Developmental Dyslexia Occurs Mostly as a Result of Deviance and not Delay - Essay Example

? Developmental Dyslexia Occurs Mostly as a result of Deviance and not Delay Introduction Habib defines developmental dyslexia as a condition that involves specific and serious impairment in one’s ability to read. It is known to be interdisciplinary due to its interactions with other educational, biological and socio-cultural factors related to the brain with regard to cognition and development (2000). Children suffering from this condition portray some deficits in certain activities that include the acquisition of oral language, abilities in writing and mathematics, motor coordination, stability and dexterity in posture, temporal orientation, and visual spatial abilities, in addition to the abilities to be attentive. According to research, the condition bears a neurobiological basis. In particular, it is known to occur due to the failure to acquire a grapheme-to-phoneme converter that is fully functional (Frith, 1995; Manis, et al., 1996). Frith further states that the grapheme to phoneme stage, which is extremely essential in learning to read, is compromised by the two chief aspects of dysfunctional Neuropsychology. They thus affect phonological processes and visual perception leading to the inability to learn and read normally. Therefore, it serves as an indication that reading failure, which is associated with dyslexia occurs due to a deficiency in the brain structure (1985). Subsequently, as Marsh et al. Speculates these children cannot undergo the usual four stages of learning that are described in their theory (Downing & Leong, 1992).` Because of this condition, there is a failure to learn to read in school going children in spite of their normal levels of intelligence, appropriate environment and the availability of numerous educational opportunities. They thus experience some difficulty in recognizing words. Besides the difficulty in reading, affected individuals also experience difficulty in spelling and verbal functions. From a developmental aspect, it can thus be considered a result of reading processes impairments. As such numerous studies have been done to categorize it by comparing the performance of dyslexics to that of younger children who are at the reading level. Their reading scores are then compared to get the scores. Deviance or Delay? Near the end of the nineteenth century, James Hinselwood; a Scottish ophthalmologist and Pringle Morgan; a British physician stipulated that dyslexia was a condition with a neurological origin. They emphasized on the similarity of symptoms exhibited by dyslexic children or teenagers with those of the “neurological syndrome of visual word blindness” (1917 QTD in Habib). This idea originates from the report by a French neurologist that impairment of reading and writing in adults is more or less a result of damage of the left inferior region of the parietal-occipital. This is primarily for the reason that it is the left angular gyrus in this region that is involved in the essential role of processing the optimal image of letters. In relation to this, the authors have linked impaired reading and writing among young patients with dyslexia to the defect in the development of the same region of the parietal lobe that is defective in adult alexic patients. These speculations were confirmed during the pathological study of a dyslexic boy who died with vascular malformations. Further research revealed a history of learning and reading difficulties, and migraine in the family history. These malformations were found to occupy the region in the cortical gyri of the inferior parietal region in the left hand side of the brain majorly. Another explanation for the pathology of dyslexia in children is the poor and inadequate lateralization with regard to language in the brain. It is this lateralization of language in the left hemisphere that is delayed in dyslexics. As a result, the fundamentals of language that are associated with the learning of reading techniques do not develop as normally expected. The mechanisms of reading impairment have suggested that reading disorders are caused by delicate impairment in perception and the articulation of speech. This idea is well illustrated by Griffiths and Snowling through the formation of the “severity hypothesis” (2001). In this, it is contended that the core factor in reading impairments is the phonological deficit. With this, the reading profile of individuals is determined by how severe the phonological deficit is. It can thus be said that developmental dyslexia is caused by delay and not deviance. It is because its origin is constitutional although its exact mechanisms are still under study. However, when compared the performance of dyslexics in pseudo words and irregular words is similar to that of younger children. As evidenced by their reading levels, the performance of dyslexics on both pseudo words and irregular words falls within the normal limits. It can thus be deciphered that they only experience a developmental lag in word recognition. Studies reveal that developmental dyslexia is a result of the dysfunction of the neural system. It is supposed that the areas responsible for normal acquisition and attainment of reading as well as other cognitive activities is affected (Habib, 2000). Thus, as indicated by Hyland is referred to as the Neuro Developmental Delay (NDD). The relationship between dyslexia and NDD is the fact that primitive reflexes that take place in the first portion of the brain to develop in a fetus are not properly formed. However, despite these maturational deficiencies dyslexia is also caused by social, cultural and educational factors that influence the acquisition of skills in literacy (Frith, 1995). Although Rutter defines developmental disorder as “a delay in the emergence of biologically impaired function” (1976 p. 695), this is quite different from the processes of developmental dyslexia where structural deficits are involved. Nonetheless, it can be given some consideration in cases where the development is slow and the individual later catches up hence a delay, which is explained by Frith. This is illustrated by children who are able to apply compensatory strategies and attain normal scores (1981). This idea creates a more elaborate framework of developmental disorders. This is where it refers to the persistent inability of an individual to proceed to the next step of the normal process of skill acquisition. As such, despite the fact that the child continues to develop his learning skills by using different strategies, there is still a developmental arrest (Frith, 1995). Normally, a child who shows delay develops strategies through the normal process although at a slower rate. Thus, a deviance is depicted with the use of unusual and compensatory strategies to acquire normal abilities of learning and reading by dyslexic children. Developmental dyslexia is divided into various subtypes. There are the phonological subgroups as well as the delay type sub groups. However, these subtypes are not well defined. Some of these subtypes can nonetheless be said to be deviant as from a developmental point of view the phonological subgroup may be said to be deviant. On the other hand, impairment in reading may be considered to be a developmental delay. Nonetheless, it has been realized that the delay type subgroup is also associated with a mild phonological deficit. This, however, is not sufficient to explain the related impairments in reading. This is mainly because the subgroups in dyslexic patients are matched from the reading levels. According to Hyland, poor reading skills have been associated with other factors such as poor visual and hearing ability. This as she contends, is a result of a brain malfunction due to impairment in the sensory/motor integration system. As such, the magnosystem hypothesis as a vision pathway has been involved into the subsystems. With this, dyslexia has been connected with a multi-system deficit that possibly originates from the lack of fundamental capacity of the brain to perform tasks that require the “processing of brief stimuli in rapid temporal succession” (Habib 2000). Therefore, it is this theory that is related to the impairment of temporal processing that accounts for some of the perceptual, cognitive and motor symptoms, which are normally associated with learning difficulties and hence a disorder. Other studies in Neuropsychology have also revealed that the main mechanisms that lead to difficulty in learning in children are phonological in nature. This suggests that the major difference between this group and the reading level children is in the manipulation and segmentation of the phoneme elements of speech (Habib, 2000). While the phonological dyslexia can be said to be a result of deviance, delay type dyslexia is mainly a result of delay in development. Phonological dyslexia is associated with poor scores of phoneme deletion tasks that involve both long and short elements. They also showed some slowness in reading of pseudo words as well as long words, were poor in accuracy and had a reduced effect of regularity. As such, a greater variation was revealed between the two groups. On the other hand, the group with Delay dyslexia expresses extremely mild forms of these signs. However, it was only revealed in the reduction of phoneme task for long items. It thus provides a clear indication that dyslexia is majorly about deviance than it is a result of a delay. Additionally, recent studies of brain mechanisms of general reading have shown the disparity between those exhibited in impaired reading. They have related developmental dyslexia with abnormalities in the cortical region that cause a defect in the maturation process of the brain thus atypical development of the brain. It is because of this that the comparison between delay dyslexia patients and phonological dyslexia with the RL groups reveals a difference in nature and strength respectively. Although they may have attained a certain level of ability in reading, it may not be the expected as revealed by the disparity in the conducted research studies. Some children with dyslexia also fail to learn how to read completely. They thus fail to attain the performances associated with normal reading and experience difficulties in distinguishing between letters that are similar morphologically. It results in confusion especially for letters with a symmetrical counterpart. Additionally, they experience difficulty in recognizing common words that are briefly presented. As such, it results in a lifelong handicapped situation that may be categorized as the product of deviance. Conclusion The main difference between delay and deviance parameters of characterizing developmental disorders has been shown to be in their quantitative and qualitative nature. With regard to developmental dyslexia, therefore, the condition can be concluded to be a result of deviance due to the quality of reading and learning ability displayed by the patients and RL children. References Downing, J. & Leong, C.K. (1992). The psychology of reading. London: Collier Macmillan. Frith, U. (1979). “Reading by eye and writing by ear”. In P.A Kolers, Wrolstad, M and Bouma, H. (eds). Processing of visible language, I. New York: Plenum Press. Frith, U. (1985). “Beneath the surface of developmental dyslexia”. In K. Patterson, J. Marshall, & M. Coltheart (Eds.), Surface Dyslexia, Neuropsychological and Cognitive Studies of Phonological Reading. London: Erlbaum, pp. 301-330. Frith U. (1995). “Dyslexia: can we have a shared theoretical framework?” In Frederickson N, Reason R, editors. Phonological assessment of specific learning difficulties. Educational Child Psychology, 12: 6–17. Griffiths, Y.M. & Snowling, M.J. (2002). “Predictors of non-word and exception word reading in dyslexic readers: The severity hypothesis”. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 34-43. Habib, M. (2000). “The neurological basis of developmental dyslexia: An overview and working hypothesis”. Brain, a Journal of Neurology, Vol.123 (12), 2373-2399. Hinshelwood J. (1917). Congenital word-blindness. London: Lewis. Hyland, Sue. (2013). Optimizing Neurological Development. Retrieved 17 April 2013 from http://suehyland.co.uk/ond/primitive-reflexes/ Manis, F.R., Seidenberg, M.S., Doi, L.M., Mc Bride-Chang, C., & Petersen, A. (1996). “On the basis of two subtypes of developmental (corrected) dyslexia”. Cognition Vol. 58 (2): 157-95. Read More