WHAT IS DYSLEXIA AND HOW TO APPLY TREATMENT?
WHAT IS DYSLEXIA AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE FOR DYSLEXIA?
Now that we clarified what dyslexia is, it’s time to go deeper on the behavioural differences and difficulties, dyslexic children are experiencing. For dyslexic children, it may be hard to follow up with their friends in terms of learning because they experience difficulties in reading and writing. At the same time, comprehension impairment, confliction between skills and extreme lack of attention are common symptoms of dyslexia and learning difficulty statements. Let’s have a look into how to support dyslexic children:
HOW TO HELP THE CHILD WITH DYSLEXIA?
Failing at school and having difficulties to catch up may cause loss of self-confidence in dyslexic children. Together with this, unfortunately, there is also a huge possibility that they can easily get bullied by other schoolmates. And because dyslexic children are more likely to be thoughtful and sensitive, these kinds of situations may affect them more deeply.
Parents and teachers have a big role in children with dyslexia. They have to be conscious and shouldn’t accuse the child of the reading impairments. Expressions like "You can do if you want, you are bad boy/girl, you do not care, you are not a good person" can cause permanent damage to the child. That’s why everyone who is responsible for the child with dyslexia must be aware of some topics like what is dyslexia, how to resolve the reading difficulty, how to support the child with dyslexia, what should be done for dyslexia, and so on.
1
Be patient: If your child or your student is having reading difficulties, you should be really patient and give him/her close attention. You can ask them to read out loud, so both you and the child can hear, understand and improve awareness on the mistakes.
2
Motive them: It is necessary to constantly congratulate children who are suffering from learning disabilities in order to prevent the damage on their self-confidence. Compliment them for every single success and express your proud frequently. This may motivate the child to be more successful.
3
Support with games: Make them improve themselves using their favourite materials. Dyslexic children are closely interested in games. Properly chosen games can be used as dyslexia exercises. For example, you can use the MentalUP Intelligence Games, certified by the Mental Health Association, as a pedagogical product. We share 3 demo games below for you to have a look.
Placing letters correctly
Fields developed: Vocabulary, Vocabulary Fluency, and Planning
Visual attention and memory games
Fields developed: Visual Memory, Sustained Attention, and Visual Recognition
Interconnection between concepts
Fields developed: Conceptualization, Comparing, and Divided Attention
To support improvement in dyslexic children, check out our MentalUP brain exercise games like attention games, memory games, verbal intelligence and word games, developed by academics and game designers.
MentalUP is 100% reliable, scientific and fun application. MentalUP, also used by adults, is one of the best tools to support the mental development of your child.
MentalUP also includes logical intelligence games that require using the left side of the brain at the same time.
4
Do not compare with others: You should understand that comparing children is not a motivation method. This one is not just for children with dyslexia. But as the dyslexic children are more sensitive, they may be affected much more.
5
Collaborate with the school administration and the teacher: Usually being careful and conscious as a parent is not enough. You should also talk to the teacher and other school staff to be sure that your child is treated in the right way.
6
Focus on Special Abilities: Children with reading impairment or in general terms learning disabilities may have special interests. And they may be really good at them. Discover and motivate your child about his/her interests and abilities. Being successful in something will motivate him/her and increase self-confidence.
7
Motivation, pursuit, and appreciation: Give your child various tasks. It’s another way to tell that you trust him/her. Always remember to congratulate and give motivation for completing anything. You can follow the steps on the scientific intelligence game application MentalUP or other Dyslexia apps for kids. MentalUP gives your child 6-10 games (tasks) per day. So your child develops cognitive skills while performing this fun tasks. When the tasks are over, they check their scores on the PERFORMANCE REPORTS page. MentalUP congratulates them when their score is up, the level is up and the tasks are completed. The whole process is designed to improve the children and give them a strong motivation for development.
8
Remove distracting items: Children with reading impairment and learning disabilities can also have a quite short attention time. Be careful about distracting items. Try not to put any of them on your child's desk. Keep their room tidy and organized all the time.
9
Make learning fun: We have just talked about games and how effective they are on dyslexic children. So turning children’s learning path into an entertaining game experience will also work. For example, you can also try to be a part of it like you are a student too and you can say, "Let's do our homework together" and then you can perform activities such as reading.
10
Show that your love does not depend on success: Remember that children with learning difficulties may be introverted. Love is a great power, so show how much you love them in every chance you get. Do not worry about their failures and make them feel that your love is not related to any successful work they have done.
DYSLEXIA TREATMENT METHODS
CHILDREN MENTAL HEALTH departments take care of dyslexia treatment. Dyslexia itself has no definite treatment yet. But there are several treatment processes for other disorders that can be experienced with dyslexia.
Example: Attention loss and hyperactivity can be seen with dyslexia. In this case, various treatments without medication are available for attention deficit. You can read our article named ATTENTION DEFICIT TREATMENT WITH AND WITHOUT MEDICATIONS.
Reading and learning impairments decrease with ageing, but may not recover completely. Generally, it is predicted that slow reading and some small typing mistakes may be permanent.
The best progress for dyslexia treatment is possible with special training programs. Special educational tools (games, educational institutions, various materials and curriculums) provide healing on the biggest obstacles in learning even if they do not completely defeat the disorder.
Specialist doctors in the field of child mental health can carry out several tests to diagnose dyslexia such as reading impairment test or learning difficulties test.
You can also use MentalUP to test and compare your child's performance with their peers in attention, memory, problem-solving, verbal intelligence, visual intelligence, and mathematical intelligence.
SYMPTOMS OF DYSLEXIA
- Reading impairment In other words, reading difficulty. They experience difficulty in reading the words correctly as they are written, they jump and miss the words and syllables, they mix letters and they read non-continuous.
- Writing disability (Dysgraphia): It is likely to write letters reversely, mix numbers with some letters, mix similar symbols and use them incorrectly. Example: They can write the letter "E" reversed or "3" instead of "E". Especially lower case "d" and "b" and letters with and without dotes are often mixed.
- Learning difficulties - Learning disabilities: They cannot follow simple commands and experience learning disabilities. Example: They can mix their right and left and wear wrong sided shoes. These kinds of situations cause to fall behind from their peers.
- Comprehension impairment: This is related to attention. Children with dyslexia may experience difficulty with concentration. It is likely to observe attention disorder and dyslexia together. So, children with dyslexia may have a comprehension impairment problem.
- Contradiction: They can perform fantastic performances in areas such as painting, music, and mathematics (unlike children who have difficulties in mathematics because of Dyscalculia) Children with dyslexia are generally gifted. But don’t let this confuse you. This doesn’t mean that they can succeed in everything if they want to. For example, reading impairment is not related to their intelligence. Willingness would not be enough for children with dyslexia as they have difficulty using the left frontal lobe of their brain. (What Is the Difference Between Left Brain vs Right Brain?)
WARNING: All of these are strong symptoms that can be considered as learning difficulty statements. These dyslexia symptoms are not always observed all together or it cannot be diagnosed as dyslexia if any of these symptoms are present alone.
REMEMBER: In order for a child to be diagnosed with dyslexia, there should not be any problem with the intelligence level. In other words, children who have problems with language (reading, writing, and speaking) may be diagnosed with dyslexia even if they are equally successful or more talented than their peers in other areas. Only specialist doctors can diagnose dyslexia. Therefore, parents who are suspicious about this disorder should consult to child psychiatrists. Parents or other consultants should not diagnose children with dyslexia by considering learning difficulty statements! You can just support your children with appropriate games, exercises and apps for kids with learning disabilities!
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