Dyslexia is only one kind of learning disability

Dyslexia is only one kind of learning disability. Many people falsely believe that all learning disabilities include dyslexia. Therefore, a brief explanation of dyslexia is in order. The term has been used rather loosely and has become the catch-all term to describe many different learning problems which are not true learning disabilities. Very few students who have reading problems have dyslexia; it is a severe and persistent reading disability which may include the misreading of numbers (discalculia) and symbols as well as letters.

The word dyslexia is derived from two Greek roots, “dys” (not) and “lexia” (read). The disorder causes reading problems which can include the reversal of letters (“p” for “d”), mirror imaging of letters or words, transposing letters or words, or even transposing parts of sentences. Some students have reported words or letters actually “vibrating” on a page.

When the inability to read is caused by a stroke, accident, or organic brain disease, neurologists call the disorder acquired alexia. When a child is unable to learn the skills of reading the condition is sometimes called developmental dyslexia.

Gershwind (1982), Galaburda (1983), Duane (1983), and Critchley (1970) have found that “...neurological research on this condition suggests that dyslexia has a biological basis: that within the community of poor readers there is a hard core of cases in which the learning defect is inborn [and] caused by neurological factors” (Jones, 1992, p. 65). Some studies have linked dyslexia to abnormalities found in chromosomes or damage in the language area of the left hemisphere (p. 65).

Research as to the etiology of dyslexia is now being published in a wide spectrum of research areas, including linguistics, education, genetics, neuroanatomy, and visual and auditory processing.

At Cabrillo, the Learning Skills Program staff works with students with dyslexia in an educational context, rather than from a clinical approach. There have been many, many claims regarding special treatment techniques, from visual tracking exercises used by some optometrists, the prescription of colored eye glasses (“Irlen Lenses”) for the treatment of “scotopic sensitivity,” and even treatment claims by a local chiropractor. Some of these claims appear to have some scientific validity for some students, and others appear to have none. The treatment of “scotopic sensitivity” has received mixed legitimate scientific review in the Journal of Learning Disabilities.

Some of the difficulties experienced by students with dyslexia may be ameliorated by the use of the learning tips and strategies, and the study skills recommended in both this handbook and in Support Services for Students with Learning Disabilities at Cabrillo College: A Handbook for Faculty and Staff. Some cases of dyslexia are too severe for non-clinical approaches.

The brevity of this section of the handbook is not meant to indicate that dyslexia is not a serious type of learning disability, but rather to emphasize that it is just one kind of learning disability, one which deserves more attention than can be made available here. 

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