About 40 million children and adults in the US are afflicted with dyslexia. Unless screening is done, the disorder is not easily known in some cases. Surprisingly, adults at work are not aware they have dyslexia, and if they do, they keep it a well-guarded secret.
Until an employee undergoes dyslexia screening, it's difficult to determine if the disorder is making him fall behind on his job. To help dyslexic workers function, online screening is made available by numerous service providers.
To assist individuals with their work and help them reach their full potential in the workplace, management should provide the programs that could assist possible dyslexics. The help given to dyslexics not only promotes positive work attitudes, but fosters loyalty, increases work efficiency, and lessens stress.
How To Explain Dyslexia
Dyslexia isn't an intellectual disorder, but a neurological challenge that affects an individual's processing of words in reading and spelling. It can occur to people in different levels of intelligence. Even the highly gifted can be afflicted by dyslexia, among them Albert Enstein.
The symptoms of dyslexia are diverse and range from difficulty in reading and spelling, poor memory, challenges in concentrating, struggle with time management, and restlessness. Unless dyslexia screening is done, those afflicted may not even know that they have it.
Dyslexia have been overcome by a lot of people who now have successful careers. Jay Leno, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DaVinci, Pablo Picasso, and Thomas Edison are a few examples. Adults and children who have dyslexia should not be held back by this condition.
Dyslexia Has Diverse Levels
Adult dyslexia can be overcome with carefully designed solutions, and online services make it convenient and discreet for adult dyslexics requiring help. Prior to commencing a program, dyslexics undergo screening to evaluate the kind of program that can help people function with dyslexia.
Dyslexia can either be developmental or acquired. Developmental dyslexia is described by a genetic abnormality in the brain area. Caused by injuries and brain trauma in birth is acquired dyslexia.
The kinds of dyslexia is also grouped according to the visuospatial challenges, speech sound difficulties, and correlating difficulties. With the availability of Web-based dyslexia screening, dyslexic adults can find out immediately if they have any of the types of dyslexia.
Does Dyslexia Have Treatment?
The brain beginning to function normally is the start of the treatment for dyslexia. As proof that it's a treatable disorder, a dyslexic learning to read will start utilizing his brain differently. It is a lengthy process, but one that helps many dyslexics handle one challenge at a time.
http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/leslie-carsson/53667.htm
How to Cope With Adult Dyslexia
Scientists Link Gene To Dyslexia
A gene which is likely to be one of the causes of dyslexia in children has been discovered by researchers at Cardiff University.
They believe the major finding will give researchers a better understanding of what causes the brain disorder which disrupts reading and writing skills.
It is now hoped that follow-up research will also lead to the discovery of treatments which could help children susceptible to dyslexia.
The discovery was made by a team from the Department of Psychological Medicine, Wales College of Medicine.
They carried out analysis of 300 families from Wales and the West of England where at least one child suffered from the disorder.
The research team led by Professor Julie Williams and Professor Michael O'Donovan will now continue their study in order to discover more about the gene called "KIAA0319".
The research will focus on discovering exactly how the gene works within the brain to disrupt reading and writing skills.
Professor Williams said: "This is a major breakthrough and the first study to identify one gene which contributes to susceptibility to the common form of dyslexia. We would like to thank all the parents and children who took part in the study and would extend a call to new volunteers to take part in this important research."
The researchers want to hear from more families with at least one child who has dyslexia.
Professor O'Donovan said: "The finding vindicates our optimism that a disorder as apparently complicated as impaired reading ability can be amenable to molecular genetic dissection." However, he added: "Much more remains to be done before the finding is translated into therapy. To tackle the genetic origins of disorders like dyslexia, both quality of assessment and sample size are crucial. We have the tools to take care of the latter, but we are entirely dependent on the altruism of the public in offering their time and DNA".
Cardiff University
Slow Reading In Dyslexia Tied To Disorganized Brain Tracts
Dyslexia marked by poor reading fluency -- slow and choppy reading -- may be caused by disorganized, meandering tracts of nerve fibers in the brain, according to researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). The study, using the latest imaging methods, gives researchers a glimpse of what may go wrong in the structure of some dyslexic readers' brains, making it difficult to integrate the information needed for rapid, "automatic" reading.
The study was led by Christopher Walsh, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Genetics at Children's Hospital Boston, and Bernard Chang, MD, a neurologist at BIDMC.
"We looked at dyslexia caused by a particular genetic disorder, but what we found could have implications for understanding the causes of dyslexia in other populations as well," says Walsh, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at BIDMC.
Dyslexia, which affects 5 to 15 percent of all children, has different forms. Subjects in the study had reading problems caused by a rare genetic disorder known as periventricular nodular heterotopia, or PNH. Although their intelligence is normal, people with PNH have trouble reading fluently, or smoothly, lacking the rapid processing necessary for this aspect of reading.
The genetic mutation that causes PNH disrupts brain structure. In a normal brain, much of the gray matter (consisting mostly of nerve cells) appears on the brain's surface, while white matter (consisting mostly of nerve fibers or "wiring" connecting areas of gray matter) runs deeper in the brain. In PNH, nodules of gray matter sit deep in the brain's core, in the white matter, having failed to migrate out to the surface as the brain was developing.
To learn more about how these developmental changes in the brain might lead to reading problems, the researchers tested cognitive skills needed for reading in 10 patients with PNH, 10 individuals with dyslexia without neurological problems, and 10 normal readers. They used a specialized form of MRI called diffusion tensor imaging to look at the structure of the white matter in the brain.
In PNH patients, unlike in normal readers, white matter fibers took circuitous routes around the misplaced gray matter, and in some cases, didn't organize into uniform bundles, which could leave regions of gray matter poorly connected. Importantly, the more disorganized the PNH patients' white matter, the less fluent their reading.
While other studies have found disorganized white matter in the general population of people with dyslexia, these individuals often struggle with several aspects of reading, making it "hard to know exactly what the role of white-matter integrity is in isolation," says Chang. By demonstrating white-matter problems in PNH patients, who have an isolated reading fluency problem, and correlating that with reading fluency scores, the researchers were able to conclude that white-matter integrity and organization may be the structural basis in the brain for reading fluency.
"This makes sense," says Chang. "When we read, we need to take in information visually, hook it up with our inner dictionary of what letters and words mean, and when we're reading aloud, connect that with the region that gives us our ability to speak." For smooth, automatic reading, "the white matter is there to connect different regions of gray matter and allow them to function seamlessly." When reading fluency is the primary problem, "it may be that the areas of the brain that are important for reading are not connected efficiently," says Chang.
Most people with dyslexia who have trouble reading fluently don't have misplaced gray matter or PNH. But Walsh and Chang believe that disorganized white matter could similarly alter brain function in both groups. Their next study will examine how faulty white-matter connections alter brain patterns, comparing brain activation during reading in PNH patients and in dyslexic readers with poor fluency, who do not have PNH.
"Our findings suggest that white matter integrity plays a critical role in reading fluency and that defects in white matter serve as the structural basis for the type of dyslexia we see in this brain malformation," said the study's lead author Bernard S. Chang, MD, with Harvard Medical School in Boston, and member of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our work highlights the importance of studying white matter structure in order to understand cognitive problems and learning disabilities more fully."
Pinpointing the brain structures responsible for fluent reading may eventually help researchers and educational specialists develop and use techniques that help improve the automatic nature of reading in children and adults with these kinds of difficulties, the researchers note.
Findings will appear in the journal Neurology on December 4. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Mind-Brain-Behavior program at Harvard University.
Children's Hospital Boston.
Pre-school Age Exercises Can Prevent Dyslexia, New Research Shows
Atypical characteristics of children’s linguistic development are early signs of the risk of developing reading and writing disabilities, or dyslexia. New research points to preventive exercises as an effective means to tackle the challenges children face when learning to read.
The results achieved at the Centre of Excellence in Learning and Motivation Research were presented at the Academy of Finland’s science breakfast on 21 August.
Headed by Professor Heikki Lyytinen at the University of Jyväskylä, the research has dug deep into how to predict and prevent difficulties in learning to read and write. The study involved a comparison between 107 children whose either parent is dyslexic and a control group of children without a hereditary predisposition to dyslexia. The researchers followed intensively the development of the predisposed children, from their birth through to school age.
“Half of the children whose parents had difficulties in reading and writing found learning to read more challenging than children in the control group. The atypical characteristics of these children’s linguistic development indicated the risk at a very early stage, and we were also able to draw a clearer picture of the typical progression of a development that indicates reading and writing difficulties,” says Lyytinen.
According to Lyytinen, the predictors of reading and writing difficulties are evident primarily in two contexts: on the one hand as a delayed ability to perceive and mentally process the subtleties of a person’s voice, on the other hand as a sluggishness in naming familiar, visually presented objects. When approaching the age when they acquire the ability to read, the children seem to have more difficulties than expected to store in their memory the names and corresponding sounds of letters.
“Acquiring the ability to read demands much more practice from these children than from their peers. The automatisation of reading poses an additional challenge. Also, a fluent ability to read is a prerequisite to be able to understand a demanding piece of text,” says Lyytinen. “A slow reader isn’t able to grasp a given text as a whole, and therefore has a hard time following the storyline. This is why we should pay special attention not only to the accuracy of reading and writing but also to the comprehension of texts even with quite long sentences.”
Computer game to aid learning
The difficulties children experience when learning to read can be significantly reduced through training – “and in a way that children find amusing, even if they do have difficulties in learning to read,” Lyytinen points out.
The CoE in Learning and Motivation Research has developed computer game-like learning environments to aid preventive training, and made them available on the internet free of charge. They are especially recommended for children with a perceived risk of developing reading and writing disabilities or who have had a hard time learning to read already in first grade.
“The best time to start these exercises is the latter part of the pre-school age, but it’s not too late even after the children have started school. The learning result, of course, improves with repeated training: more than once a day and in short sessions. The optimal time for a single playing session is however long the children find it enjoyable.”
Researchers at the CoE in Learning and Motivation Research have made good use of a wide range of scientific disciplines in creating the learning environment. Apart from psychology, the exercises include elements from phonetics, mathematics and information technology. This has allowed the researchers to make the learning environment more effective than traditional educational games.
With funding from the Ministry of Education and in collaboration with researchers of the Niilo Mäki Institute, the researchers at the CoE are also working to create constantly-developing, game-like exercises as well as tools with which to identify risks and detect learning disabilities. The exercises and tools are all available at the same address http://www.lukimat.fi.
To access the learning environment, go to http://www.lukimat.fi
Suomen Akatemia (Academy of Finland)
Dyslexia may be in your genes
German researchers say that dyslexia, a learning disability whose sufferers struggle Dyslexia may be in your genes with reading and writing, can occur due to genetic Dyslexia may be in your genes causes.
“We are trying to find out which genes cause the disease. A predisposition to dyslexia could be detected by a genetic test to support affected children appropriately at a very early age,” says Arndt Wilcke, scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI) in Leipzig.
The researcher says that the migration of nerve cells to their designated positions during brain development at the embryonic stage is routed by specific genes, which, when defective, can be a cause for dyslexia.
Wilcke points out that evidence for responsible “dyslexia genes” is already existing, and the first steps towards a genetic test have been taken.
However, reckons the researcher, at least five more years will be needed to reach that aim.
Dyslexia Training For Teachers
DENVER - Students who struggle with reading may find out from their teachers dyslexia could be to blame. House Bill 1223, sponsored by Representative Michael Merrifield (D-Manitou Springs/Colorado Springs) unanimously passed through the House education committee on Thursday afternoon. The legislation would give teachers the training needed to identify literacy challenges, such as dyslexia.
"I was diagnosed with dyslexia in second grade," says 11-year-old Holmes Middle School sixth grader Theo Reitwiesner.
"Theo came to me in second grade and told me, ‘I'm done with school,'" says Theo's mom Patricia.
Theo started meeting with a tutor soon after his mom told him state law required him to go to school.
"I miss little words like ‘in,' ‘as,' the,' and I'll just skip them completely," says Theo. "There'd be a sentence and you'd read it, then it wouldn't make any sense cause you couldn't figure out one of the words, and you'd read it over like seven or eight times and then it'd finally click, and then you understood it, and that still happens to me today."
Dyslexia is much more than reading a word backwards, it's trying not to confuse letters that look alike, like a lower case ‘b' and a lower case ‘d.' It's trying to understand a word when you're not exactly sure what each letter of the alphabet sounds like on its own. Theo used to memorize words so that he knew how to say it later.
"If you hear the word ‘cat' it's three syllables cah-ah-tah,' so then you can't break apart the sounds in words and you can't blend them together," says Patricia.
"I didn't learn how to pronounce each syllable of every word," says Theo.
Patricia was one of more than a dozen who testified in front of the education committee about the need for literacy training.
"It gives us a chance just to elevate awareness to dyslexia," says Patricia. "This isn't just a problem for special education teachers, this is a problem for everybody in education."
Sydney Hough is a former teacher in the Lewis-Palmer School District. She told the committee about how the word ‘dyslexia' was basically taboo.
"I was not allowed to use the word dyslexia when I was speaking to parents about their child's struggles," says Hough. "I now understand why Joey and Brianna and several other students never learned how to read in my first grade class."
"They're accused of being lazy, not trying hard enough or just plain dumb," says Ellen Steinberg, from the Rocky Mountain Dyslexia Association.
Karen Brass is a 44-year-old mother with dyslexia. While testifying in support of the bill, she couldn't remember a certain word.
If I can't see it, I can't say it," says Brass. "That's a dyslexic mind for you."
"Having taught for 30 years, now that I've learned so much about it, I can recall students that I'm sure must have had dyslexia," says Merrifield. "This does provide training for teachers to recognize certain symptoms."
Merrifield wants to catch learning disabilities early in a student's life, so they can see a specialist and get the tutoring they need.
"From 40,000 to 150,000 students in Colorado have some form of dyslexia," says Merrifield. "This could have a huge impact on the dropout rate, on our graduation rate."
"We graduate far too many kids, able kids, with third and fourth grade reading levels," says Dr. Ed Steinberg of the Colorado Department of Education. "Our kindergarten through third grade teachers in general education, need this training probably desperately in the sense of the preventative aspects of this."
Today, Theo the sixth grader, reads at a seventh grade reading level. He loves to read the Harry Potter books.
"I've worked my butt off all year," says Theo.
By Marshall Zelinger
m.zelinger@krdo.com
EMOTIONS
Dyslexic people are increasingly encouraged to view their dyslexia in a positive light. However, many dyslexics feel a number of distressing emotions about their difficulties and their situation. Most commonly reported are the following:
Confusion and bewilderment
Many adult dyslexics are unaware that they have a recognizable pattern of difficulties which can be significantly alleviated through the learning of appropriate skills and strategies. Typically, therefore, an adult dyslexic feels thoroughly confused. He/she seems to be quite bright and quick-thinking in some ways, but apparently quite slow and 'stupid' in others.
Embarrassment, shame and guilt
Feelings of embarrassment about dyslexia can deepen into shame, and, whereas embarrassment is often specific to a particular situation, shame seems to seep through the whole personality. Often dyslexic people come to feel that they have a guilty secret. Ella, a successful potter, describes it thus:
“I had a secret inside me. I kept 'it' in a box; and would only open the lid very cautiously. You may well laugh when you know the contents of the box: it was dyslexia. That word, that almost indescribable thing, lived in the box and pervaded almost every part of my life, but no one could see it. It was a living nightmare.”
Lack of confidence, low self-esteem.
The emotions described above – bewilderment, shame, guilt – deal a crippling blow to confidence and self-esteem. Lack of confidence manifests itself both in relation to specific tasks that a dyslexic person finds difficult, and in a more general way. At work there is a feeling of not being competent to hold down one's job. There is also a nervousness about applying for promotion, or for another job. In interviews, particularly, lack of confidence can be very damaging.
The daily questionings of one's own abilities and capacities will slowly but surely erode one's self-esteem. Among all the problems, the difficulties, the inefficiencies, the traumas, where is the person who is of worth? Is there such a person in there somewhere? Lack of confidence may result in aggressive or defensive behavior. Then the dyslexic person becomes trapped in a pattern of interaction, or rather reaction, which imprisons him/her in a lonely and distressing world.
Frustration and anger.
A sense of being imprisoned, trapped, impotent is often reported by dyslexic adults. George, a long-distance lorry driver, describes it thus: “I felt I couldn't move in any direction. In my job I was always moving, going in all directions, but in myself I couldn't go anywhere. I was grounded. That's why I liked the driving – I would drive and drive and drive to try and get away from the frustration, but however far you drive, you can't get away from yourself.”
In human beings, frustration soon turns to anger. But who should the anger be directed against? Who is to blame? All too often dyslexic adults end up blaming themselves.
Anxiety, fear and panic.
Whatever difficulties one may have in life, anxiety usually makes them worse, and this is certainly true of dyslexic difficulties: adult dyslexics become locked in a vicious circle of anxiety and inefficiency. Anxiety and stress can also precipitate physical symptoms: panic attacks, nausea, migraine, susceptibility to illness. Being physically below par naturally further reduces efficiency and so the downward spiral continues.
Despondency, depression and despair.
If the difficulties continue to go unrecognised, if there is continual failure in attempts to study and hold down jobs, then the dyslexic person may lose hope and sink into depression.
Relief, determination and hope.
It perhaps seems as if this paper has been full of doom and gloom. Yet all the emotions that have been described here are commonly reported by dyslexic adults. However, once dyslexic difficulties have been recognized, and strategies for dealing with them put in place, life can often take a turn for the better. All the energy that previously went into worrying about the problems, and covering them up, can now be channeled into developing effective ways of dealing with them, both practically and emotionally. What usually emerges most strongly is a sense of hope and a feeling of determination to turn one’s life around.
As James, who was recently diagnosed as dyslexic, said: “I felt as if the prison doors had been opened. I looked out and saw paths leading in all directions. I didn't know which of the paths was mine. All I did know was that I would have a path in future and that the years of confinement were over.”
- Dyslexia in the Workplace, by Diana Bartlett and Sylvia Moody, published by Whurr.
- Dyslexia at College, by Tim Miles and Dorothy Gilroy, published by Routledge.
- Dyslexia and Stress, edited by Tim Miles and Ved Varma, published by Whurr.
Perception and Movement
Dyslexia denotes difficulty with reading and writing, and it is often supposed that this difficulty must stem from poor phonology (ability to recognise, produce and sequence letter sounds). However, dyslexia may also be associated with perceptual and motor (movement) difficulties. Such difficulties are often grouped together under the term ‘dyspraxia’.
General difficulties.
· poor balance and posture
· clumsy gait and movement
· difficulty with bat and ball games
· tendency to fall, trip, bump into things and people
· poor handwriting and typing
· lack of manual dexterity (needed in tasks such as cooking)
· over-sensitivity to light and noise
· discriminating between left and right
· judging distance
· finding one’s way about
· doing numerical and spatial tasks
· planning and organising thought, and expressing thoughts
· organising daily life
· social interaction
· presentation of written work
· keeping place when reading
· keeping overall structure of essay in mind
Workplace difficulties.
· using machines such as photocopiers, faxes
· entering data on a computer / calculator
· copying down figures correctly and in the proper columns
· remembering where things have been put
· taking messages
· using a date stamp
· keeping papers in order
· carrying trays, eg, of coffee mugs
Managing the difficulties.
· use a ruler to keep place on page
· photocopy text onto coloured paper
· colour-mark layout of tables of numbers
· systematically scan each part of graphs, charts, tables of numbers
· keep operating instructions for fax machine, etc. by the machine
· use an ergonomic keyboard
· use keyboard shortcuts / slow down the mouse
· plan a daily, weekly and monthly work schedule
· carefully pre-plan before going to a new place
· use upside-down maps
· make a note of routes, eg, to photocopying room
· request a quiet workspace
· get a tray with high sides and a long central handle (from disability organisations)· use specially adapted utensils for cooking / tools for DIY
Assessment.
Dyspraxic difficulties can usually be identified in a psychological assessment (eg, using the WAIS test).
If physical clumsiness is a marked feature, it is advisable to seek an assessment also from a physiotherapist or occupational therapist who specialises in adult dyspraxia.
If perceptual difficulties are marked, then a referral to a perception therapist would be useful.
Further reading.
Living with Dyspraxia: A guide for adults with developmental dyspraxia, ed. Mary Colley; available from the Dyspraxia Foundation. (Some of the material in this paper has been taken from this book.)
Dyslexia in the Workplace, by Diana Bartlett and Sylvia Moody, published by Whurr.
Dyslexia at College, by Tim Miles and Dorothy Gilroy, published by Routledge.
Sequencing and Structuring
The logical sequencing and structuring of information, ideas and activities is a necessary part of human life. Though we may prefer to see the world holistically, yet still we cannot escape structure in our daily lives.
Language in particular is highly structured. It is not surprising, therefore, that dyslexic people have a number of difficulties with language, especially written language. However, they are often also inefficient in many other tasks which involve sequencing and structure. Some commonly-reported difficulties are listed below.
General difficulties.
· writing and copying words and numbers
· following instructions / carrying out instructions in the correct sequence
· working under pressure
· keeping workspace tidy
· organising daily life
Study difficulties.
· structuring essays
· taking succinct notes
· organising work and revision schedules
· presenting an argument logically in a seminar
· dealing with library catalogues / finding books
Workplace difficulties.
· filing documents / retrieving files
· following work protocols
· writing letters and memos
· structuring reports
· presenting ideas clearly in oral interactions / presentations
· carrying out tasks in an efficient, logical way
· dealing with a varied workload
· getting the times and places of meetings wrong
· missing appointments
· failing to prioritise / missing deadlines
· never having the right papers
Managing the difficulties.
· read words and sentences bit by bit
· skim text to get an overview before reading for detail
· use alphabet cards
· colour code columns and rows of figures
· colour code instructions / protocols
· colour code files and filing trays, eg, use red for urgent work
· clearly label files and filing trays
· keep workspace tidy
· plan daily, weekly and monthly action lists
· leave some time each day to deal with emergencies / unexpected tasks
· at the beginning of each day review the action plan for that day
· at the end of each day check what has / hasn’t been done
· pre-plan essays and reports
· pre-plan oral interactions / presentations
· pre-plan tasks, and split them into sections / stages
· work one step at a time
Further reading.
- Dyslexia in the Workplace, by Diana Bartlett and Sylvia Moody, published by Whurr.
- Dyslexia at College, by Tim Miles and Dorothy Gilroy, published by Routledge
Short -Term Memory
Short-term memory (STM) is a temporary store for information. The information in this store will later either be forgotten or, if important, transferred to our long-term memory store. For example, we use STM to remember a telephone number for a few seconds, or to keep the shape of an object in mind as we try to draw it. To use your STM, carefully read through the following numbers ONCE ONLY; then look away and see if you can recall them in the correct order: 5 9 2 8 3 7 4 6.
One important component of STM is working memory. In the example given above, STM was a passive recipient of information – its task was to remember the information only, not to do anything with it. The working memory component, however, is active: it takes the information held in the main STM store and uses it in some way. For example, we use working memory when we do mental arithmetic. To use your working memory, carefully read the following sentence through ONCE ONLY and then try to work out the sum in your head. Add 5 and 3 and 8 and 4 and then divide by 2.
Poor short-term memory, especially in the visual and auditory modalities, is often associated with dyslexia. Below are some of the difficulties it causes:
General difficulties.
· remembering telephone numbers
· copying down numbers correctly
· remembering messages, instructions and directions
· keeping track of ideas when speaking, listening or writing
· remembering people’s names
· remembering where things have been put
Study difficulties.
· taking notes in lectures
· formulating responses to questions in seminars
Workplace difficulties.
· taking notes in meetings
· following discussions
· following oral instructions
· taking telephone messages
Managing the difficulties.
· break numbers and words into chunks
· read sentences slowly and methodically
· try to identify the central theme of each paragraph you read
· request repeats or written back-up for instructions
· ask for instructions to be given in visual form, eg, flow charts
· use set formats for telephone messages
· use visual symbols or pictures as cues and reminders
· tape record instructions / lectures / meetings
· take regular rest breaks
· do relaxation exercises
Sylvia Moody
Dyslexia in the Workplace, by Diana Bartlett and Sylvia Moody, published by Whurr.
Coping skills
Emotional support and opportunities for achievement in activities that don't involve reading are important for children with dyslexia.
If your child has dyslexia:
* Be supportive. Having difficulty learning to read may affect your child's self-esteem. Be sure to provide love and to support his or her talents and strengths.
* Talk to your child. Explain to your child what dyslexia is and that it's not a failure on his or her part. The better your child understands this, the more likely he or she will cope with and compensate for this learning disability.
* Take steps at home to make it easier for your child to study. Provide a clean, quiet, organized place for your child to study, and designate a study time. Also, make sure your child gets enough rest, good nutrition and family support — through outings and activities — to provide a better environment in which he or she can learn.
Stay in close touch with your child's teachers so that they're fully aware of your child's situation and so that you and they can reinforce one another's actions. If available, tutoring sessions with a reading-disorders specialist can be very helpful for many children with dyslexia.
You may also want to consider joining a support group to stay in contact with parents who face similar learning disabilities in their children. Belonging to a support group can provide you with both good information and emotional support.
Vision Training: Improving Your Eyesight
Vision training reduces your dependence on strong compensating lenses and enhances your visual interaction with the world. Vision deficiencies are changeable–training helps make your eyes function more efficiently by using a combination of exercises, nutrition, light, color, awareness, and reducing the use and strength of visual aids. Vision fitness includes visual acuity, the ability of the eyes to work together, and the ability to visually interact with your environment without eye problems or emotional blinders
History
Dr. W. H. Bates, a New York ophthalmologist, is considered the pioneer of vision training. In the early 1900s, he developed the Bates Method for vision improvement which focuses on breathing, relaxation, memory, imagination and eye drills. In over thirty years of research, he showed that vision defects are usually the result of functional problems that can be overcome, and not permanent flaws in the shape of the eye. His work was not accepted by most ophthalmologists.
The Bates Method was used with great success by many practitioners and notably by writer Aldous Huxley who, within two months of using this method, was able to read without using Braille or a heavy magnifying glass. He was so impressed that he wrote a book called The Art of Seeing.
Dr. Robert-Michael Kaplan is an internationally known consultant in complementary vision care who has used a multifaceted approach to develop a comprehensive vision training system that incorporates exercise, diet, lifestyle and mental and emotional awareness. The self-help techniques of Bates and Kaplan are becoming more popular as people are realizing the benefits of natural health care.
How Can It Help Me?
Vision training improves dyslexia, far-sightedness, near-sightedness, eye strain, astigmatism, eye coordination, memory, photosensitivity and will enhance overall well-being. Emotional patterns such as beliefs, fears and angers, and perceptions picked up from your parents and teachers, distort vision
Causes of Eye Problems
Eye problems have many causes, including mental and physical tension, unsynchronized eyes, strain from looking sideways instead of directly at things, traumatic events that alter our visual perception, fluorescent lights and improper nutrition.
Although 20/20 prescriptions help you to see perfectly, they increase eye stress, reduce natural depth perception and produce strain and fatigue after extended use. Strong prescriptions do not give your eyes an opportunity to regenerate themselves naturally and result in a dependency on compensating lenses.
How Does It Work?
Conventional compensating lenses hold the eye in a fixed position and inhibit the eye muscles from naturally adjusting to accommodate near and far focusing. Avoiding corrective lenses or using a reduced (less than 20/20) prescription permits your eyes to function more naturally.
Kaplan’s concept of vision fitness lenses (20/40 instead of 20/20) allow your eyes to relax, producing a calming effect. The reduced lens prescription also means that your eyes are given a chance to increase their natural function, and you are able to notice any fluctuations in vision that are triggered by your activities, diet and environment.
Eye exercises and general exercise improve circulation, oxygenate the blood and enhance nerve function. Proper nutrition improves the health of the entire body, including your eyes.
Vision training reveals your inner perceptions, either current or from the past, as they manifest themselves in your eye condition. By understanding the "mind’s eye," you learn how emotions affect the way you see, and you can overcome these visual limitations.
Improving vision starts with specific exercises including the following: head movements to loosen the neck area and relax the mind; swinging your torso from side to side while looking between your two outstretched arms; placing your palms over your eyes for relaxation; near and far focusing; blinking; blinking into sunlight; scanning; stretching the eye muscles; crossing your eyes; breathing; acupressure (for more information, see earlier part of this section) and non-staring. Visual aids such as glasses and contacts should be removed for at least a few hours a day so that the eyes have an opportunity to function naturally and regenerate.
Eye patches are also used to stimulate perception and peripheral vision. Rate of improvement depends on the effort you put into the program and the severity of your vision deficiency. Be patient and relax–emotional strain will also affect your vision.
Vision Exercises
Here are a few simple vision training exercises you can use for your own self-help. Palm your eyes after these exercises to relax the eyes.
Strain from Close Work and Reading
* Changing Focus Distance: Frequently look away from your work to an object in the distance.
* Near and Far: Shift focus between a near object and a far object several times.
* Blinking: Blink every three seconds.
* Crossing Eyes: Cross your eyes by focusing on an object that you bring to touch the bridge of your nose.
* Scanning: Move your eyes quickly to different objects within your visual field.
Tension
* Palming: Rub palms together and place over your closed eyes, but not touching your eyes, to block all light and relax for a couple of minutes. When you are completely relaxed, you should see pure black.
* Neck Stretch: Stretch your head down to the chest. Repeat ten or more times.
* Side-to-Side Neck Stretch: Stretch the head sideways to look over one shoulder then look over the other shoulder. Repeat ten or more times.
Stimulating
* Up-and-Down Eye Stretches: Keep head still and without straining look up and then down. Repeat three times.
* Side-to-Side Eye Stretches: Keep head still and without straining look left and right. Repeat three times.
* Left-to-Right Diagonal Eye Stretches: Keep head still and without straining look up and to the left and then down and to the right. Repeat three times.
* Right-to-Left Diagonal Eye Stretches: Keep head still and without straining look up and to the right and then down and to the left. Repeat three times.
* Crossing Eyes: Cross your eyes, by focusing on an object that you bring to touch the bridge of your nose.
What Can I Do?
When your eyes are tired, give them a break and stimulate them with some vision exercises. Take time to relax by breathing and stretching. Avoid looking sideways to prevent straining the eyes. Instead, move your head to look directly at what you want to see. When reading, use a 100-watt light source behind you and keep your work directly in front of you. A healthy lifestyle including exercise, proper nutrition, natural light and relaxation is also important
Where Do I Go Next?
Check at your holistic health book store or natural food store to find a vision fitness practitioner, or contact the International Society for Eyesight Education.
