SPELD NSW
|
The Australian Dyslexia Association's message:
"Often parents are bombarded with websites that present their own interpretation of dyslexia geared at selling their product. Dyslexia is language based and is lifelong and cannot be cured but it can be treated. Treatment needs to be educational and centered on teaching the skills required for reading, spelling and writing and the way each child's brain processes, retains and re-uses those skills when required. A child with dyslexia will take a lot longer to acquire the required skills (that dyslexia impedes) but it is possible. With an understanding of evidence based practices, current reading research in science, linguistics and education, a well trained teacher or educator can begin to identify dyslexia and assess the areas required for instruction." |
Watch this short YouTube video to see how it feels to be dyslexic... Click on the image 
SPELD NSW
|
5 Facts you need to know about Dyslexia
*taken from the Nessy website
1. There is no single type of dyslexia.
Dyslexia covers a wide range of difficulties. It is unique for each individual and occurs along a continuum. Dyslexia causes difficulty in the skills needed in learning to read, spell and write. But it is much more than that.
Dyslexia causes lots of other difficulties like being disorganised, forgetting what
someone has told you or their name. Even memorizing a mobile number or
multiplication fact can become a struggle.
2. Dyslexia is not a disease.
Dyslexia is neurological.
There is no medicine that will cure dyslexia.
The brain works differently.
But having dyslexia does not mean you lack intelligence.
Imagine your brain is like a computer that is being put to work on a task that it was never designed for.
It will work less efficiently.
"It has nothing to do with how intelligent you are. You can be extremely bright and still have dyslexia."
3. Early intervention is important.
But make sure you get the right type of assessment!
There are lots of reasons why someone can fall behind at school so it is really important to first get hearing and eyesight checked.
An assessment for dyslexia should analyse neurodiversity.
This means identifying an individual's learning strengths and weakness.
A weakness in specific learning skills will indicate the type of dyslexia and be used to find the most effective strategies.
WARNING - Many assessments that identify dyslexic difficulties do not use the word 'dyslexia.' Words like 'Auditory Processing Disorder' and 'Visual Memory Deficit' are diagnosing the specific type of dyslexia.
Remember that dyslexia is neuro diverse - it affects people in different ways.
" I felt like all my childhood tragedies and dramas were explained." - Jennifer Anistan
4. Believe in yourself. You can succeed!
An impact of dyslexia is low self confidence.
When you can't seem to do the other things that people find easy, you start to believe it when people tell you you're lazy or stupid.
But when you stop trying there is no hope of success.
The first step is to make a dyslexic understand that they can succeed with a different approach.
5. Develop strategies
People with dyslexia can achieve success by using different learning methods.
Dyslexics don't remember by just seeing and hearing a word a few times - they forget!
A rule or strategy provides a way of working it out.
Dyslexia is neurological.
There is no medicine that will cure dyslexia.
The brain works differently.
But having dyslexia does not mean you lack intelligence.
Imagine your brain is like a computer that is being put to work on a task that it was never designed for.
It will work less efficiently.
"It has nothing to do with how intelligent you are. You can be extremely bright and still have dyslexia."
3. Early intervention is important.
But make sure you get the right type of assessment!
There are lots of reasons why someone can fall behind at school so it is really important to first get hearing and eyesight checked.
An assessment for dyslexia should analyse neurodiversity.
This means identifying an individual's learning strengths and weakness.
A weakness in specific learning skills will indicate the type of dyslexia and be used to find the most effective strategies.
WARNING - Many assessments that identify dyslexic difficulties do not use the word 'dyslexia.' Words like 'Auditory Processing Disorder' and 'Visual Memory Deficit' are diagnosing the specific type of dyslexia.
Remember that dyslexia is neuro diverse - it affects people in different ways.
" I felt like all my childhood tragedies and dramas were explained." - Jennifer Anistan
4. Believe in yourself. You can succeed!
An impact of dyslexia is low self confidence.
When you can't seem to do the other things that people find easy, you start to believe it when people tell you you're lazy or stupid.
But when you stop trying there is no hope of success.
The first step is to make a dyslexic understand that they can succeed with a different approach.
5. Develop strategies
People with dyslexia can achieve success by using different learning methods.
Dyslexics don't remember by just seeing and hearing a word a few times - they forget!
A rule or strategy provides a way of working it out.
