Why can't a child learn to read?

Have you noticed that your child struggles more than others with learning to read and write? They can't seem to remember the alphabet and spend hours trying to read a couple of words, while your efforts to fix the situation only lead to stress for both of you? Most likely, your child has dyslexia.

But don't despair. In this article, we'll explain what this disorder is and what you can do to help your child learn to read and write as well as their peers.

Get comfortable and let's begin.

Dyslexia – a disease or normal?

First, let's understand how the brain of a dyslexic person works. You know that our brain consists of left and right hemispheres. The left is responsible for logic, language, speech, reading, numbers, sequence, and rationality. The right is responsible for imagination, intuition, emotions, images, and spatial thinking.

In dyslexics, the right hemisphere and frontal lobe are more active. This makes it harder for them to focus on letters, connect them into syllables and words, and understand the meaning of what they read.

For such children, letters in words look like hooks and are remembered as pictures. That is, for a dyslexic to learn a word and associate it with a meaning, they need to memorize the picture of hooks in the finest details. Then they guess what might be written there. As a result, reading becomes torture and takes a lot of effort and time.

Can dyslexia be considered normal? On one hand, no, because it hinders normal development. But on the other hand, dyslexics are completely normal children who, outside of learning, are no different from their peers. Their brain just works differently.

Moreover, it is among dyslexics that there are the most geniuses and outstanding people. Proof of this includes names like Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Hans Christian Andersen, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Quentin Tarantino, and several others.

You might think: "How can people with reading and writing disorders become famous writers, actors, and directors?" From a logical standpoint, it's hard to believe. But in reality, it happens because dyslexics compensate very well for their shortcomings in life. They are more diligent and determined than ordinary people because they want to prove to themselves and the world that they are no worse than others. And as we've already said, because their brain works differently.

Yes, of course, we understand that this doesn't make things easier for you. After all, the child is falling behind in school, facing ridicule from classmates, and pressure from teachers. Their self-esteem drops, and they become more withdrawn.

Therefore, the sooner you start acting, the easier it will be for your child in the future.

Symptoms and causes of reading and writing disorders in children

Of course, it's quite difficult to identify dyslexia in a young child. The disorders become apparent when the child starts preparing for school or is already in the first grade.

Here are the main symptoms indicating dyslexia:

• the child cannot recognize letters they have supposedly learned;
• when reading, they swap letters in words;
• they skip from line to line;
• they guess more than they read;
• they write mirror-like;
• they don't understand left from right;
• they don't grasp rules and make many mistakes in words;
• they make mistakes even when copying;
• they daydream in class and don't understand what the teacher is saying.

However, the presence of one or two signs does not mean that others will necessarily appear. Everything is individual. But even if only one symptom is present, you shouldn't relax.

CAUSES OF DYSLEXIA:

You're probably asking yourself: "Why did this happen to us? What could have led to these disorders?" Let's try to answer your questions. But you'll have to strain your memory and recall the past.

1. Heredity

You might not even know this. But if anyone in your family or your spouse's family suffered from dyslexia, it can be passed down through several generations.

2. Problems during pregnancy and childbirth

There are various possibilities here: infection during pregnancy, placental abruption, anemia, post-term pregnancy, umbilical cord entanglement during childbirth, etc. As a rule, the consequences of these problems manifest over time.

3. Smoking, alcohol, or drug use before or during pregnancy

Everyone knows that pregnancy should be planned. And everyone knows that at least six months before conception, you should give up all bad habits and undergo a full medical examination. But does everyone do this? Of course not! Everyone has their own reasons. But in any case, children pay for their parents' mistakes.

4. Problems and illnesses in the child's early years

Here, the causes are also varied: concussion, traumatic brain injury, infectious diseases (rubella, scarlet fever, chickenpox, whooping cough, polio, measles), and neuroinfections (encephalitis, shingles, meningitis, botulism, neurosyphilis).

Of course, identifying the cause of dyslexia in a child won't fix the situation, but at least you'll stop tormenting yourself with the question "Why?" Now let's move on to practice.

Types of dyslexia in younger schoolchildren and corrective exercises

Dyslexia comes in different forms. Therefore, we will go through each form separately and provide specific recommendations.

1. OPTICAL DYSLEXIA

Occurs due to impaired formation of spatial-visual perception of shapes, size, and color of objects. A child with optical dyslexia cannot draw a letter from a sample or from memory, does not recognize it, and cannot complete missing elements when needed. Such children find it very difficult to learn reading and writing, so a special approach is needed in teaching.

Corrective exercises

• Recognize the letter

Here we work on spatial-visual perception and imagination.

Have the child sit with their back to you and use your finger to draw a letter on their back. Repeat the drawing until they guess the letter.

This exercise helps develop imagination through sensations. When you draw letters on the child's back, images form in the brain that they associate with a specific letter, thus remembering it better.

• Letter transformers

Take some matches and arrange them into several letters. Don't make too many at once—3–4 will suffice. Ask the child to look carefully and try to remember the shapes and arrangement of the matches in the letters. Then ask them to close their eyes, and you remove one match from one of the letters.

The child's task is to find the broken letter and complete the missing element.

This exercise trains memory and improves letter recognition.

2. PHONEMIC DYSLEXIA

A child with phonemic dyslexia reads words letter by letter, confuses sounds, and rearranges letters and syllables in words. Yes, this is exactly the case where reading is not only the most useless activity for the child but also unbearable torture.

Corrective exercises

• Cross out the letters

This exercise is suitable for children who already know the alphabet.

So, take an old, unnecessary magazine or book and ask the child to cross out all the letters "T" in one paragraph within 5–10 minutes. Next time, ask them to cross out all the letters "T" on the entire page. Then gradually ask them to cross out not one, but two letters in a paragraph, and as the child's speed increases, add more letters.

This exercise will help the child focus better on letters and make fewer mistakes when reading.

• Count the sounds

Here it's simple: read a word to the child and ask them to count the sounds in each word.

This exercise will help the child learn to identify sounds by ear and not confuse them in words.

3. MNESTIC DYSLEXIA

Or, in simple terms, semantic dyslexia, which manifests as difficulty in learning all letters and inability to distinguish them. The child has impaired speech memory and cannot associate sounds with the visual image of a letter.

To correct this type of dyslexia, exercises that develop interhemispheric symmetry, auditory-speech, and visual memory are needed.

Corrective exercises

• Find the extra syllable

Take cards or cubes with syllables containing the same letter, for example, "I". So that the child has several syllables in front of them: "PI", "MI", "ZI", "VI". And one of the cards should have a different vowel, for example, "BA".

Then ask the child to find the extra syllable and explain why it is extra.

• Add the correct syllable

So, you and the child have the same cards with syllables in front of you. Now think of a word that ends with one of these syllables and read it without saying the last syllable. The child should find the correct syllable among the cards and add it to the word. 

These exercises help train visual and auditory-speech memory.

4. AGRAMMATICAL DYSLEXIA

A child with agrammatical dyslexia has a clearly expressed speech disorder. This manifests in incorrect use of number, gender, and cases: "he went", "was at grandmother's", "they says", etc.

Corrective exercises

• Name the missing word

The idea here is that you read familiar fairy tales or poems to the child and intentionally skip words.

The child should try to name the missing words correctly. The exercise works on automatic memorization of cases, declensions, and number.

5. SEMANTIC DYSLEXIA

Or in simple words – looking at the book, seeing nothing. This is the form of dyslexia where the child reads perfectly normally but does not understand the meaning of what they read. That is, their mechanical reading does not transition into meaningful reading.

Corrective exercises

• Explain the meaning

Take any children's book and ask the child to read any sentence thoughtfully. Then ask what they understood. If nothing, read it again yourself and ask again, simultaneously explaining the unclear points.

For analysis, it's better to choose more complex sentences so the child can imagine a more detailed picture.

• Reading anagram texts

Anagram texts are texts where only the first and last letters of words are correct, and the rest are mixed up.

According to research by scientists from an English university, we read not by letters but by whole words. The main thing is that the first and last letters in words are in their places.

Such texts can be found on the internet and printed for lessons.

As practice has shown, such simple exercises can help a child transition from mechanical to meaningful reading in 2–3 weeks.

General advice for parents of children with dyslexia

Most importantly, dear parents, be patient and treat your child with understanding. Don't scold, don't reproach, and don't pressure them. They should feel that you are on their side.

Accept the situation as a fact and start acting. In addition to independent home lessons, be sure to take your child to a psychologist, psychotherapist, and speech therapist. The doctors will conduct special tests and determine the form and severity of dyslexia.

Patience and success to you!