| Dyslexia is a learning
disorder that manifests itself primarily as a difficulty with reading
and spelling.
It is estimated that dyslexia affects between 5% and 17% of the U.S.
population. This page offers information about dyslexia as well
as educational programs that
have been shown to be
beneficial for various symptoms often present in this disorder. |
WHAT IS DYSLEXIA?
There are many
definitions of the disorder called dyslexia but no consensus.
The World Federation of Neurology defined dyslexia as follows:
- Specific developmental dyslexia
is a disorder manifested by
difficulty learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate
intelligence, and adequate sociocultural opportunity. It is dependent
upon fundamental cognitive disabilities that are frequently of
constitutional origin.
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THEORIES OF DYSLEXIA
The following
theories should not be viewed as competing, but viewed as
theories trying to explain the underlying causes of a similar set of
symptoms from a variety of research perspectives and background.
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- Cerebellar Theory
One view is represented by the
automaticity/cerebellar theory of
dyslexia. Here the biological claim is that a specific brain region
called the cerebellum of
people with dyslexia is mildly dysfunctional and that this may result
in a number of cognitive difficulties.
- Phonological Deficit Theory
The phonological deficit
theory postulates that people with dyslexia have a specific impairment
in the representation, storage and/or retrieval of speech sounds. It
explains the reading impairment of people with dyslexia on the basis
that learning to read an alphabeticgrapheme/phoneme
correspondence, i.e. the correspondence between letters and constituent
sounds of speech. |
- Rapid Auditory Processing
Theory
The rapid auditory
processing theory is an alternative to the
phonological deficit theory, which specifies that the primary deficit
lies in the perception of short or rapidly varying sounds. Support for
this theory arises from evidence that people with dyslexia show poor
performance on a number of auditory tasks, including frequency
discrimination and temporal order judgment.
- Visual Theory
The visual theory
reflects another long standing tradition in the
study of dyslexia, that of considering it as a visual impairment giving
rise to difficulties with the processing of letters and words on a page
of text. This may take the form of unstable binocular fixations, poor
vergence, or increased visual crowding. |
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| PROGRAMS
FOR DYSLEXIA |
| Ace Reader |
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Attention
Parents, Teachers, Students, Business Executives
and anyone else who wants to read faster! Our goal is to help you read
faster, while maintaining or even improving your comprehension. When
you accomplish this, reading becomes like watching a movie. It becomes
fun to read because you're able to absorb more material in a shorter
amount of time. In short, it leads to more success and a better
overall quality of life.
Dyslexia
Aid - Read by viewing one or a few words at a time. Easily adjust
the speed to your fit your needs.
MORE INFO... |
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| Language Tune-Up Kit |
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The LTK®
curriculum includes the eight essential instructional elements needed
to successfully teach students with dyslexia as outlined in
publications of The International Dyslexia Association (formerly The
Orton Dyslexia
Society). An
intensive, sequential phonics-based system teaches the basics
of word formation before whole meanings. The method accommodates
and utilizes the three learning modalities, or pathways,
through which people learn -- visual, auditory and kinesthetic.
MORE INFO... |
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| Vision Adventures
from IDRT |
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Vision Adventures
with I.C. Fine and View is a series of three games, each having four
levels of challenge. Developed by the Institute For
Disabilities Research and Training, the games are
designed to help beginning readers
develop eye movement skills.
MORE INFO... |
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| Brain Builder |
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See
significant, lasting changes in auditory and visual sequential
processing skills and short-term memory. Psychologists and educators
call it "sequential processing." It's essential to every mental
process, including every level of verbal communication. Better
sequential processing enables us to take in more of what there is to
see and hear. It determines how quickly and clearly we can grasp
concepts. If sequential
processing capacity is limited, it's a little like not having enough
RAM in your computer. Some things work just fine. Others work, but
s-l-o-w-l-y, or more crudely.
MORE INFO... |
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| The Listening Program - Auditory Processing
Therapy Program |
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Advanced Brain
Technologies, LLC (ABT)
developed The Listening Program building upon key concepts originated
by the
late Alfred Tomatis, M.D., a pioneer in the field of auditory
intervention.
In children, auditory
problems may be identified by speech and language problems, sensitivity
to sounds, poor attention, difficulty following directions, difficulty
expressing oneself, difficulty with listening comprehension as well as
reading comprehension, difficulty with social interactions, or auditory
self-stimulation, such as constant humming or
self-talk.
Davies,
A.
(2002): A pilot study to investigate the efficacy of The Listening
Program as an intervention to improve auditory processing in dyslexic
children.
MORE INFO... |
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