Difference between Dyslexics, Normal Readers, and other Poor Readers - Coursework Example

Reading ability forms the basis of personal development, in any sphere of life from social to financial. It allows the individual to be active and independent in the world which is why governments all over the world ensure that education is available as a right so that no child is deprived of an opportunity to be literate. In the U.K., local authorities are entrusted with the duty to ensure that education is available to children of school-going age (5-16yrs) (Anderson et al., 2008). However, a large proportion of children remain without education for three main reasons: intelligence, disadvantage, and learning disability (Allington, 1999).

The study of reading difficulty began around the beginning of the 20th century, with the identification of dyslexia by Oswald Berkhan in 1881. The term dyslexia was first used by Professor Rudolf Berlin in 1887. The word originates from the German word dyslexia, which itself originates from GreekThe first reports of dyslexia by Pringle-Morgan appeared in November 1896, and by Hinshelwood as “congenital word blindness”, in 1917. Thereafter, the disability for many years was considered to be the result of a visual processing deficit.

In 1925, Samuel T. Orton was able to dissociate dyslexia from visual deficit while in 1949, research by G. Mahek Paris again linked the disorder to vision. Phonology was associated with dyslexia in the 1970s, and in the 1980s works by various researchers linked dyslexia to brain anatomy. It was also linked to auditory processing later, in 1994 by Galaburda. Specific brain areas were identified as areas of origin of dysfunctional phonological processing and visual-orthographic processing with the development of neuroimaging technologies such as Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

The latest researches aim to find a relationship between genetics and dyslexia.Over time, with advances in technology, new concepts emerged in the understanding of dyslexia linking it to phonology, brain function, and genetics. Depending on the level of understanding, dyslexia has been variously defined by researchers, but some of the most relevant definitions are given in figure 1.