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Some of you may have heard about Irlen syndrome and how colour overlays are used to treat reading difficulties.
What is the theoretical basis behind the treatment and how does it work? Does it really resolve most, if not all, of the issues associated with dyslexia?
I’ve had parents share that their child’s headache is gone or that the words no longer float or jump around on paper, while others said nothing has changed for their child.
The cost of a pair of Irlen lenses is not cheap. In Singapore, it’s in the ballpark figure of $1,000. You also have to get the lenses refitted, so there’s an ongoing cost.
What is the theoretical basis behind the treatment and how does it work? Does it really resolve most, if not all, of the issues associated with dyslexia?
I’ve had parents share that their child’s headache is gone or that the words no longer float or jump around on paper, while others said nothing has changed for their child.
The cost of a pair of Irlen lenses is not cheap. In Singapore, it’s in the ballpark figure of $1,000. You also have to get the lenses refitted, so there’s an ongoing cost.
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Dysgraphia vs Dyslexia. Often, the symptoms overlap, but they translate to one common denominator, learning difficulties. Do you know what are the differences between the two conditions?
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Someone with dysgraphia may have difficulty writing legibly and at age appropriate speed. This is in spite of having received formal instructions in penmanship.
Many children with dysgraphia also struggle with putting their thoughts down on paper.
Many children with dysgraphia also struggle with putting their thoughts down on paper.
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Dyspraxia, sometimes known as developmental coordination disorder or the clumsy child syndrome, very often co-exists with dyslexia.
Someone who is dyspraxic may have difficulty planning and performing tasks that require fine motor skills, such as writing, tying shoe laces or doing sports.
It also affects the person’s ability to plan and sequence information, and working memory. Words such as clumsy, forgetful and disorganised are often used to describe them. This article helps us understand more about dyspraxia and how it affects one's daily life.
Someone who is dyspraxic may have difficulty planning and performing tasks that require fine motor skills, such as writing, tying shoe laces or doing sports.
It also affects the person’s ability to plan and sequence information, and working memory. Words such as clumsy, forgetful and disorganised are often used to describe them. This article helps us understand more about dyspraxia and how it affects one's daily life.
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Ron Davis, in his book The Gift of Learning said, and I quote "that all the symptoms of dyslexia were actually all the symptoms of disorientation. When a dyslexic individual is sufficiently confused, he will disorient spontaneously without noticing it.
But this is not the case with ADD, math and dysgraphic handwriting problems. For them, the effects of disorientation occur during early childhood development, long before a child is old enough to go to school.
During childhood development, both the person's natural state of orientation and the mental function of disorientation, working together, distort some children's perception of their environment to the degree that they develop an alternate reality or concept of essential life lessons, such as change, consequence, cause and effect, time and so on.
The establishment of these alternative realities can lead to the development of ADD, and to some extent, problems with math and handwriting."
Here is a mother's experience in dealing with her son's ADHD.
But this is not the case with ADD, math and dysgraphic handwriting problems. For them, the effects of disorientation occur during early childhood development, long before a child is old enough to go to school.
During childhood development, both the person's natural state of orientation and the mental function of disorientation, working together, distort some children's perception of their environment to the degree that they develop an alternate reality or concept of essential life lessons, such as change, consequence, cause and effect, time and so on.
The establishment of these alternative realities can lead to the development of ADD, and to some extent, problems with math and handwriting."
Here is a mother's experience in dealing with her son's ADHD.
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Q: What intervention programme should I let my child go for? There are so many out there. Any criteria I can use to assess if those programmes are going to help my child?
A: Parents do get overwhelmed when it comes to deciding which intervention programme to put their child through.
Having gone through the process myself and having learnt what dyslexia truly is, not just from a pure research perspective, but also through a first person’s experience (Ron Davis himself), this is what I think.
Many intervention programmes being offered today can be generally summed up as seeking to teach a child how to learn. Sounds perfectly legit right? However, to correct dyslexia (yes, it is possible), it is important to recognise the cause of the dyslexic symptoms and to remove that cause. In another words, the starting point is not to teach a child how to learn but to remove what is preventing their ability (we all know they are smart cookies) to learn. Once the obstacle to learning is removed, then easeful learning can take place.
If a child is being taught how to learn without first removing the obstruction to learning, it will be an uphill task and the progress is slow. Time is not on their side, especially if they have already entered our Singapore education system.
Putting my daughter through the Davis programme was a game changer for her and I cannot be more thankful for that. If you are at the crossroad now, why not find out more about that programme?
Q: What intervention programme should I let my child go for? There are so many out there. Any criteria I can use to assess if those programmes are going to help my child?
A: Parents do get overwhelmed when it comes to deciding which intervention programme to put their child through.
Having gone through the process myself and having learnt what dyslexia truly is, not just from a pure research perspective, but also through a first person’s experience (Ron Davis himself), this is what I think.
Many intervention programmes being offered today can be generally summed up as seeking to teach a child how to learn. Sounds perfectly legit right? However, to correct dyslexia (yes, it is possible), it is important to recognise the cause of the dyslexic symptoms and to remove that cause. In another words, the starting point is not to teach a child how to learn but to remove what is preventing their ability (we all know they are smart cookies) to learn. Once the obstacle to learning is removed, then easeful learning can take place.
If a child is being taught how to learn without first removing the obstruction to learning, it will be an uphill task and the progress is slow. Time is not on their side, especially if they have already entered our Singapore education system.
Putting my daughter through the Davis programme was a game changer for her and I cannot be more thankful for that. If you are at the crossroad now, why not find out more about that programme?
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Not all math/numeracy difficulties are signs of dyscalculia. Especially in our Singapore curriculum, where understanding math is first about English comprehension, before we can apply our mathematics skill. We have all had our fair share of trying to figure out what a problem sum is getting at, haven’t we?
Math has its unique set of symbols and words that can cause confusion and disorientation. Very often, resolving the dyslexia and dealing with the trigger words specific to mathematics, can help the child have the understanding required to handle math.
Math has its unique set of symbols and words that can cause confusion and disorientation. Very often, resolving the dyslexia and dealing with the trigger words specific to mathematics, can help the child have the understanding required to handle math.
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Punctuation marks give meaning to what we are reading and writing. Very often, dyslexics omit or ignore punctuation marks because they are symbols, and some symbols can confuse dyslexics if they are not able to connect how the mark looks, to what it's called, how to use it, where to place it in relation to a word and what you should do when you come across the mark when reading (stop, short stop, pause or continue reading). Life would be so confusing without proper punctuation marks!
Once the gaps are addressed, do something fun with your child to reinforce the learning, like getting him/her to spot and highlight as many different punctuation marks as he/she could find in an old magazine, newspaper or book.
P/s: get hold of a good grammar book (with a punctuation mark explanation section) for use when instructing the child.
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You may have heard this before: when something is repeated often enough, it gets perceived as the truth.
There are some misconceptions about learning difficulties that are accepted by parents as the truth and so they figured there is nothing they can do about it and accepted things as they are.
It is important for us to question what we are reading or hearing. Don’t just accept what you’ve been told, especially if you have a nagging suspicion that something does not sound quite right.
There are some misconceptions about learning difficulties that are accepted by parents as the truth and so they figured there is nothing they can do about it and accepted things as they are.
It is important for us to question what we are reading or hearing. Don’t just accept what you’ve been told, especially if you have a nagging suspicion that something does not sound quite right.
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The end objective of reading is to have comprehension. In the case of dyslexia, most children could not even read, let alone have any comprehension. And so, we continue drilling them in phonics, hoping that they will eventually get it and is able to decode.
I am not about to invalidate the merits of phonics. It has its place in the process of acquiring literacy for most people. But we need to acknowledge that while it works for some, it may not work for others, dyslexics being one such group. My daughter struggled with phonics and many parents have shared the same observations. If that’s the case, giving them more phonics programme isn’t going to work for them.
What do you need to consider before you buy into any phonics programmes?
