Dyslexia Treatment and Assessment For Children

Dyslexia, which is a kind of learning disability or learning disorder, makes it difficult for a child with normal intelligence and vision to read, write, speak, and spell perfectly. This disorder affects the portion of the brain that facilitates language learning. It is a disorder that cannot be determined through any tests. You’ll have to understand and monitor the symptoms of your child to ascertain if he or she is facing issues with learning or not. There’s no cure for such a learning disorder, but early diagnosis and assessment can lead to a better outcome.

Here is a guide on the symptoms, along with dyslexia treatment and assessment for children.

Symptoms

The symptoms of a child suffering from dyslexia can be divided into two parts i.e. before school and during school.

Before School

It is normally difficult to ascertain the symptoms of dyslexia at this stage, but you should look out for the following symptoms:

• If the child starts speaking very late
• Difficulty in learning new words
• If the child finds it difficult to remember letters, colors, or numbers
• If the child finds it difficult to understand the nursery rhymes

School Age:

When at school, the teachers can determine whether the child is finding it difficult to read, write, spell, or speak. It is easier to ascertain whether a child is suffering from dyslexia at this stage, so that dyslexia treatment and assessment can be carried out at the right time. Here are some of the signs to look out for:

• If the child finds it difficult to understand and process what they hear
• Problems with reading a simple sentence
• Difficulty in solving simple questions
• If the child finds it difficult to ascertain the differences between similar words and letters
• Inability to pronounce words
• If the child neglects activities that involve reading

Assessment

As there are no particular tests to determine dyslexia, there are several other factors that can help. Here are some of them:

• Medical History and Educational Issues: The doctor would like to ascertain a few facts, such as if any member of the family has or had any learning disorder, and how the child is coping with his education. Dyslexia treatment and assessment can be made easier if any family history can be identified.
• Life at home: The doctors will also ask about the day to day activities of your child at home. Who lives at the home, the condition of home, behavior of parents, etc. are a few questions that the doctor may ask.
• Educational tests: The doctors may ask your child to take a couple of educational tests, which involves writing and reading of simple words, or recognizing colors, shapes, patterns, etc. This is to analyze the pattern of mistakes and the difficulty the child faces to understand the basic words, letters, colors, or shapes.
• Neurological tests:  The child may have to go through vision, hearing, and brain tests that allow the doctors to determine whether or not any such factors are adding to the child’s learning disorder.
• Psychological tests: Depression and anxiety can also be a reason that may cause a learning disorder. So some doctors may even recommend taking psychological tests to ascertain the mental health of the child.

Treatment

There are no medical dyslexia treatment and assessment procedures to improve the abnormality of the brain that causes dyslexia. However, this problem can be treated if teachers and parents use specific education techniques to help a child understand the letters, words, numbers, symbols, etc. in a better way. For example, if the child finds it difficult to cope up with the pace of the teacher, you can tape the lecture so that the child can listen and learn it at his own pace. Besides this, tracing the shape of the letters with the help of fingers can allow the child to understand them better.

Teaching techniques like phonemes and phonics are also helpful to make your child understand the strings of letters through sound and words. Teachers and parents can also encourage the child to read the sentence loudly to develop fluency.

Support is the main motivating factor for overall dyslexia treatment and assessment. For this, you’ll have to be patient and work closely with your child to overcome the problem of dyslexia.