DYSLEXIA.   Term Paper ID:16499 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Definition, symptoms, memory, mirror writing, information organizing, spelling errors, possible causes.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Definition, symptoms, memory, mirror writing, information organizing, spelling errors, possible causes. Paper Introduction: Although the term dyslexia is frequently used by doctors, psychological researchers and linguists to describe children with language disabilities, there is still lack of consistent agreement concerning its causes and characteristics. In general, however, dyslexia is defined as a "disorder in children who, despite conventional classroom experience, fail to attain the language skills of reading, writing, and spelling proportional to their intellectual abilities" (Gaddes, 1980, 222). Dyslexic children are often described as clumsy, forgetful, disorganized, and hyperactive by their families, teachers and peers (Savage, 1985, 222). Along with these descriptions of the general character, it has also been observed that dyslexic children make characteristic reading, writing and spelling errors. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Such mistakes show that dyslexics have trouble learningthe boundaries that exist in words (Miles, 1983, 84). F. (198 ). Reading, perception, and language. Dyslexics also have problems organizing information. During testing the dyslexic's eyes wouldwander from the foreground to the background causing a blurring of theimage. The scanner projects a series of moving objects across ascreen causing the subject's eyes to follow the stimulus. As a result the dyslexic may call a"b" a "d" or a "p" a "q." Similarly, they know that the word "was" iseither "was" or "saw," but they are uncertain of its proper direction(Levinson, 1984, 99). Most dyslexics display eye-tracking difficultieswhen reading; they lose their place, their eyes jump wildly from one letterto another, from one word to another and from one line to another. Thedifficulty in accurate matching of sound and letters prevents dyslexicsfrom monitoring what they have written, or understanding where they made amistake. Illinois: Granada Publishing.Savage, J. L., ed. One biological hypothesis reports that minimal brain damage can causedyslexia. Because dyslexics haveinadequate memory capacities they have trouble holding symbols in theirminds long enough to process them into meaningful language forms. Some nerve fibers may be crossed, connected improperly, or notconnected at all. While plausible spelling errors involve a relativelysophisticated knowledge of the way in which sounds are represented bydifferent letters or combinations of letters in the English alphabet,bizarre spelling is characterized by idiosyncratic rules (Miles, 1983, 63). The final category of spelling errors is called wrongsyllabification, where a collection of letters which, if pronouncedaccording to normal English sound-letter correspondence, would result in aword with the wrong number of syllables. Evenwhen the sensory organ receives the message correctly, it can become mixedup, and although the dyslexic may know the meaning of the symbol they oftenconfuse its directional orientation. Events of a storyand its sequence often get mixed up because information is organizedawkwardly. Since dyslexics often display the problems characteristic of centralnervous system disorders some researchers feel that dyslexia is caused byneurological impairment. A dichotic listening test can be used to check for minimal braindamage. A misspelling is plausible if it might be spelled that way but is not; forexample, spelling "description" as "discription." On the other hand, abizarre spelling error does not make use of the rules of the Englishlanguage; for example, "liquid" is spelled "lquied." Spelling errors made by dyslexics can be broken down into fourcategories. (1983). Back in the 192 s,Samuel T. The aspect of spatial orientation also involves organization.Dyslexic children who systematically confuse their right side from theirleft side have been found to be slow in reading and spelling. In dyslexia the integrationprocess is disturbed so the letters get mixed up in spelling, words andlines get skipped in reading, and often all of the letters are present butin the wrong order (for example, "who" becomes "how"). As the speed ofthe object is increased the eye is forced to track the elements fasteruntil the eye can no longer follow them, a point called the blurring speed. New York: Springer-Verlag.Levinson, H. Language, including listening, speaking, reading and writing are handledby the left hemisphere (left half) of the brain. According to Orton, incomplete dominance between the left and righthemispheres of the brain results in a rivalry between the two hemisphereswhich in turn causes mirror images and reversal errors (Cicci, 1984, 15-16). The neurological system or the central nervoussystem includes the brain, spinal cord, and bundles of nerve fibers thatrun to all parts of the body. Because dyslexics have trouble rememberingwhat they have heard, they do poorly on dichotic listening tests whichmakes doctors suspect minimal brain damage. In general, however, dyslexia is defined as a"disorder in children who, despite conventional classroom experience, failto attain the language skills of reading, writing, and spellingproportional to their intellectual abilities" (Gaddes, 198 , 222). Certaincharacteristics common to dyslexics led Levinson to research inner-eardisturbance (1984, 94). During testing, Levinson found that dyslexics have 1/2 the blurring speed(tracking capacity) as nondyslexic individuals providing support for an eye-tracking deficit in dyslexics (Levinson, 1984, 95). Levinson created an instrument called the 3-D optical scanner whichmeasures the fixation and tracking capacity of the eye during a reading-like process. R. The first category is called the impossible trigram whichinvolves "a combination of three letters which are impossible in normalEnglish spelling because the word would represent somethingunpronounceable" (for example, using the letters "lqu" for the beginning ofthe word "liquid") (Miles, 1983, 64). B., eds. Although Orton's views about hemisphere rivalry is viewed withskepticism today, he is reocgnized for postulating a physiologicaldeficiency hypothesis to explain the reading, writing and spelling problemsof dyslexic children. Although not much attention has been given to the theory of the roleof inner-ear dysfunction in dyslexia in past research, Levinson's thoroughresearch could lead to the re-evaluation of the causes of dyslexia infuture research. The dyslexic cannot appropriately monitor what he/she has written anddoes not recognize that certain combinations of letters are not plausible. Along with these descriptions of the generalcharacter, it has also been observed that dyslexic children makecharacteristic reading, writing and spelling errors. Today many researchers believe that dyslexia has a biologicalcomponent because it often runs in families, and because there are obviousanalogies between dyslexia and dyslexic-like difficulties displayed byadults who have language difficulties as a result of an acquired injury(Miles, 1983, 15-16). After administration of the medication, reading symptomsand a series of sensorimotor symptoms including hearing and sequencingfunctions improved in many of the cases treated providing evidence for thetheory that the language problems of dyslexia are caused by an inner-eardysfunction. Finally, new and innovative research by Harold Levinson has broughtabout evidence that dyslexia is caused by inner-ear dysfunction. New York: Simon and Schuster.----------------------- 1 Information is also stored in a person's memory which makeslearning easier because this information can be produced to read, answerquestions, and solve problems (Savage, 1985, 52 ). After Orton treated more patients with similardifficulties he coined the term "streposymbolia" which means twistedsymbols. D., & Rawson, M. In the normallearning process the brain sorts through the information it receives, putsit in the right order, and organizes and integrates it so that it getsmeaning out of the message (Savage, 1985, 53). The listener then has torepeat the word or sound that he or she hears. Dyslexia: The pattern of difficulties. G. There can also be a problem as the image of the printedsignal goes from the eye to the brain, or sounds in a spoken word do notget sent properly from the ear to the brain. All the information we receive through our eyes, ears, and senseorgans is sent to the brain where it is sorted, interpreted, and organized. Since dyslexics have a great deal of troubleremembering things and organizing information they also have trouble withorientation. In the normal learning process memoryplays an important role. Reading disorders: Varieties and treatments. While the normal reader learns thatcertain combinations of letters cannot go together, because of thelimitations of the dyslexic's memory the knowledge of many rules gets leftout. One of the main reasons why dyslexics have difficulty reading isbecause they have poor memories. So, for example, when wehear a spoken word or see a written word the word registers in a section ofthe left side of the brain (Savage, 1985, 36). Dyslexia: Understanding reading problems. Smart, but feeling dumb. People with normal brainfunction usually repeat words or sounds that they hear through their rightear because information that comes in through the right ear goes directlyto the left side of the brain. In mirror writing all or some of thesymbols of printed words appear in reverse so that, for example, the word"girl" appears to be written as lrig." When this occurs it is even harderfor the dyslexic to decipher the meaning of words written on a page. The message that gets sent to the speechand language area in the left hemisphere of the brain gets processedquickly and remembered because this hemisphere is vital for speech andlanguage (Gaddes, 198 , 38). Maryland: The Orton Dyslexic Society.Duane, D. The two types of reversals that Orton observed were kineticreversals in which the letters in a word or the order of words in asentence are reversed and static reversals where a simple letter isconfused with its mirror image. Either a single word is written with aspace between its parts ("another" written as "a nother"), or separatewords are written together without a space ("chest of drawers" written as"chestobrours"). Orton was alerted to the language disability by a 16-year-old boycalled "M.P." who had difficulties coping with reading and spelling, andoften rotated individual letters and reversed words and clusters of words(Malatesha, 1975, 1 -11). The brain receives information and attachesmeaning to it. According to the minimalbrain damage theory, the left side language areas do not seem to work aswell as the right side causing the dyslexic to often excel in activitieslike art and music which are controlled by the right hemisphere, whilehaving difficulty with language skills due to damage to the left side ofthe brain (Savage, 1985, 38). Another characteristic of dyslexia is the bizarre nature of thedyslexic's spelling. New York: Academic Press.Miles, T. This system involves a complicated networkof nerves which carry messages between the brain and various parts of thebody. Because the dyslexic tracking impairment is similar to "motionsickness experienced by normal individuals when reading in a car moving ona bumpy road, or while in a boat tossed by waves, or after spinning,"Levinson (1984, 93) decided to try to treat dyslexics with anti-motionsickness medicine which helps the inner ear handle the motion input inmotion sickness. Maryland: York Press, Inc.Gaddes, W. A dysfunction of the inner ear could explain the tracking difficultiesassociated with dyslexia, and scrambling of symbols could explain thesecondary memory and comprehension difficulties which result when the brainreceives messages out of sequence (Levinson, 1984, 94). One proposedexplanation for this result has to do with the fact that a short-termmemory component is involved in right-left discriminatory performance(Cicci, 1984, 72-72). N. (1975). In dyslexic people some of the messages may get mixed up due to amalfunction that occurs when the information travels within the nervoussystem. Similarly, the hand may notget the correct message from the brain about writing a word, or the personcould have trouble reading or writing the words he sees (Savage, 1985, 41-41). Consequently, a word spelled by a dyslexic may contain one ormore of the wrong letters in place of the correct ones (for example, "cet"instead of "get" and "bugger" instead of "buzzer" (Gaddes, 198 , 8 ). Theinner-ear system has been proven to direct and guide our eyes, and trackingresponses occur automatically during the reading process (Duane, 1975, 72). A phenomenon called mirror writing is another factor involved in thedyslexic's deficiency in reading. (1985). Although the term dyslexia is frequently used by doctors,psychological researchers and linguists to describe children with languagedisabilities, there is still lack of consistent agreement concerning itscauses and characteristics. Learning disabilities and brain function. N., & Aaron, P. Annals of dyslexia. H. ReferencesCicci, R. This type of spelling error, along withthe others, is caused by the dyslexic's weak lexical system. (1975). Another possible cause of dyslexia which is related to brain damageis neurological impairment. For example, when the word"avoid" is written as "aviod" (pronounced av-vee-od) it has three syllablesinstead of two (Gaddes, 198 , 81). Without theproper knowledge of words and grammar, spelling becomes a difficult task. In this test a person wearing earphones is simultaneouslypresented with different noises in each ear. In any case, despite the abundance of theories about thecauses of dyslexia, a great deal more work must be done in order to findthe cause of the debilitating disorder called dyslexia so that treatmentprocedures can be standardized rather than experimental. Because of their weak knowledge ofwords they may fail to accurately represent sounds or vocal movements whichare similar. Similarly, whilenondyslexic individuals could look at a stationary object which had aseries of lines moving behind it and still see the object as stationary,the dyslexics thought that the stationary objects were moving and wereunable to fixate clearly on them. (1984). The third category of dyslexic spelling errors involves using thewrong boundaries between words. Along with the fact that dyslexics are believed to have poor memoriesand are unable to grasp the rules of language, many researchers claim thatthere are also biological causes of the disorder. New York: Warner Books, Inc.Malatesha, R. (1984). Dyslexic children are often described as clumsy, forgetful,disorganized, and hyperactive by their families, teachers and peers(Savage, 1985, 222). A second category of spelling errors characteristic of dyslexicsinvolves a misrepresentation of sounds. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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