Dyslexia is a learning disorder that affects a person’s ability to read, write, and process language.

This means difficulty reading as a result of problems identifying speech sounds and understanding how they relate to letters and words (decoding). It is also known as “reading difficulty” and affects areas of the brain that process language. Although it is not related to intelligence, dyslexia can make school and daily life difficult for those who suffer from it, generating frustration and low self-esteem.

Detecting dyslexia early is key to effective intervention

Dyslexia commonly begins to be recognized when a child begins to enter the process of learning to read and write, that is, from approximately 4 to 7 years old.

The main symptoms of dyslexia are:

• The main symptom is a great difficulty in learning and acquiring reading, and this difficulty is often unexpected in relation to other skills that the person shows and their educational circumstances.
• The second most common symptom among people who suffer from dyslexia is poor academic performance in all those subjects that require reading as a basis for learning. For example, there may be problems in the rhythm and speed of learning written language, difficulties in copying from the blackboard to the notebook, among others.
• The great majority of people who suffer from dyslexia also suffer from a phonological deficit, that is, a deficit in some aspect of the representation and processing of the sounds of language. This may be due to a weak ability to consciously attend to and manipulate the sounds of the language, a short-term verbal memory that limits the ability to momentarily keep phonological representations active, and/or a slow ability to recover the phonological forms of words in order to undertake the articulation of speech.
• Auditory processing problems, especially the rapid processing of sounds.
• Problems with visual acuity.
• Difficulty paying attention.
• Delays in learning to speak or problems understanding instructions.
• Difficulties with reading, writing, spelling, vision, motor coordination, mathematics, understanding time, spatial situation, and limited ability to integrate information that they understand separately. That is, they confuse letters, change syllables, delete or add letters or words, have difficulty memorizing spelling rules, and have difficulty with fine and gross motor skills.

How is dyslexia detected?

Dyslexia is usually diagnosed by a specialist, such as an educational psychologist or a psychopedagogue, through a series of assessments that measure reading, writing and comprehension skills.

What is important is when parents see that there is a small gap, for example that their child is doing homework every afternoon or evening at home, that they are trying hard and studying for exams, and that great effort they are making is not reflected in their grades. As parents, the classic questions arise: Why does he fail exams? Why does he fail if he was studying hard to pass?

This is when you should resort to studies that allow you to diagnose the degree of dyslexia that your child has, facilitating personalized treatment.

Types of Dyslexia:

• Phonological or Auditory Dyslexia: it affects a person's ability to decode individual sounds of letters, that is, they have difficulty dividing words into smaller sounds (phonemes) and relating them to the corresponding letters. This makes it difficult for them to read new or complex words.
• Surface Dyslexia: Those affected have difficulty recognising words visually, which leads them to rely on the pronunciation of each word instead of recognising it automatically. This leads to frequent errors in reading irregular words, which do not follow common pronunciation rules.
• Mixed Dyslexia: This is a combination of phonological dyslexia and surface dyslexia. People with this type have difficulty both decoding new words and recognising familiar words automatically, which seriously affects their reading fluency and comprehension.
• Visual-Spatial Dyslexia: This is related to problems in processing visual information. People may have difficulty following lines of text and may confuse letters that look similar visually, such as "p" and "q" or "b" and "d".
• Developmental Dyslexia: This refers to cases of dyslexia that manifest in childhood and are usually detected when children begin their formal education. It is the most common type and is believed to have a genetic component.

Despite advances in research into dyslexia, the exact causes of its origin are still not fully understood. However, several factors have been identified that could influence the development of this disorder.

1. Hereditary factors: if there is a family history of dyslexia, the person will be more likely to suffer from dyslexia.
2. Brain injuries.
3. Emotional problems.
4. Problems with sequence orientation: this orientation allows people to order objects, events (past, present, future), among others. People who suffer from dyslexia show difficulties in temporally ordering the events of a book, for example.
5. Visual perception problems/Visual-perceptual disorder.
6. Lack of cerebral dominance: the brain is divided into two hemispheres, and the right part of the brain has the role of controlling the left part of the body and, conversely, the left part of the brain controls the right part of the body. Lack of brain dominance refers to the two parts of the brain, leading to difficulties in effectively controlling the body, including the hands and fingers when writing. Another cause of dyslexia is poor connection between the two hemispheres of the brain.

Dyslexia Treatments:

There is no cure for dyslexia, but with the right approach, people with dyslexia can learn to read and write correctly, developing skills that allow them to successfully function in the academic and work environment. The most common treatment includes therapy with reading and writing specialists, phonetic-based intervention programs, which help improve the connection between sounds and letters.

Technology such as audiobooks and text-to-speech applications are tools that help people with dyslexia access information more efficiently. In more severe cases, additional support from specialized tutors or the use of assistive technology may be necessary.

A common practice carried out in the treatment of dyslexia is the so-called “overlearning”, which consists of relearning the process of reading and writing, but, in this case, adapting the pace to the person's zone of proximal development. That is, it consists of adapting the teaching-learning process of reading and writing to the individual person´s rhythm and characteristics.

Ultimately, the treatment of dyslexia seeks to correct the factors or impaired functions that cause the symptoms and, therefore, promote an improvement in school learning, academic performance and success in life for those who face this challenge.

There are multiple tools and pedagogical approaches that help people with dyslexia to adapt and develop. It is essential to promote awareness of this condition so that more and more children and adults receive the necessary support. Understanding, support and patience are key for those who face dyslexia to reach their full potential, both in the school environment and in their daily lives.

Dyslexia does not define people, and with the right support, it is possible to overcome it.