21 October, 2024
Article by Dr. Paul O’Callaghan
Center Manager, Family and Child Support Center (FCSC)
There is a paradox that lies at the very heart of a condition called dyslexia.
While dyslexia clearly is not a myth; much of what the public knows about it today is. This confusion lies at the heart of much heartache for parents. Even worse, it has exacerbated the learning outcomes of children who were already struggling in school.
The roots of this confusion lie in the counter-intuitive nature of dyslexia itself.
For decades, most researchers and educators thought that dyslexia was a vision-based problem. They thought that dyslexic children saw words jumping about the page, and misread words because of a problem with their visual perception.
We now know, that although visual eye strain can occur in dyslexic children, it is not the primary cause of dyslexia. Instead, dyslexia is caused by a difficulty identifying and manipulating the smallest units of speech. We call these sounds phonemes. Children with dyslexia can hear them alright, they just struggle to manipulate them.
Take for example the word ‘bat’. If you replace the ‘b’ sound in ‘bat’ with an ‘s’ sound you get ‘sat’. Most four-year-olds can do this instantly in their heads. Dyslexic children cannot.
hus, interventions for children with dyslexia require explicit and structured teaching of the letter sound pairings in a language. That is how children ‘crack the code’ and develop reading skills.
For Arabic learners, this letter-sound correspondence is more complex since text often does not contain the vowel sounds required to correctly read a word. Instead, speakers predict from context the correct ‘harakat’ to use. For Arabic speakers who have difficulty recalling or detecting the sound of a ‘fatha’, ‘damma’, or ‘kasra’ – this is a difficult task.
For English speakers the challenge is different. While English always writes its vowels, English speakers need to distinguish what is the correct sound that a vowel or a group of vowels make.
Take the word ‘bread’. It is a common word, but you need to remember when reading and writing the word, that the two vowels in the middle make the short /e/ sound, like in ‘bed’. However, in the word ‘cream’, those same two ‘ea’ letters make the long /e/ sound, like in ‘tree’.
Thus, ‘cracking the code’ in English can take up to 18 months of schooling as children wrestle with the 44 sounds of English and the approximately 150 ways these sounds combine to form words.
Given the complexity of the English language, it is unsurprising that many thought that dyslexia was a condition in which otherwise bright children failed to learn to read, write and spell properly.
You test a child’s intelligence using a cognitive ability test. You then measure the child’s reading, writing, and spelling scores. If a substantial difference exists; the child has dyslexia.
But this meant that children with low ability can never be diagnosed with dyslexia since their poor reading attainment can be blamed on their poor cognitive ability. The major problem with this theory is that study after study has now demonstrated that a child’s cognitive ability is a poor predictor of their word reading scores.
Children with Down’s Syndrome are a perfect example of a group who despite lower ability can have a reading ability that far surpassed their more cognitively gifted peers.
The final nail in the coffin of the ability-reading link, came from studies in both the US and UK. These found that poor readers with high ability (i.e. dyslexics) and poor readers with low ability (i.e. non-dyslexics) made precisely the same improvements in reading age after receiving literacy support.
These findings had widespread implications for children in schools around the world – those with the twin challenge of poor cognitive ability and poor literacy levels.
If these children respond just as well as their more able peers to reading interventions, then it is unfair to deny them this vital learning support based on an out-dated and scientifically inaccurate theory of dyslexia.
As we celebrate Word Dyslexia Day in October, it is incumbent on all of us in clinical, educational, and home settings to use evidence-based practice to support children with reading disabilities.
It is widely thought that up to 1 in 10 people have dyslexia; making it the most common disability affecting children and young people.
By providing all children, regardless of their ability, with early, systematic and structured reading support, we can help break the cycle of under-achievement and ultimately raise a generation even more literate than our own.
About the Family and Child Support Center (FCSC)
The Family and Child Support Center (FCSC) offers specialized assessment services and intervention support for children and young people with dyslexia, both at KAUST and throughout the Kingdom. The center is led by Dr. Paul O’Callaghan, Dr. Sana Dubis, and Dr. Zainab Aldawood, who serve as psychologists, learning development specialists, and speech and language pathologists. Their work focuses on supporting neurodiverse children in developing essential language, academic, social, emotional, and behavioral skills.
FCSC will also be hosting a Dyslexia Simulation Family Social on Wednesday, October 23. This event invites parents, educators, and others to connect and learn more about supporting children with learning needs. Learn more
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