When I had my first child (and only) my biggest fear about her was that she would have some kind of difficulty learning. Fortunately, it hasn't been too challenging but for some I understand the stresses and anxieties of trying to help a child with learning difficulties.
One of the fancy buzzwords out there today is dyslexia; a word that describes any difficulty with reading a child may have. This can be anything from saying words back to front or not being able to sequence words in the correct order; just to state a couple examples. But now there is a new form of this challenge that has emerged: "stealth dyslexia". Stealth dyslexia is a form of learning difficulty that goes unnoticed because, though the child is reading many common words, they still have a challenge learning new or more complex words. Why is that so important to know? Think about it this way: If you are reading something and you miss out of some of the key words in a sentence, you may not fully understand. This can translate in the classroom as a child appearing to do well at reading but then when it comes to spelling or comprehension they are lost. For many teachers this seems inexplicable. But recent research done by Fumiko Hoeft and her colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco showed that the brain's growth of white matter from the left temporoparietal to the right prefrontal cortex between kindergarten to primary 3 is a crucial time for developing the neurological pathways that help children process sounds and phonics; ultimately, giving meaning and understanding to the concept of reading! In addition, the study could not explain how there are students with poor reading skills yet still had a high level of comprehension. What that tells us is that there is more to reading and comprehension than just words. Perhaps there are other factors to comprehension such as contextual, emotional and visual understanding. What else does this research tell us? Hoeft has concluded that IQ plays a very little part in the development of white matter needed to create a strong neural pathway. This means that with intensive strategies such as phonological awareness, pattern-recognition, sequencing and other visual/audio stimulus children facing these challenges could still develop into competent readers. To sum up the topic, what we know is that the effects of dyslexia, in all its forms, can be reduced and in some cases completely neutralised to the point where it has little to no effect on the child. Also, there are plenty of options for families dealing with the struggles and there is help for them. For assistance, check out this school(here) which has been improving reading for children with dyslexia with great results. Parts of this article originate from an article in The New Yorker. http://bit.ly/1CW3Mjm |
AuthorI Know English Archives
September 2016
Categories
All
|