Dyslexia Essay

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The Psychological and Emotional Impact of Dyslexia on a Child

Dyslexia is a recognized learning disability under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). It affects four to eight percent of the general population and the percentage keeps growing. Chances are, everyone knows, or knows of, someone suffering from this disability. Although most studies seem to agree that dyslexia is a condition that is genetic in origin, and not a result of deficiencies in a person's upbringing, there is a marked lack of awareness of the psychological issues a child diagnosed with dyslexia faces.
What is dyslexia?
Medical News Today (MNT) defines dyslexia as “Dyslexia is a specific reading disability due to a defect in the brain's processing of graphic symbols. It is a learning disability that alters the way the brain processes written material. It is typically characterized by difficulties in word recognition, spelling and decoding.” Having said that, it is also a very treatable disability, in the sense that with the proper tools and educational experts a person can overcome the day-to-day problems caused by dyslexia. However, the road to doing so is far from easy, and fraught with psychological and emotional turmoil.
What are the psychological issues that a child diagnosed with dyslexia faces? The issues are many and varied, though there are several core symptoms that seem to be shared by most children suffering from this predicament. One of the greatest issues is spotting the disability at an early age. The earlier on it is noticed, the easier it is to treat. The issue at hand is that it is very hard to tell the difference between a child who is dyslexic and one who is not applying himself enough to his studies. An added complication is that dy...

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...of his brother’s or sister’s seeming independence and ease of learning, while the child who is not dyslexic resents the attention his dyslexic brother or sister is receiving.
In conclusion, it is my belief that with dyslexia, as with every other disability, there must be taken into account the child’s emotional and psychological well-being, from encouraging the child to work on concurring his disability, to giving them problems they can easily solve in order to boost their self image. Additionally, parents and other adults in contact with the child should be made aware of the psychological impact of the handicap on the child, and taught to deal with it accordingly. Just because the handicap is not immediately apparent, does not make it any less debilitating. In fact, it is my opinion that it just makes it more insidious, and the social climate less understanding

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