Does your child still have trouble improving their reading skills no matter how hard they try? Your little one could very well be struggling with a reading disability — a disorder in which a person displays difficulty with some part of the reading process. Such a diagnosis doesn’t mean your child is less intelligent than their peers — they just have an additional set of challenges to face when developing their abilities.
Perhaps your child has struggled in the process of learning to read. Familiarizing yourself with these four most common reading disabilities can help you understand what’s going on and how to help.
A reading disability is a condition in which a sufferer displays difficulty reading. Examples of reading disabilities include developmental dyslexia, alexia (acquired dyslexia), and hyperlexia (word-reading ability well above normal for age and IQ).
( Source: Wikipedia ).
Dyslexia (Developmental Reading Disorder)
Developmental Reading Disorder, often referred to as dyslexia, is a learning disability that affects a person’s ability to read, spell, and process language. Individuals with this disorder typically have difficulties with phonemic awareness, which is the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in words. This can lead to challenges in decoding words, reading fluently, and understanding text. Despite these difficulties, people with developmental reading disorder often have normal intelligence and can excel in other areas with appropriate support and interventions.
Around 80% of people with reading difficulties have dyslexia. Dyslexia specifically affects a person’s ability to process what they read and, sometimes, the language they hear. A child with dyslexia typically doesn’t have any other neurological, sensory or intellectual difficulties — they just have trouble with word recognition and spelling.
To pinpoint a potential cause of dyslexia, pay attention when your child reads to you. Do they regularly jumble letters of words and numbers? For instance, a child with dyslexia might read the word “bed” as “deb” or the number 13 as 31. They might also have trouble remembering their sight words, both when reading and writing.
Early intervention is the key to treating the condition. If you catch it in the first years of elementary school, your child will likely learn to cope and succeed academically. While dyslexia might not be fully treatable, you can use plenty of techniques to assuage the issue and help your child enjoy learning once again.
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Hyperlexia
Perhaps your child has no trouble reading even relatively complex vocabulary. At the same time, they have no comprehension of what they’re reading and saying. If this sounds like your little one, they may suffer from hyperlexia.
Some children with the condition begin reading as early as the age of two, even without parental instruction. You may notice your child has an excellent memory, too — they might repeat sentences over and over, and yet, they cannot communicate as well as they can read.
Children with hyperlexia learn to speak and comprehend what they read by picking up the sentences and repeating them to learn words’ meanings. As such, they have trouble expressing themselves. They have to break down the sentences they know to form new ones that explain what they want to say.
Children with hyperlexia demonstrate remarkable word-reading abilities—often reading far above their age level. However, their word-reading ability exceeds their language comprehension.
Hyperlexia has links to autism — it’s often one of the first signs a parent will notice if their child is on the spectrum. If you suspect your little one has hyperlexia, speak to their pediatrician and ask for a referral to someone who can perform an evaluation.
Key characteristics of hyperlexia include:
- Reading words significantly earlier than expected
- Strong ability to decode written words
- Difficulty understanding what they’ve read
- Challenges with verbal communication and social interaction
- Often associated with autism spectrum disorders
What parents should know: If your child is reading chapter books at age 4 but can’t answer simple questions about the story, hyperlexia might be the reason. These children need focused support on reading comprehension and language development rather than decoding skills.
Alexia: When Reading Ability is Lost
Alexia is a rare condition where reading comprehension is nonexistent or significantly limited due to brain injury, damage, or trauma. Unlike developmental dyslexia, alexia is an acquired reading disorder, in contrast to dyslexia, an innate or constitutional inability to learn to read.
Understanding alexia:
- Primarily affects adults with brain injuries
- Leaves the person unable to understand written material while they are typically able to write, spell, and understand speech
- Patients can still walk, talk, think, and even write like they did before their injury. They just can’t read
- Usually results from stroke, brain tumor, or traumatic brain injury
For families: While alexia typically affects adults, understanding this condition helps distinguish between developmental reading issues and those caused by brain injury.
What is Phonemic Awareness and How It Relates to Reading Disabilities
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds in words. It’s a foundational skill for learning to read because it helps children understand how letters and sounds connect to form words.
How Phonemic Awareness Affects Reading Disabilities
Children with reading disabilities often struggle with phonemic awareness. This means they might find it difficult to break down words into sounds or blend sounds to make words. Improving phonemic awareness can significantly help in overcoming these challenges, making reading easier and more enjoyable. By focusing on this skill, educators and parents can provide better support to children with reading disabilities, helping them to become more confident readers.
Understanding Phonemic Awareness in Reading Disabilities
Phonemic awareness is a crucial skill in the realm of reading disabilities. It involves the ability to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words, which is fundamental for decoding and reading proficiency.
The Six Layers of Phonemic Awareness
- Phoneme Isolation: Identifying individual sounds in words, such as the first sound in “bat.”
- Blending: Combining separate sounds to form words, like /b/ /ă/ /t/ to make “bat.”
- Segmenting: Breaking down words into their component sounds, such as /m/ /ă/ /d/ for “mad.”
- Manipulation: Advanced skills like adding, deleting, or substituting sounds to form new words.
- Phoneme Addition: Adding sounds to words, turning “we” into “week.”
- Phoneme Deletion: Removing sounds from words, changing “guide” to “guy.”
Importance for Educators
Educators must understand these layers to provide targeted instruction that enhances reading skills. Phonemic awareness allows students to anchor sounds to their corresponding letters, facilitating fluent reading and helping to overcome reading disabilities.
Reading Comprehension Disabilities
Researchers have identified three kinds of developmental reading disabilities that often overlap but that can be separate and distinct: (1) phonological deficit, (2) processing speed/orthographic processing deficit, and (3) comprehension deficit.
Some children can read words accurately and fluently but struggle significantly with understanding what they’ve read. This specific reading comprehension disability affects:
Reading comprehension skills:
- Understanding main ideas and details
- Making inferences from text
- Connecting information across paragraphs
- Vocabulary comprehension in context
What it looks like: Your child reads aloud beautifully but can’t tell you what happened in the story or answer questions about the text they just read perfectly.
Mixed Reading Disabilities
Students with mixed reading disabilities have low achievement in all three areas. Their intervention needs include comprehension as well as word recognition and fluency.
Children with mixed reading disabilities face challenges across multiple areas:
- Word recognition and decoding
- Reading fluency and speed
- Reading comprehension
- Often requires comprehensive, multi-faceted intervention approaches
The Importance of Proper Identification
Each reading disability requires different intervention strategies. While a child with dyslexia might need intensive phonics instruction, a child with hyperlexia requires focus on comprehension and language development. A child with specific comprehension difficulties needs targeted support for understanding text meaning.
Next steps for parents:
- Observe your child’s specific reading challenges
- Request comprehensive reading evaluations that assess all areas
- Work with professionals who understand the full spectrum of reading disabilities
- Remember that early identification leads to more effective intervention
Understanding these different reading disabilities helps ensure that every child receives the targeted support they need to become successful readers. If you suspect your child has any reading difficulties, don’t wait—early intervention makes all the difference.
Conclusion
The good news is that a reading disability will not permanently affect your child’s progress. People with all kinds of disabilities go on to live extraordinary lives, and your child is no different – in fact, this is something they can overcome effectively with the right plan. Once you know what’s going on under the surface, you and your child can work to improve their reading. With a bit of perseverance, your little one will likely start to catch up with their peers.
Reach out to your child’s pediatrician for a diagnosis and take advantage of school resources if you think they have a deeper issue when it comes to reading. With experts’ help, you can develop a plan to help your child learn in the way that’s best for them. Over time, reading will feel less like a chore and more like a fun activity you can both enjoy.
About the Author: Alyssa Abel is an experiential education writer who covers a variety of topics from learning styles to emerging methodologies. Read more of her work on her blog, Syllabusy.
Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay