What Is Dyslexia?

Simple Definition

Dyslexia is an inherited condition that makes it extremely difficult to read, write, and spell in your native language despite at least average intelligence.

Revised definition from the International Dyslexia Association

Dyslexia is a neurologically-based, often familial, disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language. Varying in degrees of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in arithmetic.

Research definition used by the National Institutes of Health

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin.

It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition, and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.

These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.

Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

Cause of Dyslexia

Dyslexia is an inherited condition. Researchers have determined that a gene on the short arm of chromosome #6 is responsible for dyslexia. That gene is dominant, making dyslexia highly heritable. It definitely runs in families.


Dyslexia results from a neurological difference; that is, a brain difference. People with dyslexia have a larger right-hemisphere in their brains than those of normal readers. That may be one reason people with dyslexia often have significant strengths in areas controlled by the right-side of the brain, such as artistic, athletic, and mechanical gifts; 3-D visualization ability; musical talent; creative problem solving skills; and intuitive people skills.

In addition to unique brain architecture, people with dyslexia have unusual "wiring". Neurons are found in unusual places in the brain, and are not as neatly ordered as in non-dyslexic brains.

In addition to unique brain architecture and unusual wiring, studies have shown that people with dyslexia do not use the same part of their brain when reading as other people. Regular readers consistently use the same part of their brain when they read. People with dyslexia do not use that part of their brain, and there appears to be no consistent part used among dyslexic readers.

It is therefore assumed that people with dyslexia are not using the most efficient part of their brain when they read. A different part of their brain has taken over that function.

Reference:

Bright Solutions for Dyslexia, Inc.

2059 Camden Ave. Suite 186

San Jose, CA 95124

email: info@BrightSolutions.US

37 Common Characteristics of Dyslexia

Article written by: Ronald D. Davis, 1992.

Most dyslexics will exhibit about 10 of the following traits and behaviors. These characteristics can vary from day-to-day or minute-to-minute. The most consistent thing about dyslexics is their inconsistency.

General

• Appears bright, highly intelligent, and articulate but unable to read, write, or spell at grade level.
• Labelled lazy, dumb, careless, immature, "not trying hard enough," or "behavior problem."
• Isn't "behind enough" or "bad enough" to be helped in the school setting.
• High in IQ, yet may not test well academically; tests well orally, but not written.
• Feels dumb; has poor self-esteem; hides or covers up weaknesses with ingenious compensatory strategies; easily frustrated and emotional about school reading or testing.
• Talented in art, drama, music, sports, mechanics, story-telling, sales, business, designing, building, or engineering.
• Seems to "Zone out" or daydream often; gets lost easily or loses track of time.
• Difficulty sustaining attention; seems "hyper" or "daydreamer."
• Learns best through hands-on experience, demonstrations, experimentation, observation, and visual aids.

Vision, Reading, and Spelling

• Complains of dizziness, headaches or stomach aches while reading.
• Confused by letters, numbers, words, sequences, or verbal explanations.
• Reading or writing shows repetitions, additions, transpositions, omissions, substitutions, and reversals in letters, numbers and/or words.
• Complains of feeling or seeing non-existent movement while reading, writing, or copying.
• Seems to have difficulty with vision, yet eye exams don't reveal a problem.
• Extremely keen sighted and observant, or lacks depth perception and peripheral vision.
• Reads and rereads with little comprehension.
• Spells phonetically and inconsistently.

Hearing and Speech

• Has extended hearing; hears things not said or apparent to others; easily distracted by sounds.
• Difficulty putting thoughts into words; speaks in halting phrases; leaves sentences incomplete; stutters under stress; mispronounces long words, or transposes phrases, words, and syllables when speaking.
  

Writing and Motor Skills

• Trouble with writing or copying; pencil grip is unusual; handwriting varies or is illegible.
• Clumsy, uncoordinated, poor at ball or team sports; difficulties with fine and/or gross motor skills and tasks; prone to motion-sickness.
• Can be ambidextrous, and often confuses left/right, over/under.

Math and Time Management

• Has difficulty telling time, managing time, learning sequenced information or tasks, or being on time.
• Computing math shows dependence on finger counting and other tricks; knows answers, but can't do it on paper.
• Can count, but has difficulty counting objects and dealing with money.
• Can do arithmetic, but fails word problems; cannot grasp algebra or higher math.

Memory and Cognition

• Excellent long-term memory for experiences, locations, and faces.
• Poor memory for sequences, facts and information that has not been experienced.
• Thinks primarily with images and feeling, not sounds or words (little internal dialogue).

Behavior, Health, Development and Personality

• Extremely disorderly or compulsively orderly.
• Can be class clown, trouble-maker, or too quiet.
• Had unusually early or late developmental stages (talking, crawling, walking, tying shoes).
• Prone to ear infections; sensitive to foods, additives, and chemical products.
• Can be an extra deep or light sleeper; bedwetting beyond appropriate age.
• Unusually high or low tolerance for pain.
• Strong sense of justice; emotionally sensitive; strives for perfection.
• Mistakes and symptoms increase dramatically with confusion, time pressure, emotional stress, or poor health.

Common Signs of Untreated Dyslexia

Early Years (ages 4 -5)

1. Trouble remembering the names of the days of the week and months of the year.

2. Trouble following directions (especially multiple instructions).

3. Has speech problems (usually, but not always, had many ear infections in their first few years of life).

4. Trouble making up rhymes.

5. Trouble memorizing words to songs.

Middle Years (6-9)

1. Reverses letters and numbers (normally 'b' and 'd', '6' and '9).

2. When reading, may skip words (strangely, it is usually the smaller, easier words that get skipped).

3. When reading, may substitute a word that has the same or similar meaning. For example, they may see the word "gigantic", but may say "big" or "large".

4. When reading, may see the first letter of a word and take a wild guess, out of context, based on that first letter; for example, they may see a word like "prairie" and say "palace".

5. When reading, will change letters within words, such as "calm" to "clam".

6. Forgets to add prefixes or suffixes when writing. For example, they may forget to add the 'ed' to make a word past tense.

7. In the classroom, may have trouble copying from the board.

8. Doesn't always write sounds from left to right; for example, may spell "to' as "ot.

9. Poor reading comprehension.

10. Trouble memorizing math facts.

11. Delayed in telling time (on an analog clock).

12. Switches their dominant hand for some tasks; for example, they may write with their right hand, but do cartwheels left-handed.

Later Years (10 to adult)

1. Takes poor notes in the classroom.

2. Has trouble articulating; jumbles up words or has trouble searching for the right word.

3. Avoids reading, or reads very slowly in a monotone voice.

4. Has difficulty with foreign languages.

5. Writing is very simplistic, handwriting is usually messy.

6. Trouble organizing.

messy handwriting

What does a dyslexic person see when she reads?

Severe dyslexia is caused by disorientation, which for dyslexic people means that they have an innacurate perception of the words. That is, they might see the letters of the words jumbled around in all sorts of different ways. There is no way that a dyslexic person who suffers from this sort of disorientation can ever remember a word, because the word seems different every time they look at it.


There is no single pattern of difficulty that affects all dyslexic people. A dyslexic person might have any of the following problems:

• She might see some letters as backwards or upside down;

• She might not be able to tell the difference between letters that look similar in shape such as o and e and c ;

• She might not be able to tell the difference between letters that have similar shape but different orientation, such as b and p and d and q ;

• The letters might look all jumbled up and out of order;

• The letters and words might look all bunched together;

• The letters of some words might appear completely backwards, such as the word bird looking like drib

• The letters and words might look o.k., but the dyslexic person might get a severe headache or feel sick to her stomach every time she tries to read;

• She might see the letters o.k., but not be able to sound out words -- that is, not be able to connect the letters to the sounds they make and understand them;

• She might be able to connect the letters and sound out words, but not recognize words she has seen before, no matter how many times she has seen them -- each time she would have to start fresh;

• She might be able to read the words o.k. but not be able to make sense of or remember what she reads, so that she finds herself coming back to read the same passage over and over again.

The dyslexic people might see the letters of the words
jumbled around in all sorts of different ways.

Reference:

Davis Dyslexia Association International
URL: http://www.dyslexia.com
email: ddai@dyslexia.com

Famous People With The Gift Of Dyslexia

Here are the names of some of the many talented and accomplished individuals who are dyslexic, or had traits associated with dyslexia or related learning styles.

Inventors & Scientists:

• Thomas Edison
• Alexander Graham Bell
• Albert Einstein
• Paul MacCready - "Engineer of the Century"
• Pierre Curie - Physicist (1903 Nobel Prize)
  

Law & Justice:

• David Boies - Attorney
• Jeffrey H. Gallet - Judge

Artists, Entertainers, Designers, & Architects:

• Pablo Picasso
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Jorn Utzon - Architect who designed Sydney Opera House
• Whoopi Goldberg
• Tom Cruise
• Robin Williams
• Keanu Reeves
• Loretta Young
• Cher
• John Lennon

Political Leaders:

• George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson
• Winston Churchill
• John F. Kennedy
  

Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders:

• Sir Richard Branson
• Henry Ford
• William Hewlett
• David Neeleman

Writers:

• Hans Christian Anderson
• Agatha Christie
• Stephen Cannell
• Terry Goodkind
  

Anak-anak Didik Kak Ungku.........

Kak Ungku memang rapat dengan anak-anak didik Kak Ungku.
Ramai yang bertanya kenapa Kak Ungku menggunakan istilah
ANAK DIDIK dan bukannya anak murid atau pelajar.

Pepatah Melayu mengatakan "melentur buluh biar dari rebungnya".
Anak-anak kecil ini bukan sahaja perlu diajar membaca dan menulis,
tetapi perlu juga dididik nilai-nilai murni kepada mereka.
Antaranya:

• patuh & menghormati ibubapa
• patuh & menghormati guru-guru mereka
• patuh & menghormati orang yang lebih tua daripada mereka
• menghormati rakan-rakan sebaya
  

Mengajar anak-anak kecil ini perlu kesabaran yang tinggi, lebih-lebih lagi
anak-anak yang mempunyai masalah pembelajaran seperti dyslexia & autism.
Mereka perlu diajar dengan penuh kasih-sayang, pujian & rasa tanggungjawab.
Latarbelakang anak-anak ini juga berbeza di antara satu sama lain.
Mereka berbeza dari segi intelektual-IQ, mental, latarbelakang ekonomi keluarga, perangai dll. Oleh itu approach mengajar tidaklah sama.

Alhamdulillah..setakat ini saya tidak mempunyai masalah besar untuk
mendidik mereka. Anak-anak didik Kak Ungku terang hati dengan teknik pembelajaran yang diikuti...

Lihatlah gelagat comel & nakal mereka.....

Bila my hubby dah mula berblogging...

Aisay...now ni my hubby dah mula berblogginglah pulak....maka lepas ni mungkin akan terjadilah incident berebut2 nak guna notebook....emmm

So Kak Ungku jadi adviser, create the blog for him, choose the template & layout, teach him how to post an entry and other stuffs. My hubby ni memang terror IT and a fast learner, so he has no problem in absorbing all those blogging jargons.


His blog .......Berlian Permata Biru.....in English it would be Blue Diamond Gem....emm not bad, nice name.

"Why Blue Diamond Gem?" ...I asked him.
" because.... every person who is born into this world is like a precious diamond gem.Sparkles when shaped and polished by knowledge of full wisdom."...my hubby explained.

Now he's already started blogging and has a lot of plans for his blog....layankan ajelah........It's good, at least he'll understand better and experienced himself on why I was addicted to blogging before.

Posting, reading, sharing, commenting… to many of us, blogging is more than a lifestyle; it’s an addiction. But just how addicted are you compared to everyone else? Answer this question yourself....


As for now I fit my online activities into my regular schedules. It's fine to stay up a little extra late on a particularly inspiring night, but I do not make the staying up late a regular thing. I add just one or two sentences a time to a post in draft if I have time, so by the end of the night I often have enough content to make a well rounded post.

Sekarang ni Kak Ungku dah taklah kemaruk berblogging macam dulu.
It's up to you to manage your own time for blogging.

Anyway....my dear hubby, welcome to THE WORLD of BLOGGING...
Joint our C.L.U.B...

Well friends feel free to visit my hubby's blog at
http://berlianpermatabiru.blogspot.com

Program Intensif Ceria Membaca

Kak Ungku Betty akan meneruskan Program Cepat Baca & I Can Read yang kini dikenali sebagai Program Ceria Membaca & Fun Reading.

Mulai 14 November 2009, kami akan mengadakan Program Intensif Ceria Membaca, melalui program ini, insyaAllah anak-anak anda boleh membaca dengan lancar dan cepat melalui Kaedah Fonemik & Fonik. Anak-anak juga akan diberi pendedahan menulis dan multimedia.

Program membaca ini terbuka kepada kanak-kanak seawal 4 tahun dan ke atas.

Pendaftaran bagi Sesi 2009/2010 dibuka SEKARANG.

Kelas akan bermula pada 14 NOVEMBER 2009.

Untuk keterangan lanjut sila hubungi:
PUAN TENGKU BADARIAH
013-7007353

Anak-anak Didik Kak Ungku Sudah Pandai Membaca

Berikut hanyalah sebahagian daripada profail anak didik saya yang telah mengikuti Program Cepat Membaca & I Can Read yang mana sekarang dikenali sebagai Program Ceria Membaca & Fun Reading.

Anak-anak yang bermula awal akan sentiasa di hadapan...terbukti mereka adalah pelajar cemerlang di tadika (bagi Ilyana & Ibrahim) dan kelas Pemulihan Khas (bagi Farzanah)... alhamdulillah.

Hingga kini Kak Ungku telah mengajar dan mempunyai lebih daripada 120 orang anak didik....yang mana mereka telah mahir membaca dan juga menulis.

Kepada ibubapa...terima kasih di atas kepercayaan dan sokongan mereka.

I'll be updating more profiles either in my blogs or FB.
Love them all....muah.



Sofia Ilyana binti Baharom
Mula belajar membaca seawal usia 31/2 tahun.
Sekarang ini Ilyana berumur 5 tahun, mahir membaca & menulis di dalam Bahasa Malaysia & Bahasa Inggeris.











Ibrahim bin Dr Sh Salleh
Mula belajar membaca seawal usia 4 tahun.
Sekarang Ibrahim berumur 5 tahun, mahir membaca & menulis di dalam Bahasa Melayu & Bahasa Inggeris.







Noor Farzanah binti Zaid.
Merupakan seorang pelajar istimewa.
Disahkan oleh pakar kanak-kanak sebagai dyslexia.
Mula belajar membaca pada usia 8 tahun.
Kini Farzanah berumur 10 tahun, boleh membaca & menulis di dalam Bahasa Malaysia & Bahasa Inggeris dengan baik.

Lagi Tentang Jejak Kasih Melalui FB

Lagi tentang Jejak Kasih Melalui Facebook.

Dua gambar di bawah ni mengimbas kembali nostalgia lama Kak Ungku 17 tahun yang lalu semasa bertugas sebagai Corporate Exec. dengan Johore Tenggara Oil Palm S/B. Photos taken at the signing ceremony of Tengggara Worldwide Industrial Park (a joint venture industrial project between KEJORA, JTOP & TWIP).

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Tan Sri Muhyidin Yassin

(MB Johor at that time)

The photos were posted by my sis Fadzillah Samad thru Facebook..... Tq Kak Dillah. Sitting from the left : Kak Ungku, next to me...Linda (Azlee Senario's wife), the 5th kak Dillah and the tall guy in the middle........jeng,jeng,jeng... my long lost friend JOE ISMYL.

Kalau Kak Dillah dulu, Kak Ungku dapat jejak kasih masa berblogging...Haaa jejak kasih Kak Ungku dgn JOE ISMYL, atau nama sebenar.... ZULFAKAR bin ISMAIL pulak melalui FB. Dah lebih drp 15 tahun x jumpa. Zul....for all you know, I'm now married to your friend MOHAMED BIN SEHAT @ MAT SEHAT.... remember him?

Joe Ismyl is now the Head of Corporate Finance at M.S TIME Group.
Good to hear from you again Bro!

Latest photo of Bro Joe Ismyl & wife