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Providing scientific information to children with dyslexia.

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Abstract

Researchers are making progress understanding the genetic and neurological causes of dyslexia. But with this information comes the challenge of making it practical and useful. One way to do this is to talk to children with dyslexia about what science is telling us about their brains. This paper reveals the difficulties students with dyslexia encounter in school and illustrates how learning about their brains and disabilities can change their perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about themselves.

Scientific Discoveries and Their Implications

Researchers are making great advances understanding the genetic and neurological causes of dyslexia. Advances in technologies like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allow us to examine human brain anatomy and functioning in vivo as learning and thinking take place (Sherman & Cowen, 2003). Zadina (2002) reports that there could be a variety of neurobiological pathways that lead to dyslexia and Shaywitz (1996) discovered specific neural systems involved in reading and differential patterns of activation in areas that support phonological processing in the brains of individuals with dyslexia. Differences in structure, wiring, and processing mean that a child with dyslexia who came to believe that his brain worked "differently" is probably right (West, 1997).

While not a perfect science because of methodological, definitional, and identification difficulties much good can come from what is known at this early stage. For example, Zadina (2002) proposes that a recursive model where educators, neuroscientists, and medical practitioners work together to identify and provide more specific interventions could reform the education of children with dyslexia. Her recursive model is definitely on the horizon and as scientific advances are made educators must be aware of them, utilize them, and make them known to individuals with dyslexia.

But, with this information comes the challenge of making it practical and useful to the individuals who need it most, children with dyslexia. One way to achieve this goal is to talk to children who are dyslexic about what science is revealing about their brains. With this information children can construct an accurate conception of themselves and their disability. Without it, they may give up on learning and themselves. For example one, eighth grade child said, "Others are born to read but not me. I'm not a good reader. I'm defective and a really lazy boy." This child had received little information about his disability in reading. Now, compare his words to another child's. A child who is in the same grade but attends a school where his teachers talk about dyslexia and the brain,

Dyslexia is your brain's wired differently and there's brick walls for some things and you just have to work either around it or break it. I'm dyslexic at reading. That means I need a little bit more help. If you have dyslexia the thing you have to find is how to get over the hump, the wall. Basically, you either go around it and just don't read and get along in life without it or you break down the wall.

In these words one can hear what each child thinks about himself and his disability. The first boy has a shallow understanding based on emotional reactions to negative experiences he has encountered in school. In his mind he is defective, lazy, and incapable of learning how to read. He has adopted a self-defeating pattern of thinking. In contrast, the second boy has a better conception of his disability. His beliefs were not always like this but have changed because he is enrolled in a school where his teachers talk to him about his brain and his disability. I propose that talking with his teachers and receiving the latest, scientific information about dyslexia has given him...

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