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Reading disorder

Reading disorder is a learning disorder that involves significant impairment of readingaccuracy, speed, or comprehension to the extent that the impairment interferes with

academic achievement or activities of daily life. People with reading disorder performreading tasks well below the level one would expect on the basis of their general

intelligence, educational opportunities, and physical health. Reading disorder is mostcommonly called dyslexia. Dyslexia, however, usually includes deficits in spelling and

writing as well as reading

Reading disorder is a learning disorder characterized by a significant disparity betweenan individual's general intelligence and his or her reading skills. Learning disorders,

formerly called academic skills disorders, are disorders that account for difficulty

learning and poor academic performance when low performance cannot be attributed to

mental retardation, low intelligence, lack of learning opportunities, or such specific

physical problems as vision or hearing deficits. Common learning disabilities includereading disorder (often called dyslexia), mathematics disorder, disorder of written

expression, and some language processing disorders.

Reading disorder can cause severe problems in reading, and consequently in academicwork, even in people with normal intelligence, educational opportunities, motivation to

learn to read, and emotional self-control. Reading disorder is different from slowness in

learning or mental retardation. In reading disorder, there is a significant gap between theexpected level of performance and actual achievement. Difficulties in reading can occur

on many levels, and reading disorder may have several causes that manifest in different

ways. Common problems in people with reading disorder include:

slow reading speed

poor comprehension when reading material either aloud or silently

omission of words while reading

reversal of words or letters while reading

difficulty decoding syllables or single words and associating them with specific

sounds (phonics)

limited sight word vocabulary

Causes

Reading disorder was first recognized in the late nineteenth century, when it was calledpure word blindness, then developmental alexia. Starting in the 1960s, educators

commonly referred to reading disorder as dyslexia, from the Greek word dys, meaning

poor or inadequate, and the word lexismeaning words or language. Despite the long

history of reading disorder, its cause is not known.

Learning to read is a complex task. It requires coordination of the eye muscles to follow a

line of print, spatial orientation to interpret letters and words, visual memory to retain the

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meaning of letters and sight words, sequencing ability, a grasp of sentence structure and

grammar, and the ability to categorize and analyze. In addition, the brain must integrate

visual cues with memory and associate them with specific sounds. The sounds must thenbe associated with specific meanings. For comprehension, the meanings must be retained

while a sentence or passage is read. Reading disorder occurs when any of these processes

are disrupted. For that reason, the roots of reading disorder have proved difficult toisolate, and may be different in different individuals.

Despite the complexity of reading disorder, researchers have found that the condition is at

least partially inherited. In 1999, the Centre for Reading Research in Norway studied a

large family with reading problems. By evaluating the reading and writing abilities ofabout 80 family members across four generations, the researchers were able to pinpoint

mutations in specific genes that are associated with reading and writing deficits.

It appears that reading disorder may also have causes other than genetic inheritance, as

about half the people with this learning disability do not come from families with a

history of the problem. Many theories suggest that functional problems in specific areasof the brain underlie reading disorder. Given the complicated demands on the human

nervous system involved in reading, it is entirely possible that there are several differentproblems in brain function related to difficulty in learning to read. What is known is that

90% of children diagnosed with reading disorder have other language deficits. Still other

research suggests a possible link with a subtle visual problem that affects the speed withwhich affected people can read.

Symptoms

Common characteristics of children with reading disorder include:

difficulty identifying single words

problems understanding the sounds in words, sound order, or rhymes

problems with spelling

transposing letters in words

omitting or substituting words

poor reading comprehension

slow reading speed (oral or silent)

In addition to these symptoms, children with reading disorder often have other delays or

learning problems. These include:

delays in spoken language

confusion with directions, or right/left-handedness

confusion with opposites (up/down, early/late)

mathematics disorder

disorder of written expression

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Treatment

Reading disorder, like other learning disorders, falls under the federal Individuals with

Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Definitions of learning disabilities vary among thestates, and some school districts are more willing than others to recognize specific

learning disabilities. Any child, however, who has a diagnosed learning disability,including reading disorder or dyslexia, should be eligible for an Individual Education

Program (IEP) that provides customized instruction at school designed to address thedisability.

Treatment approaches vary from visual stimulation to special diets to enhanced reading

instruction. However, it is generally agreed that customized education is the onlysuccessful remedy. The American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Academy

of Pediatrics, and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus

have issued a policy statement warning against visual treatments and recommending a

cross-disciplinary educational approach.

The first researcher to identify and study dyslexia, Samuel Torrey Orton, developed the

core principles of such an approach in the 1920s. The work of three of his followers

teachers Bessie Stillman, Anna Gillingham, and Beth Slingerlandunderlies many of the

programs in use today, including Project READ, the Wilson Reading System, andprograms based on the Herman method. There are many successful programs to address

individual reading needs. In general, all good programs are:

Sound/symbol (phonics)-based. They break words down into their smallest visual

components: letters and the sounds associated with them.

Multisensory. Good programs attempt to form and strengthen mental associations

among visual, auditory, and kinesthetic channels of stimulation. The studentsimultaneously sees, feels, and says the sound-symbol association. For example, astudent may trace the letter or letter combination with his or her finger while

pronouncing a word out loud.

Highly structured. Remediation begins at the level of the single letter-sound;

works up to digraphs (a pair of letters representing a single speech sound); then

syllables; then into words and sentences in a systematic fashion. Repetitive drill

and practice serve to form necessary associations between sounds and written

symbols.

Preventation

There is no known way to prevent reading disorder. Early intervention is the key to

preventing the associated symptoms of low self-esteem, lack of interest in school, and

poor behavior that often accompany low academic achievement.