Hassan, a Case Study of Dyslexia in Egypt
Hassan is a 10- year- old, boy diagnosed as dyslexic at the age of 7.He is a healthy, good-looking child who is polite and has excellent sense of humor……..
Read the whole story of Hssan in:
International Case Studies of Dyslexia, Edited by
Peggy Anderson and Regine Meier - Hedde
Routledge
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Eileen helps dyslexic children
Mar 11 2010 by Gil Lightfoot, Flintshire Chronicle
After a five-year struggle to help her son overcome a debilitating reading difficulty, a Chester mum has set her sights on giving hope to hundreds of other children in the area who are affected by a specific form of dyslexia
Special needs teacher Eileen Morgan from Hoole dedicated hundreds of hours of research in the hope of alleviating her son Edward’s reading problems
“Edward suffers from Scotopic Sensitivity, also known as 'Irlen Syndrome or Visual Stress – a form of dyslexia where text appears to move on the page, and letters and words appear to reverse These are symptoms that will be all too familiar to hundreds of young people,” she said.
Sufferers also often display poor hand-eye coordination and can be particularly sensitive to fluorescent light. The condition makes people lose their place when reading and it can also cause itchy eyes
Colour overlays and tinted glasses, which can help some people with similar dyslexia-related difficulties, proved to be no help.
“I lost count of the number of specialists and consultants we visited over all those years,” said Eileen. “Day after day I was searching the internet and talking to experts. There were lots of theories but no one seemed to be able to offer any answers
It was all so frustrating, especially for Edward who was rapidly losing ground at school and naturally feeling insecure, upset and different
We were getting really concerned how badly this would affect his future prospects, and gradually coming to realise how many other families were facing the same frustration
The solution, Eileen revealed, came in the form of specialist filtered lenses which help synchronise the message transmitted from the eyes to the brain
As soon as Edward received his glasses we knew we’d found the answer. The improvement was dramatic. Edward noticed the difference immediately and recent reading tests have shown a gain of almost four years, which is really impressive, said Eileen
As a result of her experiences, Eileen went on to qualify as an accredited assessor to help others in the same situation. She is currently undertaking research on behalf of the foundation that provides the filters
It’s adults as well as children who are benefiting from this technology, Eileen continued
It’s probably little understood that dyslexia comes in different forms and there are so many variables involved. Many dyslexic people are very gifted, creative and talented and it is important to try alternative approaches to help them find the right solution for their individual requirements and help them reach their true potential. Not all opticians’ standard assessment procedures are able to meet every need
There must be hundreds of other young people and their parents experiencing the same frustrations. If this can help some of them, the effort will have been well worth it
Eileen is offering a number of free assessments for those wishing to take part in the research project.
For further information or advice, visit dyslexiaspecs.com or contact Eileen on 07828 854577
World of Dyslexia Newsletter 2010
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Do You Hear a Voice in Your Head When You Read?
As Gary Chevin watched his wife Carol reading a newspaper, he had a sudden realisation. Diagnosed as severely dyslexic at seven, he had always struggled to read. Gary noticed that Carol was reading without moving her lips, which seemed odd to him as a dyslexic. 'She told me she was reading in her head,' says Gary. 'I asked what that sounded like and she said it was
like a voice
have never heard a voice in my head - ever. I was so shocked I nearly fell off my chair
Gary, 50, was stunned to learn that when 55-year-old Carol read a letter, she would hear the writer's voice, rather than her own, in her head - and that in her dreams, people spoke
'It all seemed so alien to me. I have the reading age of a five-year-old so I never read. If I dream, I have visual dreams. They are always totally silent
Most people use their inner voice subconsciously. But for those who find they do not have one, it can be a revelation
'I now understand my actions a lot more,' says Gary, a former builder from Stoke-on-Trent. 'I follow my emotions because I don't have a voice in my head analysing what I'm about to say or do
Professor Rod Nicolson, head of work psychology at the University of Sheffield, has been studying dyslexia for many years and was inspired to investigate internal speech after meeting Gary at a conference in 2004. He believes he has found a link between lack of inner speech and poor reading ability
'Children start off having to say every word out loud,' he says. 'At some stage, as their reading improves, so does their ability to sight-read [to read in their heads] and that is the stage at which reading really takes off
By the age of eight or nine, most children can read in their heads. The development of the inner voice seems to be automatic for most people, but our data suggests a link with fluent reading, in that the process of learning to sight-read actually helps inner-speech develop
Everyone assumes everyone else is the same. However, we have found not everyone has an inner voice and in those who don't, literacy levels are often poor
But we have also found a lot of children with dyslexia who have well-developed inner speech. Prof Nicolson believes that like ordinary speech, there are different degrees of fluency of inner speech. 'It's probably "use it or lose it",' he says
Dr Kate Saunders, of the British Dyslexia Association, says the idea that some dyslexics have no inner voice is new. 'It is possible there may be a link with dyslexia for some individuals, but we shouldn't make any sweeping statements,' she adds
No one knows for sure what causes dyslexia but 'at risk' signs can be detected in children as young as three. There is evidence from brain-scan research that when dyslexic individuals read, key areas on the left side of the brain important for the processing of language are not as activated as they should be
Consequently, those with dyslexia struggle with reading, spelling and writing and can have difficulty making the link between the written word and the phonetic sounds in words. Early diagnosis and well-structured, multi-sensory phonics-based teaching programmes can help
Dr Saunders says 30 to 50 per cent of those with dyslexia also have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a medical condition affecting how well someone can sit still and focus. It is believed that many of those with ADHD may also lack an inner voice.
Prof Nicolson is seeking volunteers who suspect they have little or no inner speech to undergo Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), a non-invasive brain scan using a powerful magnetic field, radio-frequency pulses and a computer to measure tiny metabolic changes in the brain
It should detect when someone is using internal speech
'So far our research has been based on simple tests we've devised ourselves,' he says. 'Using an FMRI scanner will provide a strong test for our theory.'
For Gary, there is still hope. He has software that turns his speech into type on his computer, and vice versa.
Listening to emails via his earpiece has helped him develop an inner voice, although he has to concentrate to hear it
'I feel so sad when I think of what I went through at school,' says Gary, whose two grown-up children also have dyslexia and no internal speech
I hated every single day. Many schoolchildren are still struggling and more research is needed to help them
World of Dyslexia Newsletter 2010
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Success stories
Whoopi Goldberg didn't even make it through the first month of high school before dropping out. Two weeks in, she quit. She didn't know that she had dyslexia, which was why she struggled so much with her school work, and frustrated her teachers.
Since she started acting in Steven Spielberg's film The Color Purple, she has not had much trouble finding work. Her career spans film, stage, television, comedy, producing, hosting and writing. She has appeared in more than 150 films and has also won a ton of awards, received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, hosted the Academy Awards, and been involved in numerous charities.
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Agatha Miller was born in Torquay, England on September 15, 1890. After marrying Colonel Archibald Christie at age 23 she got the surname she's made so famous. Christie spent more than fifty years writing, and has produced 79 novels and short story collections. Her most famous character is the bright, little detective Hercule Poirot. On January 12, 1976, Agatha Christie passed away. An interesting thing about Agatha Christie is that she actually had dyslexia but despite that fact she managed to write stories and eventually become who fans call Queen of Crime.
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The late billionaire James LeVoy Sorenson left all of his wealth to charity. Sorenson, who invented a number of medical devices that have become standard equipment in hospitals and clinics, died of cancer on Jan. 20 at age 86. Sorenson was a child of the Great Depression who grew up in central California with dyslexia. He triumphed over that handicap to become an astute problem solver. As a pharmaceutical salesman in the 1950s, he came up with his first major medical invention -- the disposable surgical mask. His other medical inventions included the first real-time computerized heart monitoring systems and the automated intravenous drug pump. Sorenson is survived by his wife, Beverley, eight children who are successful business people,47 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren .
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Shelly Fishman thinks she was about 17 when she realized why she wanted to be a teacher. She recalls standing outside of her home in Bridgeton, listening to her mother and sister have a conversation that mentioned the word "dyslexia" — a condition she was only starting to realize she suffered from. "I remember hearing that it was bad thing, that it had been hidden from me," she said. " . . . And I felt that I didn't want that to be something that other children would have to go through. I guess I wanted to go to school and be a teacher, and kind of know that I could help other kids so they wouldn't struggle through something like that." Fishman, who had a difficult time with reading when she was younger but didn't understand why, said she wanted others to realize a learning disability wasn't a shortcoming and "that it was something you could live through." Almost two decades later, the 36-year-old teacher at Chittick Elementary School in East Brunswick has made good on her promise of helping children in the classroom.
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