>>Introduction to Dyslexia
The British medical literature has the first description of a specific reading disability in 1896. A "bright and intelligent boy" who had great difficulty learning to read. This intrigued the educators and subsequently more similar cases were recorded and dyslexic disorders were officially recognized as a learning disorder. There are many definitions of Dyslexia, however it is traditionally defined as "an unexpected difficulty learning to read despite intelligence, motivation, and educational opportunities".

We are now aware that dyslexia is a disorder that affects millions of people all around the world. In-fact it is said that 5 -15% of the world population i.e approx. one billion people, maybe diagnosed to be suffering from various degrees of dyslexia.

The world Dyslexia -'Dys' Means "difficulty" and 'lexia' means "Words" essentially gives one the definition of what dyslexia is in a nut shell - " A person with difficulty in words".

>>About Dyslexia
This disorder is one type of specific learning disability. It commonly affects the person to have difficulty in verbal skills, abstract reasoning, hand-eye coordination, concentration, perception, memory and social adjustment. These problems result in the individual having poor grades and become classified as an under achiever.

The domino affect has started. Due to this the dyslexic child is often labeled as lazy, low intellect and unmotivated. Eventually this affects the child's personality resulting in a low self-esteem. The Child often takes on the role of becoming the class clown, being rebellious, feeling like a misfit and keeping to themselves, difficult, refusing to attend school.

Some of the common symptoms of a dyslexic are the following: Difficulty in comprehending Difficulty in expression, written or oral Understanding letters phonetically or otherwise Difficulty in reading Inability to memorize (Sequential Problem) Difficulty in spelling and reading - (specially with english Phonetic as it's a mixture of different languages Difficulty in doing simple mathematical problems Difficulty in attending to class instructions, and gets distracted too much (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder- ADD/ADHD) Learning any new language

>>Diagnose Dyslexia
A trained counselor, psychologist or psychiatrist can diagnose the problem of dyslexia. The child is tested for intelligence, academic abilities, ability of assess information and ability to use psychological processes of imagination, creativity, reasoning with language.

The family of the child will also needed to be assessed to understand family history. It is a combination off all these details which l provides the information whether the child is lagging in school because of dyslexia or any other problem.

Research has shown that this disorder is known to be more prominent in the male gender then in females. However awareness and help for this disorder is still not available as commonly as it should be. More over, diagnostic test can be quite expensive, treatment or help as well is found to be expensive.

>>Social-emotional Problems due Dyslexia
Dyslexic persons have been observed to be less socially or emotionally matured than their peers. This may cause poor self-image and fewer acceptances by peers. They may get more parental attention, causing the siblings to feel jealous of them.

A dyslexic person may react differently to social situations, because of their social immaturity, causing embarrassment to others. Later in life when language becomes one important way of expression, a dyslexic person may feel handicapped in establishing emotional bonding and social relationships.

A person suffering from dyslexia often is inconsistent in his performances. What they can do well today, they have difficulty in repeating it another day. Even if they are making errors in their outputs, the nature of errors may vary each time, confusing both the dyslexic person and his guide. Hence often a dyslexic person feels more anxious throughout the day than any other differently-abled person.

Some other emotions most commonly experienced by dyslexic person are anger at themselves and at others, depression due to inability to fit to the surroundings, frustration of not being able to perform to their satisfaction etc.

>>Treatment of Dyslexia
"You don't have to be perfect to be great. Team up with others whose strengths complement your weaknesses, and vice versa." -Andrew Dornenburg

Though the condition of dyslexia is life-long, the first step in treating the problem is early intervention. Earlier a dyslexic child is diagnosed, easier it is for counselors to help them. With proper guidance, a dyslexic child can overcome his difficulties to a large extent and have a better life. This is done in a two- phased approach. The first phase is teaching the child using a multi-sensory learning procedure. The second phase is the emotional support extended by the counselor. As each letter is learned, children also learn to distinguish the sound of it. In a typical scenario of multi-sensory learning the teacher may make the sound and the child may be asked to write the letter.

>>The multi-sensory approach
The key to helping a dyslexic child is through multi-sensory learning methods. The academic concepts need to be broken into concepts that can be explained using multi-sensory inputs of touch smell and sound. Dr. Samuel Torrey Orton pioneered this technique in the mid 1920s in US.