What is Dyslexia and What are It’s Main Causes?

Dyslexia-introduction

Dyslexia is a condition of learning disability, causes difficulty with reading and writing. This can happen not due to intelligence of a person, but it is characterized by difficulty or inability to learn adequate reading or writing skills although conventional teaching and social-cultural activities are available. It primarily impacts on the reading and writing abilities. It is a neurological or brain-based condition. People affected by Dyslexia are called Dyslexic or Dyslectic.

It is known to have destructive emotional effects on children, and can leave its scars for the rest of one’s life. Besides long-lasting emotional effects, dyslexia can also lead to unemployment or underemployment. The letter above, posted by a dyslexic on a message board for dyslexics, clearly demonstrates the hardships that await the dyslexic child in the workplace. It is therefore of utmost importance that a child with dyslexia be helped to overcome his problems.

Children seem to learn language skills best during a short "critical period". If they have hearing problems (like an ear infection) during this time, this could affect their language abilities. Similarly, hearing problems when they are learning to read could affect their ability to pick up reading skills.

There are three main types of dyslexia that can affect the child's ability to spell as well as read. Each type of dyslexia has a different cause. The three main types are trauma dyslexia, primary dyslexia and developmental dyslexia.

Dyslexia can go undetected in the early grades of schooling. The child can become frustrated by the difficulty in learning to read, and other problems can arise that disguise dyslexia. The child may show signs of depression and low self-esteem. Behavior problems at home as well as at school are frequently seen.

What are the causes of Dyslexia?

The two most important contributers to dyslexia are an underutilized left-hemisphere, and an out-of-whack central bridge of tissue in the brain, called the corpus callosum. (The bibliography contains technical details from some of the brain-scan research which has documented these two problems.) But why does it matter which side of the brain you use? Because the left-hemisphere is programmed to do the things you need for reading and the right is not.

It is likely that the difficulties seen in dyslexia are due to small differences in the brain. The differences in the brain are most likely inherited from the parents.

Small differences in the brain are likely to cause slight differences in the way a dyslexic thinks, learns and processes information.

The cause of dyslexia is an underdeveloped cerebellum or a fault in the Broca’s area is irrelevant to the question of why the problem exists in the first place. The most likely explanation is genetics.

It is clear that dyslexia is very frequently found in families, and is often accompanied by left-handedness somewhere in the family. This does not mean to say that a dyslexic parent will automatically have a dyslexic child, or that a left-handed child will necessarily be dyslexic.

New research suggests a possible link with a subtle visual problem that affects the speed with which affected people can read. Other experts believe that dyslexia is related to differences in the structure and function of the brain that manifests differently in different people.