PUNCTUATION MATTERS

In my previous post, I wrote about how confusion causes dyslexia. To illustrate further, let’s now look at how confusion with punctuation marks, one of the symbols we encounter in languages, impacts comprehension for dyslexics.

Some time back, I worked with an adult dyslexic. She is a good reader and spelling is not an issue, but she struggles to comprehend what she is reading. While she reads fluently, her reading pace was quite fast and she was not aware whenever she made reading mistakes.

I then identified that she did not have a good understanding of some of the punctuation marks used. Punctuation gives meaning to what we are reading. The lack of certainty on what each punctuation mark means leaves us with uncertainty as to how to interpret the sentence read. This then gives rise to confusion. To resolve that confusion, dyslexics need to have full mastery of the punctuation marks.