What does the good reading brain need?
“There is evidence that most reading problems have a fundamental sensorimotor cause”
John Stein, Dyslexia, Vol 7, Issue 1 pp 12-36, Jan/Mar 2001
Accurate, fast processing of what they hear
Accurate hearing and processing are the first necessary skills for sounding and rhyming words and learning that words are made of separate sounds.
Auditory discrimination/phonological problems mean they cannot easily distinguish letter sounds. This will affect reading, spelling and writing.
Auditory processing difficulties mean that they may not hear and remember what is said to them in class (or at home) and they may have difficulties in noisy environments, affecting their attention and moods generally. While auditory processing disorder is a separate issue, the difficulties experienced by those with APD/CAPD significantly affect reading and learning. Watch the video below for a useful explanation.
If this is the main difficulty, we provide interventions to develop more accurate processing of what is heard (receptive language) to that speech can become more accurate- and help reading and spelling.
We also provide speech feedback, to help speech become more expressive and eventually help reading comprehension (as well as singing and public speaking)
Accurate, fast processing of what they see
Accurate processing of what they see (visual processing) is the second skill required so that connections between what is heard and what is seen can be made, for accurate reading. Individuals who have difficulties here have "phonological dyslexia".
Good visual processing especially being able to easily remember what they see and not be distracted by the background or by visual distortions is necessary for faster reading.
Individuals who have difficulties here may read very accurately but slowly. They have "visual" or "orthographic dyslexia".
Watch below for a good explanation of visual processing difficulties and learning.
If this is the main difficulty we can provide interventions which reduce visual distortions and visual stress.
We can also support children and adults who have become very anxious about reading, or children not coping with school.
All the parts of the reading brain working together efficiently
"the most important brain functions for literacy acquisition (are) - sensory, motor, aural/oral, language, cognition/ memory, and attention/executive control...
Learning depends on these various systems working in a cooperative manner
in a functional system"
Berninger & Richards, Brain Literacy For Educators and Psychologists: 2002 p 109
Watch this short presentation explaining how the Cognitive Training from LS works which we provide works to integrate the parts of the reading brain to increase efficiency.
This is a major underlying concern for all reading difficulties. We now can connect you with an intervention designed to help with all three of these issues. While providing a well structured synthetic phonics intervention, the game structure to improve reading brain connectivity while having fun.
All learning is "brain re-wiring", including programs which deal directly with reading and rely only on reading practice.
For fast change, you want to deal with the underlying causes of difficulties.
Is dyslexia really a gift?
Even though many adults with Dyslexia have done really well in life and often say it is a "gift" which helped them become "stronger" and "more resilient", most would say that school was hard.
The "learning difference" in school was actually a "learning difficulty".
Most adults with Dyslexia say it was and still is a problem for them.
Dyslexia is only "lifelong" if the wrong tools are used to deal with it.
Even with "dyslexia friendly" schools, why would we want students to spend up to 13 years trying to work in a "hard" environment, when by making the necessary brain connections, learning, reading and school/life quality can improve quickly?