Dyslexia

Dyslexia can be genetic and research has suggested that a number of inherited genes may predispose someone to develop this brain disorder. Other risk factors include low birth weight, being born premature, and exposure to substances during gestation that affect brain development.

The specifics of what causes dyslexia are still unclear, but MRIs show that dyslexia connects to brain structure. Even in people without dyslexia, reading is an incredibly complicated function. Multiple brain regions and cognitive processes come into play when someone connects the symbols of the alphabet to the meaning those words convey. A dyslexic brain develops and functions differently. For people with dyslexia, wiring in the left-brain hemisphere makes processing written language difficult.

While dyslexia is usually a condition people are born with, it can sometimes result from a traumatic brain injury, stroke, or dementia.

For most people with dyslexia, a diagnosis often comes at a young age when they first have trouble learning to read and write. Schools track students’ reading levels and expect them to hit certain educational benchmarks. However, someone with dyslexia may not hit those levels on the same schedule. If learning to read and write seems especially difficult for a student, comprehensive evaluations may indicate a dyslexia diagnosis.

A licensed educational psychologist or a neurologist can diagnose dyslexia after assessing factors such as medical history, questionnaires, reading tests, and hearing, vision, and brain exams. An evaluation for this disorder measures both intellectual and academic abilities—the skill to recognize words in isolation and process the context of sentences. While dyslexia diagnoses tend to come early in life, there is no deadline for discovering and treating this learning disorder.

There is currently no cure for dyslexia. Each case is different, and so each treatment plan is different. Most people with dyslexia can learn to read and write effectively. However, dyslexia treatment does not come from medical intervention but from modifying learning methods and environments to better fit an individual’s needs. Because dyslexia symptoms vary so much in type and severity, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. A childhood diagnosis and early intervention help find what strategies work for an individual’s needs early on. That way, educators can integrate those methods into the rest of their education.

Educational methods including one-on-one support, structured study time, multi-sensory approaches, and immediate feedback can help a student build word recognition and reading comprehension. A specially trained interventionist will often use multi-sensory approaches, incorporating hearing, touch, and sight with language practice. Other classroom accommodations may include oral exams, extra time, reduced course load, or smaller class size.

For individuals with dyslexia, support at home is also beneficial. A parent can help their child build vocabulary, language fluency, reading comprehension, and confidence by reading aloud. Audiobooks may also help individuals of all ages further develop these skills. There is no deadline for diagnosing and treating dyslexia, and many teens and adults find effective coping strategies later in life.

Current research efforts funded through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and other institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are focused on understanding the potential biological and genetic causes of learning disabilities and determining techniques for better diagnosis and treatment of dyslexia. Other researchers are looking to understand brain function during activities like reading.