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PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
What is Dyslexia, Really?

by R' Zvi Zobin

According to the American Psychiatric Association, the diagnositic criteria for Reading Disorder (Dyslexia) are as follows (DSM-IV, 1994):

1. Reading achievement, as measured by individually administered standardized tests of reading accuracy or comprehension, is substantially below that expected, given the person's chronological age, measured intelligence, and age- appropriate education.

2. The disturbance in Criterion A significantly interferes with academic achievement or activities of daily living that require reading skills.

3. If a sensory deficit is present, the reading difficulties are in excess of those usually associated with it (the specific sensory deficit).

A definition based on information from neuroscientific and linguistic research, is difficulty in the use and processing of linguistic/symbolic codes -- alphabetic letters representing speech sounds, or numeric symbols representing numbers or quantities. Such difficulty is reflected in the language continuum that includes spoken language, written language, and language comprehension.

In a nutshell, a person can be said to be suffering from dyslexia whenever he cannot deal with language as well as we would expect of him.

These classic definitions of dyslexia relate only to the symptoms of the problem and do not attempt to relate at all to its cause.

The diagram below shows some of the factors which can cause difficulties with dealing with language. The huge range of possible causes explains why there are so many methods of `curing' dyslexia and why they all seem to have a significant success rate.

For example, one system cures dyslexia through exercises. Another system is based on administering travel-sickness pills. A third system prescribes glasses with specially tinted lenses. A fourth system works through reducing trauma using muscle-testing. One therapist reports amazing success just by slapping his client on the back and saying to him, "You can do it!" Many parents relate how they have helped their children through checking them for allergies and/or giving them nutritional supplements.

Remediation might deal with the source of the problem, or it might train the sufferer to compensate for the problem, or it might ease a problem unrelated to dyslexia per se, but thereby allow the reader to deal with the problem by himself.

The screening used in the FRAMEWORK System covers many of the most common factors while, at the same time, providing an accurate baseline for measuring the progress of remediation.

Of course, the fastest and most efficient path to follow is one which deals with the source of the problem. Once the source of the problem is pinpointed and dealt with, remediation of the dyslexia can usually be effected rapidly and easily. That is one of the reasons why the FRAMEWORK Remediation Program is so exceptionally fast, usually enabling the reader to significantly improve his level of reading and understanding after only a few sessions.

[Future articles will expand on the FRAMEWORK REMEDIATION PROGRAM, or call Rabbi Zobin at 02-5373340.]

 

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