What is Dyslexia?

Why Choose PRIDE?

 

What is Dyslexia

 

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin and primarily affects one’s ability to learn to read. Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties with accurate and fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. Dyslexia varies in degrees of severity and is highly hereditary. It is not uncommon for a child with dyslexia to have an immediate family member who also has this condition. Also, it is not unusual for two or more children in a family to have dyslexia.
Dyslexia is estimated to affect some 20-30 percent of our population. This means that more than 2 million school-age children in the United States are dyslexic. Although children with dyslexia typically have average to above average intelligence, their dyslexia creates problems not only with reading, writing, and spelling but also with speaking, thinking and listening. Many times these academic problems can lead to emotional and self-esteem issues throughout their lives. Low self-esteem can lead to poor grades and underachievement. Dyslexic students are often considered lazy, rebellious or unmotivated. These misconceptions cause rejection, isolation, feelings of inferiority and discouragement.

 

The central difficulty for dyslexic students is poor phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to appreciate that spoken language is made up of sound segments (phonemes). In other words, a dyslexic student’s brain has trouble breaking a word down into its individual sounds and manipulating these sounds. For example, in a word with three sounds, a dyslexic might only perceive one or two.  Most researchers and teachers agree that developing phonemic awareness is the first step in learning to read. It cannot be skipped. When children begin to learn to read, they first must come to recognize that the word on the page has the same sound structure as the spoken word it represents. However, because dyslexics have difficulty recognizing the internal sound structure of the spoken word, to begin with, it is very difficult for them to convert the letters of the alphabet into a phonetic code (decoding).

 

Although dyslexia can impair spelling and decoding abilities, it also seems to be associated with many strengths and talents. People with dyslexia often have significant strengths in areas controlled by the right side of the brain. These include artistic, athletic and mechanical gifts. Individuals with dyslexia tend to be very bright and creative thinkers. They have a knack for thinking, “outside-the-box.” Many dyslexics have strong 3-D visualization ability, musical talent, creative problem-solving skills and intuitive people skills. Many are gifted in math, science, fine arts, journalism, and other creative fields.

 

Symptoms

Preschoolers

  • Late talking, compared to other children
  • Pronunciation problems, reversal of sounds in words (such as ‘aminal’ for ‘animal’ or ‘gabrage’ for ‘garbage’)
  • Slow vocabulary growth, often unable to find the right word (takes a while to get the words out)
  • Difficulty rhyming words
  • Trouble learning numbers, the alphabet, days of the week
  • Poor ability to follow directions or routines
  • Does not understand what you say until you repeat it a few times
  • Enjoys being read to but shows no interest in words or letters
  • Has weak fine motor skills (in activities such as drawing, tying laces, cutting, and threading)
  • Unstable pencil grip
  • Slow to learn new skills, relies heavily on memorization

 

School-Age Children

  • Has good memory skills
  • Has not shown a dominant handedness
  • Seems extremely intelligent but weak in reading
  • Reads a word on one page but doesn’t recognize it on the next page or the next day
  • Confuses look-alike letters like b and d, b and p, n and u, or m and w.
  • Substitutes a word while reading that means the same thing but doesn’t look at all similar, like “trip” for “journey” or “mom” for “mother.”
  • When reading leaves out or adds small words like “an, a, from, the, to, were, are and of.”
  • Reading comprehension is poor because the child spends so much energy trying to figure out words.
  • Might have problems tracking the words on the lines, or following them across the pages.
  • Avoids reading as much as possible
  • Writes illegibly
  • Writes everything as one continuous sentence
  • Does not understand the difference between a sentence and a fragment of a sentence
  • Misspells many words
  • Uses odd spacing between words. Might ignore margins completely and pack sentences together on the page instead of spreading them out
  • Does not notice spelling errors
  • Is easily distracted or has a short attention span
  • Is disorganized
  • Have difficulties making sense of instructions
  • Fails to finish work on time
  • Appears lazy, unmotivated, or frustrated

 

Teenagers

  • Avoids reading and writing
  • Guesses at words and skips small words
  • Has difficulties with reading comprehension
  • Does not do homework
  • Might say that they are “dumb” or “couldn’t care less”
  • Is humiliated
  • Might hide dyslexia by being defiant or using self-abusive behavior

 

Adults

  • Avoids reading and writing
  • Types letters in the wrong order
  • Have difficulties filling out forms
  • Mixes up numbers and dates
  • Has low self-esteem
  • Might be a high school dropout
  • Holds a job below their potential and changes jobs frequently

 

Treatment

The sooner a child with dyslexia is given proper instruction, particularly in the very early grades, the more likely it is that they will have fewer or milder difficulties later in life.

Older students or adults with dyslexia that are far behind will need intensive tutoring in reading, writing, and spelling using an Orton-Gillingham program. During this training, students will overcome many reading difficulties and learn strategies that will last a lifetime.

Reading instruction for the dyslexic child must be delivered with great intensity.  Children diagnosed with dyslexia are behind in their reading levels and for them to catch up with their classmates will need to make a big leap forward or else they will remain behind.  Optimally, a child who is struggling with reading and is far behind his or her peers, should be taught one-on-one and should receive this specialized reading instruction 10-15 hours a week.  A larger group or less time will greatly undermine the possibilities of success.

This specialized tutoring helps dyslexic students become successful in reading, writing, spelling and comprehension.

How To Get Help And What To Expect?

Step 1:

Contact PRIDE by phone:  1-866-774-3342

You can also contact us by email (info@pridelearningcenter.com). Our Director will be glad to talk with you and can answer any questions you may have about the program and staff.

Step 2:

Sign Up for the PRIDE Reading Program and request your preferred schedule with the PRIDE Director.  The PRIDE Director will work with you to identify your child’s specific needs and choose a PRIDE Reading Specialist based on the information provided.

Step 3:

Your PRIDE Reading Specialists first visit to the home will identify your child’s placement in the PRIDE Reading Program.  The PRIDE Reading Specialist will then order your PRIDE Reading Program materials to be delivered to your home.  The PRIDE Director also receives the placement information.  Depending on information received from the placement, the PRIDE Director may contact you to create a personalized learning plan best suited for your child.

Step 4:

Your PRIDE Reading Program materials arrive at your home.   The PRIDE Reading Specialist will prepare the PRIDE Reading Program materials based on your child’s personal needs.  Your child begins receiving instruction.

Step 5:

Parents receive progress updates at every instructional step of our program. Our dedicated PRIDE Reading Specialists and staff is committed to seeing every child succeed, and will support you at all times. Failure is never an option, and we are so committed to our families that younger siblings are frequently enrolled because they see the excitement of an older brother or sister and want to begin with us. We are proud of every referral we receive from a teacher, friend, neighbor and classmate of someone who succeeded at PRIDE Learning Center.

 

For more information and to get started call:  1-866-774-3342

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PRIDE Reading Specialists

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“Pride Learning Center has made such a huge impact on my family, I feel forever indebted and incredibly blessed to have experienced it. My daughter exhibited all the signs of a learning difference, but her schoolteachers were clueless, labeling her as lazy and inattentive. Pride’s website helped to identify my daughter’s specific learning issues. Working with Pride’s team of gifted tutors allowed her to regain confidence in her ability to perform schoolwork. She enjoyed every minute at PRIDE and always looked forward to her lessons.”

PRIDE Parent, Manhattan Beach, Ca

“Our daughter Brianna came to Pride when she was struggling with reading during 1st grade at our local public school in West Los Angles. At that point, she was near the bottom of her class and hated to read. After working with Pride’s excellent tutors and staff, Brianna is now ahead of her peers and, more importantly, enjoys reading. Brianna also looks forward to attending her Pride tutor sessions and is proud of her accomplishments. We are lucky to have found Pride when we did, and I would highly recommend its program.”

PRIDE Parent, Los Angeles, Ca

“Excellent Program. I do Psychoeducational and Neuropsychological Assessments. I have seen a lot of progress with the children that have gone through Pride’s program. It is a great resource that specifically addresses reading difficulties with a multi-sensory approach. It is also important that the people giving the services are well-trained. I highly recommend Pride.”

– Dr. Abbe Barron, DMD PhD, Los Angeles, Ca

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