Dyslexia, which is defined as a kind of "specific learning disorder", causes the child to have reading problems and not be able to understand what they read.
Emphasizing that the diagnosis of dyslexia should be made when the child starts his/her education life, experts point out that if the diagnosis is delayed, they may become depressed, anxious individuals with low self-esteem. They recommend that more attention should be paid to the education of children with dyslexia during the pandemic period and care should be taken to ensure that education is not disrupted.
Üsküdar University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child Psychiatry, NP Feneryolu Medical Center Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak Ayık stated that individuals with dyslexia have difficulty in reading and gave advice to parents.
They have problems with reading
Stating that dyslexia is a type of Specific Learning Disorder (SLD), Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak Ayık said, "People with this type of learning disorder have problems with reading. For example, they cannot learn to read and write on time, they read incompletely or incorrectly while reading, they read by skipping letters or syllables. Some dyslectic individuals also have difficulty understanding what they read. Their reading speed is considerably slower than expected."
Beware if the reading difficulty problem lasts more than 6 months!
Stating that dyslexia cannot be mentioned in every individual with reading difficulties, Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak Ayık used the following statements: "In order to diagnose a person with dyslexia, first of all, appropriate interventions should be made to eliminate the existing problem. Problems that persist for at least 6 months and do not go away despite appropriate interventions such as educational support, one-to-one tutoring, subject repetition, child and adolescent psychiatry interviews for attention support when necessary, and medication use are considered dyslexia."
School period symptoms should be taken into consideration
Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak Ayık stated that the presence of dyslexia problem should be decided by evaluating the symptoms during the school process, not by pre-school symptoms, and continued her words as follows: "Although the symptoms of dyslexia in the preschool period are speech delay, low vocabulary, errors in spoken letters, difficulty learning object names, difficulty listening, clumsiness, delay in hand preference, fine motor retardation, etc., since the main problems are related to learning and school skills, a person must have started school in order to be defined as dyslexic. Symptoms seen in the previous period should only be considered as a possibility of dyslexia and should not be considered as a clear diagnosis in the preschool period. Again, depending on the severity of dyslexia, the year of schooling may vary. Mildly affected children may show few symptoms in the first year of schooling."
Education was the main treatment for dyslexia
Stating that the basic treatment for dyslexia and all other specific learning difficulties is special education, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak Ayık said, "This education is different from the education given at school. While the child continues his/her education in a normal school, he/she also receives individual or group special education. The child's educational needs should be determined according to the severity of dyslexia. Intensive individualized education should be provided by teachers who have received special training in this field. It is a known fact that frequent and one-to-one interventions are more beneficial in solving this problem. The younger the age at which education begins, the better the treatment response. Children who are late for treatment require longer and more intensive education. On the other hand, there is no drug treatment that will eliminate learning disabilities. However, if there is an accompanying psychiatric illness such as anxiety disorder, depression and similar, their treatment is important. In individuals with attention deficit, drugs that will increase attention can be used."
If the diagnosis is delayed, the effect can last a lifetime
Stating that academic difficulties show continuity in individuals with dyslexia, Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak Ayık said, "If the person is not diagnosed and supported at an early and appropriate age, the problems they experience will continue for life with different symptoms. In addition, individuals with dyslexia may experience problems not only in the academic field but also in other areas of life."
They may be depressed, anxious and have high suicidal tendencies
Noting that one of these problems is problems with social skills, Asst. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak Ayık said, "They may have difficulty expressing themselves appropriately. If they are not recognized and provided with the necessary support at the appropriate time, they may become depressed, anxious and have low self-esteem as a result of years of effort and academic difficulties. Problems in interpersonal relationships begin to appear. Different psychiatric diseases may also be seen. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association stated that children, adolescents and adults with dyslexia are in the risk group for suicide. Apart from this, some of them may have problems in completely different areas such as map reading - finding roads and directions; organizing their work, planning time, money management and budget management."
One-to-one lessons should be emphasized during the pandemic
Stating that the online education system, which continues due to the pandemic, is a troublesome process for individuals with dyslexia as well as for all students, Ayık said, "Considering that especially dyslectic individuals benefit from one-to-one education, it is expected that they will have more difficulties in distance education, which is difficult to control and whose response to the person is variable. We recommend that parents focus on educational support and one-to-one lessons during this period and not disrupt them. If the education is disrupted, lowering the expectations from the child and not going over it will at least reduce the anxiety and negative emotions the child will experience."