelling skills are lagging behind in their development. The school problems that arise as a result are due to the fact that these children have not developed the necessary maturity in all areas by the time they enter school.
With regard to the development lag, a distinction must be made between:

physical development, which can be determined, for example, by a school doctor examination.
the mental and emotional development, which is much more difficult to assess and includes the physical as well as the psychological and social development level of a child.

Often the mental and spiritual development is not sufficiently taken into account when starting school. Always should be used to assess the mental - emotional development of a child at least the following areas are questioned:

The physical development
The physical resilience
The development of cognitive and intellectual skills
(e.g .: perception of quantity and shape, ability to differentiate (being able to determine differences), ability to concentrate)
Language development
independence
Social competence, for example by determining the ability to fit into a group (even if strange children belong to it)
...

Reading and spelling difficulties as a result of ADD / ADHD

Due to the reduced ability to concentrate and pay attention, there are often gaps and weaknesses in school areas that make the problematic situation more difficult.

In principle it is Combination of dyslexia and ADS, or ADHD possible and conceivable. More often and accordingly more likely it is, however, that school problems arise as a result of the reduced ability to concentrate and pay attention and thus extend to other areas (e.g. arithmetic). In this case there is no partial performance weakness (Dyslexia) before, but rather a reading and spelling weakness (LRS) .