We enjoy seeing all these fun milestones in the early years. Beginning to scoot and do the army crawl and then all of a sudden you are chasing after your child because they are now walking. It seems like we are always anxiously waiting to be in these stages and yet they are here so quickly. I feel like the same thing happens when our child learns to read on their own.
We read to them constantly on our lap as a baby and into the toddler years. They are fully engaged into the story and can't wait to see what's on the next page. You practice the alphabet and letter sounds with them and it seems like they are grasping it. Or maybe you have a child that builds the most elaborate creations out of their Legos and can explain every single detail of their masterpiece, yet when it comes to reading they struggle and it doesn't come naturally.
What happened? What is going on in their brilliant mind that is in the way of helping them learn to read.
This looks differently for every child. Some may find learning to read the sight word the impossible. It could take months, trust me I've been there. Or maybe they can identify the letter sounds but can't blend the words together accurately. It may look a little like this.... /c/-/u/-/p/....upc or just guessing and saying the closest word that has similar sounds or letters. Maybe they finally read the word correctly on one page, yet when they see the same exact word the next they are stuck again. You are not alone in this. Believe me, there are many child who struggle in this way.
Maybe all of these examples sound very familiar to you or may just a few. If so, there may be a reason why your brilliant and clever child is struggling to read.
They may be struggling to read because of the way their brain is wired. Yes, you read that correctly. Their brain may process language differently. When it comes to a the way a brain processes language it will activate different areas. A child who does not have difficulty with learning to read, will access several areas of the brain and be able to quickly and accurately blend sounds together to create a word. This does take practice but happens fairly quickly. They will even put meaning to each word, as well as store it in their long-term memory. In fact, several studies have been done doing fMRI scans on a brain when a child is reading. What they discovered was incredible. Different areas of the brain would light up on the scan that were activated during the reading process. And believe it or not, a child that struggled to read had only one area activated when reading, this area is called Broca's area located in the frontal lobe.
So a child who didn't have several areas of the brain light up showed to have a dyslexic brain. A right hemisphere that was actually 10% larger than the left hemisphere. Very interesting, right? You see when it comes to dyslexia you may have a very brilliant child who struggles in the area of reading and spelling. You may have had their IQ level tested and it was quite high. This may have lead to some confusion when those tests were done. Dyslexia has nothing to do with a low IQ but in fact gives incredible strengths.
They rely quite heavily on that right hemisphere to be an out-of-the-box thinker. This looks like several things, maybe that are very hands-on and like to use their hands to create things, draw and use their artistic ability, maybe their can pick up any sport very easily, or maybe they are great at conversing with others and have lots of social skills or tell the best stories. I could go on and on about how brilliant someone with dyslexia is. No matter what the strength is, it's there for a reason.
How do I help my brilliant child learn how to read?
If you discover that dyslexia may be the cause of why your child is struggling to read, then there is a way to help them bridge this gap. Please know that dyslexia is a live-long issue and not be cured. However, it can be overcome with the right type of intervention. Keep in mind that it is important to screen early on (as early as halfway through Kindergarten).
According to the International Dyslexia Association, the only proven way to help someone with dyslexia is to teach them an Orton-Gillingham based method. This should include an intervention program that is explicit, systematic, multisensory, and the curriculum is taught simultaneously.
If you have any questions, please email me for more information.
Source: interdys.org
***Please note any information on this site is for educational purposes only. It should not be used to treat or diagnose an individual.***