• Published by Salsabilatuzzahra Jaha S.Psi. from BehaviorPALS Center 

Have you ever heard of children having learning delays? Especially in reading or writing. Maybe you have experienced this yourself. Parents have tried to teach as intensely as possible, but in some cases the teacher says that your child has dyslexia. What is dyslexia?

What is Dyslexia?

Quoted from the official IDAI (Ikatan Dokter Anak Indonesia) website, the word dyslexia comes from the Greek word dyslexia, which is composed of the prefix "dys" which means difficulty and the word "lexis" which means language so that the meaning of the word dyslexia is "difficulty in language". According to the APA (American Psychological Association) dictionary, dyslexia is a neurologically based learning disability manifested in severe difficulties in reading, spelling, and writing words and sometimes in arithmetic . The cause of dyslexia is the neurobiological abnormality of a person with dyslexia in retrieving information (input), understanding and remembering information (cognitive processing), responding to information (response) and how to convey the information (output). All of these stages can be disrupted in a child with dyslexia. With this background, it can be understood why one of the characteristics that emerges from a child with dyslexia is difficulty understanding and following verbal instructions. In general, dyslexia is divided into 2 subtypes. Namely visual dyslexia and auditory dyslexia. Children with visual dyslexia appear to have difficulty in distinguishing visuals, visual memory, left-right, visual coherence and difficulty recognizing words quickly. Meanwhile, children with auditory dyslexia have difficulty in distinguishing sounds, auditory coherence and phonological concatenated memory. Many also found some children who have a combination of visual and auditory dyslexia.

Misconceptions about Dyslexia

Many parents think that if their child is dyslexic, then the child has below average cognitive abilities. It turns out that this is not true, because basically dyslexic children have normal cognitive potential even above average. However, there are indeed the same symptoms of dyslexia as other disorders. Some of these reported disorders include Auditory Processing Disorder, Visual Processing Disorder, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), Numeracy Problems, and Mild Intelligence Disorders. These above conditions have some of the same symptoms as dyslexia but are fundamentally different. So it is necessary to do further examinations with experts.

Early Detection of Dyslexia

In general, dyslexia can be detected from preschool age, but confirmation of the diagnosis is usually done at school age. At an early age, we can detect it by looking at the developmental profile of children with the following characteristics:

1.   There is a delay in speaking and language

2.   There are barriers to learning simple tasks that involve a sequence of activities such as remembering instructions in a coherent manner or imitating the shape of an arranged bead.

3.   Have problems focusing.

4.   Unable to repeat several numbers in a coherent manner, difficult to learn poetry and language development barriers.

Keep in mind that this is an early detection at a preschool age, not a diagnosis. If the child is found to be at risk, the task of the teacher and parents is to provide support and make the best possible observations. Diagnosis can be made at kindergarten age by experts such as child psychologists or educational psychologists. This must also be done carefully in order to reduce parental panic. The test should be given simply and not beyond the child's ability. Also keep in mind that each child has their own developmental path, some may experience developmental jumps or fall behind. It would be unwise to say that children who are left behind are dyslexic because of several things that make them lagging (lack of stimulation, prolonged illness, impaired intelligence, etc.). So further expert examination is needed in diagnosing dyslexia.

Some simple activities that can be done to detect dyslexia in children:

1.   Give animal sounds and ask the child to name which animal.

2.   Give the children familiar pictures and are asked to name the pictures

3.   Give pictures of colors to the child and the child is asked to name the color.

4.   Give letters and numbers to the child and the child is asked to name them.

5.   Saying the words he used to know like mama.

Usually children who have the potential for dyslexia tend to be wrong in answering the questions above. Detecting as early as possible is very helpful for our children in various ways, especially in the academic field. In addition, proper handling will also minimize unpleasant incidents such as bullying. That was some information about dyslexia and early detection of dyslexia. 

by Salsabilatuzzahra Jaha S.Psi. from BehaviorPALS center

Bibliography 

https://dictionary.apa.org/dyslexia

http://www.idai.or.id/article/klinik/pengasuhan-anak/mengenal-dyslexia

Widyorini, E., & Van Tiel, JM ( 2017). Dyslexia Detection Diagnosis Treatment at School and at Home. Jakarta: PRENADA.

Early Detection Dyslexia

Pre-school 2 Years - 4 Years / 2 Tahun - 4 Tahun (Balita) / Reading / Membaca / Education / Pendidikan / Early Detection of Dyslexia

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