You must have heard about Dyslexia somewhere or at some place and at some point in time. But when you hear about Dyslexia, what comes to your mind? Whenever we see some person having difficulties in reading, we term it as dyslexia. But dyslexia as a disease is not just about reading issues; it involves people having difficulties in writing as well.
Dyslexic people have difficulties reading, writing, and spelling words. In simpler words, dyslexia is a disease in which the brain has issues processing words clearly and causes confusion. It might not be a pain point for intelligence, but if not identified and taken care of early, it can surely hamper the learning abilities of the diagnosed person.
The best method to diagnose young children with dyslexia is their writing style, and having a closer look at their writing can reveal the details. Such children need one-on-one attention if you want to improve their writing condition.
In this blog, we will examine dyslexia, the challenges that children with the disease face while writing, and how to identify such issues early to support and encourage them.
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a specific disease where the affected person has difficulties in reading, writing, and spelling. People affected with dyslexia are unable to differentiate the space between letters and words and get confused about the individual sounds between words. Dyslexia, by no means, is related to the intelligence of the concerned person and does not affect their literacy either. It just impacts their ability to read and write.
There are some key aspects of identifying dyslexia, and those are given below –
A Slower Reading Pace – Dyslexic people find reading tiring and time-consuming due to the confusion in letters and words.
Difficulties in Spelling – Such people are prone to misspell words, even the simplest ones.
Writing Issues – They face difficulties in penning words, with difficulties in grammar, spacing, punctuation, etc.
Issues in Phonological Processing – Dyslexic students face confusion in identifying the individual sounds between words.
Connection issues – They face difficulties in connecting different words and letters based on their sounds.
Writing samples and exercises are the best ways to identify dyslexic issues among children, and these writing samples can help parents and teachers identify and solve the problem at the perfect time.
Challenges that Young Children with Dyslexia Face in Writing
Below are some common challenges that dyslexic students face every day while reading and writing –
Issues in Processing Speed
Writing is a sequence where we relate and structure letters and words based on their individual sounds, and frame them into sentences based on grammar, spelling, meaning, structural representations, etc. This is where dyslexic students lack. They fail to process the letters and words based on basic norms and get broken or incomplete thoughts on paper while writing.
Issues in Memorizing Things
This is one of the most common challenges faced by young dyslexic children. When we read something, we try to memorize it so that the memory can be used later for writing purposes as and when needed. But this is where dyslexic students lack. Since they get confused in letters and words, they face difficulties in memorizing the ideas, thus impacting their writing capabilities.
Poor Handwriting
The handwriting of students suffering from dyslexia is unorganized and disordered. They fail to recognize spacing and the sizing of letters, making it difficult for them to jot down words in a sequence while writing. This condition is known as dysgraphia, where the concerned child fails to put words in order and has messy handwriting, making it difficult to understand.
Discouraging & Emotional Impact
A dyslexic student faces difficulties in reading, writing, and selling. Constant issues in pronouncing words and writing them down can be discouraging for the children, emotionally draining them out. Regular issues in figuring out words, constant mistakes in spelling, and back lagging might be emotionally draining for the children, and it can hamper their eagerness in writing tasks.
Make Sense About Dyslexia Through Writing Samples
Dealing with children suffering from dyslexia requires a special approach and an action plan of curated strategies. Take a look at a few strategies given below –
Plan Out the Strengths First
Dyslexic students need a detailed approach to writing, so it is better to figure out their strengths first. While constant failure in reading and writing can hamper their confidence, these strengths can work wonders for them. A lot of dyslexic students are good at problem-solving or have crazy creativity. Use these as confidence boosters for them since they can succeed in these tasks. This can be a ladder towards the goal.
Divide the Goal into Smaller Parts
Writing tasks can sometimes be complex, confusing, and overwhelming for dyslexic students. Their inability to understand things in a sequence adds up to the pain. So, it is advised to divide the complete task into smaller parts that would make things simpler. Once there are different breakdowns, students can focus on completing and learning one task at a time, thus understanding things easily and effectively.
Be Supportive & Encouraging
While dealing with dyslexic students, you need to understand that they are different from regular students and need special attention and appreciation. Try to be supportive and provide them with suggestions where necessary and appreciation when they complete something. Do not try to be over-enthusiastic while dealing with them, and avoid regularly pinging them on mistakes. This is where patience comes into play, focusing on mending one mistake at a time.
Motivate them to Practice Regularly
One of the most effective ways to make dyslexic students learn writing is by making them practice regularly. Make a plan for them and divide those into parts as discussed above. Regular motivation to complete everything step by step can work wonders for them, so make sure to keep them motivated.
Here Is A Case Study About Challenges And Solutions For Supporting New Writers
Below are some writing samples that can help you understand dyslexia in young students –
Confusion in Inversion of Letters
Normal sentence – The ball flew high.
Dyslexic Sentence – The dall flew high.
Dyslexic students tend to get confused by similar-looking letters, or those letters that look the mirror images of each other, for example, ‘b’ and ‘d’, ‘J’ and ‘L’, etc. This is due to a lack of understanding and spatial awareness.
Confusion in Individual Sounds Between Words
Normal sentence – The phone was ringing.
Dyslexic Sentence – The phone was ringing.
Dyslexic students are prone to get confused by words that sound similar, something like ‘van’ and ‘van’, ‘phobia’ and ‘phobia’, ‘Wednesday’ and ‘Wednesday’, etc. Since they have issues with spelling words, going based on the sound makes them easier to write, causing errors.
Omission & Addition of Letters
Normal sentence – The car is coming.
Dyslexic Sentence – The car is comming.
Dyslexic students get confused with the structuring of letters, and this makes them either miss out on repeated letters or add an extra when not required. For example, they might write ‘adding’ as ‘ading’ or ‘apple’ as ‘aple’ or ‘cleaning’ as ‘cleanning’. They fail to sequence letters and do not understand where to add letters as per spelling and where not to.
Confusions in Ordering of the Words
Normal sentence – The white cat sat on the fat hat.
Dyslexic Sentence – The white hat sat on the cat fat.
This is one of the most common issues with the writing of dyslexic students; they get confused when a sentence has more similar-sounding words. This issue is related to their confusion in identifying sounds and syntax of words. When you put them into complex sentences or sentences with similar words, they fail to order the words as per their meaning.
Issues in Casing of Letters
Normal sentence – The boy was asking for an apple.
Dyslexic Sentence – The Boy Was asking for An Apple.
Dyslexic students face loads of remembering and sequencing words, syntax, and spelling, and this adds up to their casing woes. They are prone to improper capitalization in words since they fail to understand the rules of capitalization.
Conclusion
Dyslexia is not any regular disease that can be treated with medicines and stuff, it needs special attention and care. Students with dyslexia have a difficult time reading words, understanding them, and writing them as well. Regular setbacks can damage their confidence level and wear them down emotionally. So it is essential to deal with them with care and let them understand that nothing is difficult. If Leonardo da Vinci, Tom Cruise, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and several other people can do it, anyone can do it!
As a parent and a teacher, you just need to be patient and take things slowly!
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