If reading is a struggle...

The word dyslexia has been so overused the past twenty years, it's difficult to know exactly what syndrome it refers to, or precisely what to do to help its victims. Scientists who have studied dyslexia have determined that there are several different types of difficulties—different causes, different symptoms, and therefore certainly different solutions. Functional MRIs have given researchers the clearest evidence for the fundamental differences among the various learning disabilities.

Dyslexia is not necessarily about seeing letters backwards or in a mixed-up order. Instead, researchers say, many children suffer from reading problems because they struggle with processing quick-changing sounds. When these children are shown and taught written letters and syllables, such as ga, they may be trying to map them onto confused sounds that normal kids can distinguish as ca, da, ga and ya.

Sound training can help these children, and the earlier, the better, says Nadine Gaab, from the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at Children's Hospital Boston. Two possible ways to train children's ears are through musical training and through a computer program called “Fast ForWord Language,” which was created by Scientific Learning in Oakland, California.

As reported in June of 2009, Cyril Pernet of the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, has used MRIs to establish a direct link between brain structure and severity of reading difficulties.

More dyslexic news was published in October, 2009: Wai Ting Siok of the University of Hong Kong reports that Chinese children who have dyslexia seem to combine visuospatial difficulties as well as sound processing difficulties. Siok points out that Chinese characters stand for meanings, not sounds, and have “a number of intricate strokes packed into a square configuration.” The meanings of each Chinese character must be memorized by rote, she says, whereas children learning to read in most cultures only have to learn a much smaller number of letter-to-sound rules. Further study is certainly warranted as researchers try to sort out the various types of learning differences and the underlying brain-structure and wiring differences that cause dyslexia.