Dyslexia does not happen only in English!

Dyslexia does not happen only in English! It is language neutral.....

I often state this fact to the parents of my little clients while asking them about the symptoms, and also as one of the strengths of Davis® Correction Programs. Davis® methods are completely language neutral. These can be delivered in and for any language using same techniques and are equally effective.

This is the reason the best seller book written by Ronald D Davis The Gift of Dyslexia is translated and published in 21 languages, and worldwide Davis Facilitator's network is providing this program in 30 different languages across 47 nations. But, very sad to say that the book is not available in Hindi or any other Indian languages.

Today, when I bumped into the news article from Indian Express,, about the toolkit designed in Hindi, Marathi & Kannada, to diagnose dyslexia in schools in grade 1, my heart filled with joy and hope. Congratulations and kudos to Ms Nandini Chatterjee Singh & team for taking up this noble work.  

Worldwide, approximately 15% to 20% children are said to be affected by learning differences and 10 % are estimated as having trouble in learning to read and write (typical dyslexia.)  This toolkit brings a ray of hope for 35 million children in our country. Out of which  a fraction who are the privileged to be studying English medium and those too elite schools. Among these privileged ones too only few get identified and get timely help due to various issues.

There is big need to reach out children with timely help and this toolkit is going to serve a great deal.

Davis®  Program is one such unique program which does not rely on phonics and language specific instructions, but builds it's foundation on creating an image of every symbol with it's meaning using the individual's creativity. It the learning and hence is equally effective in any language.

A glimpse of  work done in Davis ® Correction Program, the picture also shows handwriting improvement after 5 days of Program. 

The efforts to come-up successfully with the toolkit for Indian languages has encouraged me to initiate the search again for a suitable  publisher who will translate the book The Gift of Dyslexia in Hindi and other vernacular languages. The wonderful program which is provided one-on-one, is customized and personalized to suite each individual's need. It provides self empowerment to individual by controlling the symptoms at will.

Two years back, I was discouraged by following up with some publishers who made false promises but never got back even with the reasons of not pursuing the project. Now, again I am filled with hope. It has to reach so many people who will be able to relate with the problem and will get introduced to the wonderful correction methods.Amen!! the search begins.....

Enhance Learning Potential right from EarlyYears!

What will you find in this article  --
1. Symptoms in Pre-reading years.
3. Recent Research references in early detection and Need of early intervention.
4. Learning enhancement Programs.
____________________________________________________________

We all are aware how critical is the gift of learning to lead a happy life! For some people it becomes little more challenge as their needs are different in terms of learning style. Though dyslexia is a gift because of the creative and out of the box thinking style, it poses learning difficulty. Often come across as reading fluency, spelling and words decoding difficulty. (you can refer these links for more details - symptoms of dyslexia, informal assessment )

As per the sources, 17 to 21% of the population is effected by Dyslexia. Lack of right support and help is hugely detrimental and is an opportunity loss for the bright child to flourish in life. Parents generally tend to ignore or want to stay in 'Ostrich mode' and most of the times are ignorant on the symptoms which can be noticed and appropriate corrective action can be initiated. There is big need for the means of early detection and awareness about the correction methods.

Lately, lots of studies are being conducted and research papers are published which suggest that dyslexic traits exists can be identified early on.

Boston Children's hospital is conducting research to establish that dyslexia can be detected in pre-reading years and as early as in infancy stage, with the aim to identify early neural markers of dyslexia among the kids. The site quotes, "Researchers have shown that the brains of children and adults diagnosed with dyslexia are organized differently than those of other people the same age, and have also provided evidence that susceptibility to dyslexia may run in families". 

Hope, such test soon gets available to public as a common test and children at risk can get appropriate help in pre-reading years.

Dyslexia is characterized by difficulty in decoding the phonetic sounds. Some of the typical symptoms parents can watch out during pre- reading years -If the kid is having difficulty in learning nursery rhymes but other things he is quick to learn. Second lead could be difficulty in associating starting letter of the words example failing to relate that word Table is starting with T, and the kid otherwise generally shows sign of brilliance. If these symptoms are observed then that kid might be a dyslexic thinker and early right help would help. 

Davis Learning Strategies is one such program, which works as prevention for 'at risk kids'' and enables life long self learning. This program is effective for not just children who are at risk but enhances potential by enabling self learning in typical not at risk kids also. The beauty of the program is that it is all fun and kids love it!  

Now coming to the effect of unattended dyslexia; A paper published in The Journal of Pediatrics in 2015, an extensive ongoing research over many years, gives scientific and statistical proof for the need of early correction. The paper quotes,"As early as first grade, compared with typical readers, dyslexic readers had lower reading scores and verbal IQ, and their trajectories over time never converge with those of typical readers. These data demonstrate that such differences are not so much a function of increasing disparities over time but instead because of differences already present in first grade between typical and dyslexic readers." 

Below are the graphs showing the comparison of typical and Dyslexic kids. It shows the reading skill gap consistently exists till higher grades and how the IQ gap widens with the increasing grades. 

Comparison of Reading skills

The study was conducted on 414 participants from 1st to 12th grade and test were conducted on two groups dyslexic readers and typical readers and these tests were followed every year.

Comparison of Verbal IQ

Link for reference to this paper is given here   http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(15)00823-9/abstract.

But there is no reason to lose heart if you or your loved one is facing this difficulty. Davis^TM

programs are very effective correction methods as these help alleviating the root cause of dyslexia and enables the person to realize his full potential in life.

If you feel you or anyone you know need help feel free to contact me!

Thanks for taking time to read this article. It will be helpful if you leave your comments and also let me know if you find this article informative and useful.