tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42543088033113320232024-03-12T17:34:00.652-07:00The Visual Dyslexia SolutionA blog that deals with visual dyslexia and how to correct visual dyslexia problems.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-7085983642310718832010-11-22T00:04:00.000-08:002010-11-22T00:04:38.955-08:00A Dyslexia StoryOnce upon a time in Education Land there was a wise king named Success. He wanted above all else to have his subjects succeed in life and be happy. After much thought about how to gain this goal, he came upon the idea that having a good educational system for his subjects would be a good place to start. Gathering all of his advisers together a plan was developed to build the best educational system possible. The future looked bright for Education Land.<br />
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Word went out to find the best teachers , the best builders and the best book makers and soon the books were printed and the schools were built and teachers made their lesson plans. All of the kingdom's children were required to attend because the king wanted all to succeed.<br />
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Time passed by and it was many years before the King went to inspect the schools and see how well his plan was working. At first he was very pleased because the teachers brought out the best students to show him what they had learned. He soon noticed that some students were not included in the demonstrations and asked the teachers why.<br />
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The teachers explained that some students kept falling behind because they wouldn't learn to read. Those students are slow or lazy and have refused to put out the effort to learn to read the teachers said. With their poor reading skills they can't learn their other subjects. It is not our fault if they won't learn.<br />
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The king wanted to believe the teachers. He had never heard of children who had trouble learning to read but he also wanted all the children to succeed so he took all those children back to the castle to talk to them.<br />
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After talking to the children he found that they didn't seem to be slow or lazy and they were really trying hard to learn to read. The King didn't know what to do so he called in all his advisers and asked for suggestions.<br />
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Maybe all children can't learn to read the same way said one. Maybe if we ask them what makes reading difficult for them they can tell us said another. Maybe if we can determine how they are different from the children that read well that might help said still another. All good suggestions said the King . I want you to start an investigation immediately.<br />
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The advisers called the condition dyslexia . The investigation is still going on.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-24442467266594472742010-03-23T11:28:00.000-07:002010-03-23T11:28:08.979-07:00What Is Dyslexia ???<iframe src="http://www.readthewords.com/embed/4274_text111938AM.txt.mp3.html" frameborder=0 width=300 height=300></iframe><br />
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As simple as the question appears, a totally correct answer is not yet available. Dyslexia can best be considered as a syndrome that exhibits several different problems that make reading much more difficult for an individual. In a syndrome, each individual may or may not have any particular problem from a list of minor problems but must have the major defining problem of the syndrome. The major problem that defines dyslexia is difficulty acquiring the skills to read in a normal manner.<br />
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While dyslexia has not yet achieved an accepted medical status of being a syndrome it still is the best way to understand what dyslexia is. Conditions that are considered syndromes have a fixed list of minor problems and usually require that a particular minimum # have to be present along with the major problem to be diagnosed with the syndrome. <br />
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The reason dyslexia is not yet considered a syndrome is that there has been no agreement on what particular minor problems need to be included in the list or how many need to be present to define the syndrome. Most people reading this have seen the lists of problems associated with dyslexia and noticed that no two lists of problems are the same. Only time will tell what the final medically accepted list of minor problems will be or how many of those need to be present before a diagnosis meets the standard.<br />
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Each individual minor problem also needs to be defined and measurable before dyslexia will finally be considered as a syndrome. Minor problems like delayed speech and poor short term memory ( as examples ) are possible useful ideas associated with some dyslexics but what what does that mean. How delayed is delayed and to what degree are questions that will need to be answered or what standard will measure short term memory problems. <br />
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Media reports of researchers that study dyslexia factors typicaly report that they have found the cause of dyslexia at the expense of ignoring all previous studies. This causes much confusion among anyone looking to understand "What is dyslexia?" because the answers seem to keep changing.<br />
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Reading dyslexia studies rather than media reports of dyslexia studies builds a different better picture of what is known about dyslexia. Considering that the value of each individual study is that they actually investigate specific minor problems of the dyslexia syndrome makes understanding the results easier. What dyslexia research is doing is building the minor problem list by the determination of whether the aspect studied is actually associated with dyslexia.<br />
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I am not comfortable with the conclusion that is widely reported that only high IQ people may be dyslexic. That statement only becomes true if diagnosed is added. Diagnosed dyslexics generally have average or above average IQs . It is likely that some disadvantaged poor children with more limited language exposure and lower IQs may very well be dyslexic also and would benefit from dyslexia intervention also. Basically, without even a suggested mechanism for dyslexia only occurring in high IQ individuals I don't think it can be very productive to eliminate lower IQ individuals from consideration for dyslexia.<br />
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Here are some factors that can cause reading problems for dyslexics. (Using a generalized approach as each can be broken down to smaller specifics.)<br />
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1) phonological problems- difficulty hearing the difference in the sounds that make up words.<br />
2) language processing problems- difficulty processing sounds as language.<br />
3) visual processing problems- difficulty seeing the page in a clear, focused and stable manner.<br />
4) mental processing problems indirectly related to the above such as short term memory and executive decision making problems and others.<br />
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Back to the question, dyslexia is a syndrome that, for an individual, can have different amounts of reading dysfunction caused by a combination of the above problems. The severity and impact of each problem will vary from individual to individual.Some individuals have as their cause 1 predominate problem and little effect from others. <br />
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New dyslexia research that is promising for understanding dyslexia is that many dyslexia problems may be initially caused by a generalized problem with filtering out extraneous information or noise. Noise is usually considered as sound but visual noise is a valid concept as well. Looked at another way it may be better to replace the idea of poor filtration of noise with higher sensitivity to noise.<br />
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The observation of dyslexics having more difficulty hearing what is being said across a noisy crowded room than non dyslexics was the basis for the development of experiments to determine if poor noise filtration may be an aspect of dyslexia. The results indicate that very well be the case. It doesn't take a great leap to speculate that a higher sensitivity to sound noise may be causing language development problems leading to dyslexia from a young age. Hard to quantify but certainly possible is that modern life is more sound polluted than the past. Some have proposed that some dyslexic students may benefit from using headphones to hear their teachers voice broadcasted to eliminate classroom noise and having a quiet place to study.<br />
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Other experiments have investigated dyslexics and non-dyslexics and their ability to perform visual tasks with increasing visual noise by using electronic snow on computer screens. Many dyslexics show a higher sensitivity to the visual snow than the non-dyslexics.<br />
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While sound noise is generally external, I believe visual noise is caused by autofluorescent proteins in the eye that can change a photon of visual information into a photon of visual noise by changing the original path. By filtering out the different wavelengths associated with the autofluorescent proteins the visual noise is extinguished. Because the locations of the protein are fixed in individual eyes the individual visual dyslexic usually has a constant specific visual problem that can be described and eliminated. <br />
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I sell See Right Dyslexia Glasses that remove described visual problems for dyslexics. Only a minority of dyslexics have visual processing problems that are predominate. The dyslexics that can describe a visual problem that makes reading difficult can have that problem removed by these dyslexia glasses. They have a money back guarantee and require no personal evaluation. More information about these glasses is available at www.dyslexiaglasses.com .hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-65377580267374896492010-01-07T22:57:00.000-08:002010-01-08T06:03:41.113-08:00Dyslexia Theories May Need To Be Changed<iframe frameborder="0" height="300</iframe" src="http://www.readthewords.com/embed/4274_text54505AM.txt.mp3.html" width="300"></iframe><br />
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For many years now dyslexia researchers have assumed that the differences in brain activity and structure observed by fMRI scans between groups of dyslexics and non-dyslexics have been caused by dyslexia. I've never seen the question raised about whether these differences could be the result of dyslexia.<br />
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Granted, scanning many many babies to determine whether or not the babies have dyslexic brains and then retesting them later after school experiences would be an expensive time-consuming study. That would however help answer the question of whether or not the brain differences first existed in the babies or whether the normal readers were the ones that actually changed.<br />
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I've always been impressed with researchers that see unique opportunities to answer difficult questions in a much easier way.The following paragraph is from a story in the New York Times.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/magazine/03Braille-t.html?pagewanted=2&hpw<br />
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'Learning to read is so entwined in the normal course of child development that it is easy to assume that our brains are naturally wired for print literacy. But humans have been reading for fewer than 6,000 years (and literacy has been widespread for no more than a century and a half). The activity of reading itself alters the anatomy of the brain. In a report released in 2009 in the journal Nature, the neuroscientist Manuel Carreiras studies illiterate former guerrillas in Colombia who, after years of combat, had abandoned their weapons, left the jungle and rejoined civilization. Carreiras compares 20 adults who had recently completed a literacy program with 22 people who had not yet begun it. In M.R.I. scans of their brains, the newly literate subjects showed more gray matter in their angular gyri, an area crucial for language processing, and more white matter in part of the corpus callosum, which links the two hemispheres. Deficiencies in these regions were previously observed in dyslexics, and the study suggests that those brain patterns weren’t the cause of their illiteracy, as had been hypothesized, but a result.'<br />
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There have been studies about what is called brain plasticity showing that the dyslexic brain can become more like the non-dyslexic brain with reading interventions. That seems to be consistent with the above study.<br />
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I'm sure more studies need to be done to confirm that it is the literacy that actually changes the brain rather than dyslexia being a neurological brain difference at least as described by most dyslexia researchers today.<br />
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It's likely that the present-day thought is not totally off the mark. But it is also likely that the brain differences so often promoted as being the cause of dyslexia are not entirely correct.<br />
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My speculation is that there is an as yet unidentified noise filter function of the brain that makes reading more difficult and is what we call dyslexia. There's been recent research that certainly shows that a likely cause of the phonological processing problems of dyslexics is due to their difficulty separating out sounds in a noisy background. The mechanism behind the difficulty has yet to be discovered.<br />
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I have long promoted the concept of visual noise as the cause of visual dyslexia and also the mechanism by which my See Right Dyslexia Glasses remove those visual problems by filtering out the wavelengths of light that caused the visual noise.<br />
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For a generalized concept of auditory and visual noise generating the dyslexic's primary assorted problems it is probably best to consider it a higher sensitivity to the noise or a filtering problem. <br />
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In the final analysis, it looks like another paradigm of what causes dyslexia is going to be needed.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-82423790452153585092009-12-02T22:57:00.000-08:002009-12-02T23:06:14.381-08:00A Different Look at Dyslexia<iframe src="http://www.readthewords.com/embed/4274_text105218PM.txt.mp3.html" frameborder=0 width=300 height=300></iframe><br />
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I wanted to blog today about dyslexia and the fact that when you're talking to someone about dyslexia it is almost necessary for each person to discuss what their concept of dyslexia is before you start. It is very easy when talking about dyslexia to assume that the person you're talking to has the same understanding about dyslexia as you do. This is often not the case.<br />
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This isn't meant to be a serious formal discussion about dyslexia but rather an acknowledgment that when you hear that somebody is dyslexic what that means depends a lot upon who says it.<br />
There seems to be a general confusion about dyslexia and its cause. Partly the confusion is caused because of a lack of vocabulary that differentiates dyslexics by their symptoms and partly it is because dyslexia is often written about as if the latest finding applies to all dyslexics and all prior information about dyslexia is now null and void.<br />
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Cultural anthropologists and psychologists have both written about how cultures and individuals who lack words for a particular idea or concept act as if they do not exist. Cultures that lack the word for war never get large amounts of people together to fight other large amounts of people. Dyslexics have individual problems that need to be treated in an individualistic way. Thinking of dyslexia as a single condition with a single cause leads to a belief that a particular intervention should benefit all dyslexics. This does not seem to fit the available data.<br />
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In much the same way people of the Arctic have many words that differentiate types of snow and use that information for travel, hunting and other uses, dyslexia needs to be broken down into defined subgroups that lead to different effective interventions based on those subgroups.<br />
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A numerical scale for ranking the severity of impairment for each subgroup would also be useful as it appears the severity of dyslexic symptoms vary for any individual and may require a combination of interventions for that individual.<br />
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In an overly simplified analogy to fertilizers where 3 numbers indicate the amount of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in order, such as 23-8-14 or 2-12-10, and the gardener knows which fertilizer ( intervention) to use for a particular plant problem I propose a similar system for dyslexics.<br />
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A 0-10 scale could be used where 0 indicates no effect on reading ability and 10 indicates the most severe effect on reading ability.<br />
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The order of the numbers would be:<br />
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1) processing problems ( treated perhaps by multi-sensory instruction) let us call this Brain Structure Induced Dyslexia.<br />
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2) auditory problems ( treated perhaps by phonics instruction) let us call this Hearing Induced Dyslexia<br />
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3) visual problems (<a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolutiom.html"> corrected by See Right Dyslexia Glasses</a> ) let us call this Visual Dyslexia<br />
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In my analogy a dyslexic that was evaluated as 8-5-1 would likely benefit most from processing intervention followed by auditory intervention. This dyslexic would also be able to understand that 1 type of program very well might not be all he or she needs.<br />
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A dyslexic evaluated as 1-2-8 might only need visual correction.<br />
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I find the idea that there is one answer for all dyslexics to be hype and believe that all the evidence shows that there are many different types of dyslexia that respond to different interventions. I would argue that a primary step in dyslexia research is missing that doesn't evaluate a dyslexic's problems as they relate to different interventions.<br />
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Others might suggest that other categories or subcategories need to be included also. I have no problem with that. It does seem fair to include brain, eyes and ears as possible sources of dyslexia symptoms at the minimum based on information available today.<br />
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For those who take issue with giving a numerical value to impairments I would like to suggest that eventually those numbers would likely be able to be correlated to success with their associated interventions.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-47938699371277460412009-11-14T11:12:00.000-08:002009-11-17T12:49:49.516-08:00Dyslexia and Poor Noise Filters<iframe src="http://www.readthewords.com/embed/4274_text103359AM.txt.mp3.html" frameborder=0 width=300 height=300></iframe><br />A new piece of information about dyslexia is taking a step from anecdotal evidence to the realm of being considered research-based. The media, as usual, is in the process making it a problem common to all dyslexics. Below is a quote from one of the better reporters who talked to the primary researcher.<br /><br />"She stressed that not everyone with dyslexia, a learning disorder affecting 5 to 10 per cent of schoolchildren, also has trouble processing sound."<br /><br />Several dyslexia researchers in the past have suggested that a major contributor to the problem of dyslexia is that dyslexics have problems filtering the audio information necessary for processing when noise is present. Anecdotal evidence has long suggested that many dyslexics have difficulty listening to a speaker when there are other conversations in the background or even a generalized background noise.<br /><br />While there has been well documented brain structural differences in dyslexics compared to the non-dyslexic population, the resolution of imaging techniques or even autopsy results of dyslexics are unlikely to find the brains mechanism for filtering information anytime in the near future. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist just that our understanding of how the brain works and what can be imaged is still limited.<br /><br />The most recent dyslexia study to investigate this phenomena investigated people's ability to become aware of a predetermined background noise when their auditory attention was directed elsewhere. As suspected, dyslexics as a group had a much more difficult time with that task.<br /><br />Some of the more obvious directions to go with this information is that many dyslexics would benefit from a learning environment without distracting background noise or unnecessary competing conversations. On a practical level that could mean better soundproofing for classrooms and for homework areas or simply seating the dyslexic students in the front of the class closer to the teacher. Another possibility would have the teachers voice relayed to the dyslexic student by headphones.<br /><br />A harder experiment that is sure to follow is one where an evaluation of a dyslexic's ability to learn phonics when background noise is present to see if auditory noise is contraindicated under that condition. While I haven't seen any results for that experiment, anecdotal evidence suggests that will also be the case for many dyslexics.<br /><br />I would like to point out that the concept of dyslexics having problems with background noise may help to explain the success and the need for phonological instruction for many dyslexics who appear to have normal hearing. The acquisition of language is not normally developed without background noise present and that is not a problem for the nondyslexic individual. On the other hand, it is fairly easy to understand how a child that does not process background noise well starts to develop phonemic awareness problems from an early age and may benefit from phonological instruction which often takes place on a one-to-one basis in a much less distracting atmosphere.<br /><br />Unfortunately, probably the most optimum time for the dyslexic child with background noise issues to benefit from an environment without background noise is when they are first learning language and at that age he or she is unlikely to have been identified. Even without the research to prove the necessity, I would suggest that it would be prudent for perspective parents with a high genetic predisposition towards dyslexia to consider trying to maintain a low background noise environment while the children are learning language.<br /><br />Sometimes I wonder if the apparent increase in the percentage of children with dyslexia with phonological problems is not related to some degree to the relatively new desire to have our lives filled with background noise. It seems that many caretakers of children need to have the background TV or radio always present. The quiet surroundings of the past may have helped lessen dyslexic phonological problems and the increase in background noise in modern society may also have increased the number of dyslexics with phonological problems.<br /><br />Dyslexia is always difficult subject to write about. Even my post here has not yet mentioned how dyslexia can vary from mild to severe and how phonological problems and background noise are just one small slice in understanding the dyslexia pie.<br /><br />I would like to encourage the readers of this post to consider a hypothetical situation to demonstrate how people in general vary in their ability to isolate relevant information in a noisy environment. Imagine you are in a large crowded and noisy bar with seven other friends. One more late friend arrives and sees you across the crowded room. Wanting to get the tables attention he starts calling out names from your group one at a time. The chances are that each member of your group will become aware of the new arrival at different times. Some of the group will respond because they will recognize his voice, some will respond because they recognize that each name called out is present at the table, and then others will respond when they hear their own name. Some variations might be depended upon the level of attention the individuals have to other activities or even whether or not the new arrival was expected.<br /><br /> If only one individual at the table was dyslexics he wouldn't necessarily be the last person to respond to the new visitor. It certainly would simplify things if in the above example the dyslexic of the table would always be the last to identify the new arrival. Dyslexia and dyslexia research is just not that simple. It has just not been possible to date to develop a scale with any particular dyslexia symptom and say that anyone falls below this number is a dyslexic.<br /><br />So while it is true that phonological problems are very common in dyslexics and the idea of dyslexics having difficulties with background noise helps refine the understanding of phonological problems and dyslexia it is still not enough to identify dyslexics because dyslexics are not defined by phonological problems.<br /><br />It is also true that similar type experiments have found that dyslexics have similar problems with visual noise. It also seems to be a filtering problem of extraneous information. The experiments were done on a computer screen with what some might call varying amounts of TV snow. Dyslexics as a group had problems processing visual information with lower levels of visual noise than the non-dyslexic group. On a conceptual level, the idea of visual noise being a problem for dyslexics is similar to the background audio noise being a problem for dyslexics.<br /><br />The difference between audio and visual noise problems is that audio problems are most often expressed in verbal language and communication problems while visual problems are expressed in difficulty seeing text. While even nondyslexics can easily relate to background noise as interfering with the ability to develop phonemic and phonological understanding, the concept of visual noise as being a source of reading difficulties is not as familiar.<br /><br />The visual problems seeing text caused by visual noise are considered <a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/visual_dyslexia_symptoms_help.html">visual dyslexia</a>. Because these problems are not as prevalent as the auditory problems they are often discounted. Even the idea of visual noise needs some explanation because most people don't experience visual noise. The closest common experience of visual noise is probably seeing snow on the TV which makes seeing the television picture harder to visualize.<br /><br />One of the most common visual problems that makes reading difficult for dyslexics is reported to be seeing the text vibrate or in motion. To understand the difficulty of reading text in motion, consider the difficulty of reading while sitting in the backseat of a car driving down a washboard road. Difficulty keeping your eyes on the same line and the task of identifying the individual letters in a word now becomes a problem and reading becomes a chore rather than the easy pleasure it is when reading in a stable condition.<br /><br />Another common <a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/visual_dyslexia_symptoms_help.html">symptom of visual problems</a> when reading is that parts of words or parts of letters are overwritten by visual noise.To understand this type of problem imagine someone vandalizing a freeway sign by overwriting parts of letters or parts of words. The more severe your visual dyslexia is the more the letters and words are overwritten. Reading the sign then becomes more of a guessing game resulting in slower reading and an increased chance of reading errors. The question arises about what is the cause of this visual noise. My opinion is that it is caused by auto fluorescence.<br /><br /><a href="http://http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/autofluorescence_and_dyslexia.html">Auto fluorescence</a> is well-documented in the parts of the eye by proteins and many different wavelengths of light. The concept is easy to understand if you consider the path of a single photon which is originally carrying visual information from the object observed. After absorbing the photon by the auto fluorescent protein it is then emitted on a path no longer related to the object observed. The result is that one packet of visual information is removed and changed into a packet of visual noise that is no longer related to the image.<br /><br />As the visual noise is related to specific auto fluorescent proteins that each are activated by individual wavelengths of light as possible to filter out those wavelengths of light to remove the visual news.<br /><br />As the cause of the visual noise for visual dyslexia are specific auto fluorescent proteins that are activated by specific wavelengths of light ,it is possible to develop a filter for those wavelengths which effectively removes all of the visual noise. With the removal of all the visual noise the visual problems associated with visual dyslexia are extinguished. I call the universal visual dyslexia filters designed to remove the visual noise caused by auto fluorescence, See Right Dyslexia Glasses. They are available at <a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolution.html">The Visual Dyslexia Solution</a>.<br /><br />Dyslexia is of course much more complex than just having problems with auditory and/or visual noise.Individual dyslexics usually have specific coexisting problems that are not limited to only auditory and visual noise. Discussions of the other issues will have to wait another day.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-80069383084228751462009-09-13T08:58:00.000-07:002009-09-15T14:39:16.746-07:00Flawed Joint Statement about learning Disabilities And Vision.<iframe src="http://www.readthewords.com/embed/4274_text22840PM.txt.mp3.html" frameborder=0 width=300 height=300></iframe><br />Here we go again. A new Joint statement from pediatricians and eye doctors who admit they can't diagnose any learning disabilities want to make a blanket statement that learning disabilities and vision aren't related. Here is the PDF file link.<br /><br />http://www.dys-add.com/VisionTherapy2009.pdf<br /><br />After reading the statement , my thought is that that they are throwing out the baby with the bath water. It is easy to understand their position and why they felt the statement was needed. It would also be easy to correct their statement with the addition of a few facts. Fact # 1 , there are a minority of dyslexics , properly called visual dyslexics , whose reading problems are caused by visual problems .<br />Fact #2 , the minority of visual dyslexics is about 10% of the dyslexic population or about 1-1.5% of the general population.<br /><br />I designed and sell See Right Dyslexia Glasses which act as a universal visual dyslexia filter to remove the visual problems associated with visual dyslexia. I make no claims that the glasses help learning disabilities in general. They do not help dyslexics in general. The small minority of dyslexics with visual dyslexia that can describe visual problems that make reading difficult will have the visual problems removed with the See Right Dyslexia Glasses.<br /><br />Visual dyslexics are known to have a higher rate of poor depth perception than the general population. Eye doctors that would like to see evidence of the affect of See Right Dyslexia Glasses might consider the fact that they will correct poor depth perception instantly and the poor depth perception will return when the glasses are removed. I mention that because I do not believe that eye doctors have anyway of correcting poor depth perception of visual dyslexics.<br /><br />The idea presented in the statement that missing letters and moving words leading to reading problems are the result of anything other than visual problems is FALSE. It is really a stretch to say that it is a proven fact. I would suggest that the failure to being able to identify dyslexic individuals is partly because of a poor understanding that some dyslexic problems are visual.<br /><br />Products that associate learning disabilities in general with visual interventions are likely to fail the majority of people with learning disabilities and at best help a small minority. The Irlen method has had some real success but does a poor job of identification of who will be helped leading to many failures. I have yet found any indication that vision therapy is an effective therapy for learning disabilities. I would describe vision therapy as bait and switch. People want educational help and vision therapy promises to help all with learning disabilities. The eye training provided has never been shown to help anyone.<br /><br />Reading the joint statement about dyslexia and vision by every type of doctor that can NOT diagnose dyslexia was interesting. In many ways I do agree with their results for the mentioned vision therapies and how they have not been proven as beneficial for learning disabilities and so shouldn't recommended.<br /><br />I believe that their basic agenda is a result of feeling that promoters of the mentioned vision therapies in the statement do not take a professional approach to the business of selling their products. It is actually hard to argue with the position that the mentioned promoters are not acting professionally. <br /><br />All doctors are expected to act in a professional and ethical manner.Whether or not those promoters are being ethical depends on if they are knowingly over promoting the products or just incompetent or unaware.One requirement of being a professional doctor is to prescribe treatment to those that need treatment and to not prescribe treatment to those that do not need to be treated. The majority of years of education a doctors receives are slanted towards being able to diagnose who is to be treated for what and how. <br /><br />I suspect that the joint statement was prepared because The Irlen Method and Vision Therapy are seen as overselling their respective products as being the necessary treatment for learning disabilities. Their sin is at least that learning disabilities is too broad a subject ( or condition) to only have a single treatment and to suggest either as a general treatment. <br /><br />The joint statement basically says that Vision Therapy has never shown any educational benefit and that Irlen tinted lenses studies have shown mixed results at best. It implies that you can conclude results from flawed studies. By any reasonable standard you can't conclude results from flawed studies.<br /><br />There is no reason that visual problems should be related to learning disabilities in general. If there is a visual aspect to some learning disabilities it would be a subset of reading problems or dyslexia. This has never been tested in a proper manner and so has not been shown to exist. It is no surprise that something that has never been shown to exist does not have a recommended treatment. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Visual dyslexia is not likely to be proven any time soon by a scientific study.</span><br /><br />Dyslexia testing is prohibitively expensive and best case today is what is called dyslexia risk identification followed by some intervention for kindergarten children.This is often called dyslexia testing but has low standards.<br /><br />By its very nature a generalized dyslexia testing program is going to test all children in an area. The people to give the tests and record results must have some generalized skills with testing and children ( think money ) and testing all the children will take time ( think money). Identification of children at risk ( the bottom half) and intervention ( more money). After intervention you find that 70% have come up to standard and that 30% didn't. They are the children most likely to be dyslexic and can now be tested for dyslexia.<br /><br />It is also very likely that because of the assumptions on language abilities tested to determine dyslexia risks that visual dyslexics will not be included in the final group as their language skills are often very good.<br /><br />To conclude , I suggest that See Right Dyslexia Glasses that claim to remove described visual problems , have a money back guarantee , and are easily evaluated in a matter of minutes to at most hours indicate that at least some people with learning disabilities have visual problems where removal of those problems leads to faster more accurate reading with better comprehension.<br /><br />More information about See Right Dyslexia Glasses and visual dyslexia can be found at <a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolution.html">The Visual Dyslexia Solution</a> web sitehayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-68172906958446358852009-08-31T03:34:00.000-07:002009-08-31T03:45:25.047-07:00Correction for earlier post yesterdayI checked the publication date for the book in my earlier post yesterday and it predated my starting the dyslexiaglasses.com web site. It appears that the comment was added by the blog author and not included in the book. My mistake. I will console myself with the thought that the only person that never makes a mistake is the person who never does anything.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-74302284081602802422009-08-30T18:20:00.000-07:002009-09-15T14:37:45.184-07:00Visual Perception Reading ProblemsI have my own views on what causes visual dyslexia reading problems and how to correct them and that is how I developed See Right Dyslexia Glasses. I have always limited my claims to helping those dyslexics that can actually describe their visual problems that make reading difficult and mention that those visual dyslexics are a small minority of dyslexics in general. The Irlen Method has been around a lot longer than my glasses and is much better known. <br /><br />Irlen convinced people that visual dyslexics needed to be evaluated to determine particular color lenses for particular dyslexics to get help and that works for some visual dyslexics. Irlen doesn't guarantee any positive results and in my opinion oversells her product. Between her claims of correcting the reading problems of visual dyslexics along with helping good readers, autistic and ADHD problems it seems her glasses help everyone with any educational difficulties. <br /><br />Now ADHD and dyslexia do co-exist in many people so it is likely that there are some people with ADHD that do have visual dyslexia causing reading problems. I just suspect that removing visual dyslexia problems from someone with ADHD doesn't actually do anything for their ADHD and so I personally only market See Right Dyslexia Glasses for visual problems that make reading difficult. My success rate at removing described visual problems that make reading difficult is close to 100% so I can offer a money-back guarantee.<br /><br />I also eliminated the need for a personal evaluation by designing the See Right Dyslexia Glasses as a universal visual dyslexia filter that is effective for all visual dyslexics.<br /><br />I read almost everything that is published on the web that concerns dyslexia by having Google alerts for dyslexia, visual dyslexia ,dyslexia research and several more. Today I was reading a blog about visual perception that had a book reference that discussed the Irlen method and at the end mentions See Right Dyslexia Glasses as a more promising approach to the problem of visual dyslexia and here it is below the line.<br />------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Visual Perception<br /><br />The following is excerpted from A User’s Guide To The Brain, by John J. Ratey, M.D.<br /><br />I met a psychotherapist from the West Coast named Rolf at a conference in Aspen, Colorado. It was autumn, cool and overcast, yet Rolf was wearing yellow-tinted sunglasses. I just thought, Oh, it’s the California thing. But Rolf, age sixty-eight, had discovered only two years earlier that he had a visual-processing problem. He had begun to work with dyslexics when he retired from active practice, and in studying all he could, he learned about a technique called the Irlen method for helping a small subset of dyslexics.<br /><br />Certain dyslexics have difficulty reading because as they move their eyes from left to right across a line of type, the letters seem to shimmer… they move. The affected individual can’t keep track of the words, and so has to struggle mightily to read. The Irlen idea was that if such a person looked at written material or any fine details through a certain type of filtering lens, the shimmering would stop.<br /><br />Rolf had been tormented all his life with the idea that he was not as smart as he thought he was. It had taken him much longer than other students to study. He was smart enough to get by, and got his medical degree by forcing himself to listen well and ask lots of questions. Indeed, his first love was neurology, but that required much more detailed reading than psychology, which relied more on talking and listening, so he ended up becoming a psychiatrist. He had always loved literature, but just never read it because it was too much of an ordeal.<br /><br />Upon discovering that different-colored Irlen lenses helped certain dyslexics, Rolf drove to his neighborhood pharmacy, picked up a magazine, and began trying on different-colored sunglasses. He tried blue, then brown. Nothing happened. But then he put on a $5 pair of yellow tinted lenses, and began to read the magazine. The words stood still! He read it more easily than anything he had ever tried to read before in his life. He was elated.<br /><br />Rolf was already wearing glasses for common farsightedness. He hurried to his ophthalmologist to explain his discovery, and together they ordered a pair of Irlen lenses. Today Rolf is a voracious reader.<br /><br />It’s important to note that Irlen lenses help only a small fraction of people who suffer from dyslexia, which can be caused by many different perceptual or brain processing problems. The shimmering of letters is not a problem that can be diagnosed with routine eye exams. Rolf happens to be in the small group of dyslexics who can be helped by Irlen lenses, was aware enough to apply what he was learning about dyslexia to himself, and was clever enough to find some ready evidence for a possible cure at his local pharmacy.<br /><br />Rolf needlessly spent much of his adult life with a poor image of himself. Despite his outwardly successful career, he had been in analysis for years trying to understand why he thought of himself as inadequate and lazy, why he had to study so hard to achieve what others did routinely, why he didn’t read the journals as his fellow psychiatrists did or keep track of the news in the papers. His struggle had nothing to do with an intellectual deficit or a motivational problem. It was pure perception.<br /><br />Just for a moment, look up and examine the scene around you. Be it a sterile office, cozy bedroom or den, allow yourself to sit back and really see the world that surrounds you. In the amount of time that you averted your gaze from this page, your eyes meticulously dissected the image cast upon your retina into approximately 126 million pieces, sent signals for every one of these tiny elements to a transfer station in the thalamus, which then fired neuronal networks to and within the visual cortex, then sent the information to the frontal cortex, and somehow you put the pieces back together into a seamless pattern perceived by you as a sterile office, cozy bedroom, or den.<br /><br />To add to this complexity, recent physiological findings suggest that all this processing takes place along several independent, parallel pathways. One system processes information about shape, one about color, and one about movement, location, and spatial organization. If you look up and see a clock, the image of its face and the action of its sweeping second hand are being processed independently, despite how unified the image appears. It may seem bizarre to think of vision as functionally subdivided. But how otherwise could a person who has perfect focus and tracking of moving objects be color blind? Some so called blind people who cannot see colors or objects can still see movement.<br /><br />As humans, our highly convoluted cortex enables us to combine visual messages with other sensory messages and past experiences to give unique meaning to particular visual situations. The sight of a fresh bouquet of red roses will probably have a different effect on me than on the florist who works with roses every day. Most other species do not have cortical convolutions, so the greater part of their visual processing occurs as pure sight. Humans have evolved to process most visual information in the visual cortex.<br /><br />Since the introduction of the Irlen lenses, a more promising approach has been developed with the See Right Dyslexia Glasses. These glasses, which require no evaluation and are backed by a money-back guarantee, are an affordable risk free option to correct the problems associated with visual dyslexia. For more information, visit the web site at <a href="http://dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolution.html">http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com</a>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-24346687760429185022009-07-29T21:16:00.000-07:002009-07-30T00:09:47.720-07:00The Eye M.D. association's inaccurate statement about Dyslexia and VisionI guess it is too much to expect M.D. Ophthalmologists to actually be able to think their way out of a scientific bag. I expect to be slapped around for my comments here but I actually think that just because people have a biased opinion about a subject they shouldn't expose themselves by acting as if they can make a scientific sounding policy about dyslexia and vision unless they actually understand dyslexia as well as vision and the fact that a minority of dyslexics can describe individually specific visual problems that make reading difficult.<br /><br />Here is the link to the new policy saying that vision has nothing to do with dyslexia<br /><a href="http://www.aao.org/about/policy/upload/Learning-Disabilities-Dyslexia-Vision-2009.pdf">http://www.aao.org/about/policy/upload/Learning-Disabilities-Dyslexia-Vision-2009.pdf</a> <br /><br />I see Sally Shaywitz and her husband's fingerprints all over the policy statement. I have always said that phonological problems are indeed the most common dyslexia problem ( regardless of the fact that there are a non trivial amount on non responders to phonological interventions)and that if you want to blindly choose an individual selected in a random manner from a group of dyslexics that phonological intervention has the greatest statistical chance of being helped. That method fails for a non trivial amount of dyslexics sometimes because of visual problems seeing text.<br /><br />That Shaywitz uses fMRI information to prove the phonological problem relationship to dyslexia in her certain manner while not being able to identify if an individual is dyslexic or not by that method suggests to me that she is reading a little more certainty into the data than is there. I am not trying to criticize her, her star is at its height right now and the AAO believes her as if it is written in stone.<br /><br />This is going to be a long post so I am going to go out on a limb and say that in all of history that there has never been any single way that Doctors have treated a large group of kids (or people in general) so that the results have been positive for every kid. I am not saying that groups haven't been helped just that a certain amount of collateral damage is acceptable. I guess that is why it is OK to promote drugs that may cause death in a few people as a side effect and OK to promote a single phonological intervention for dyslexics that will have some non responders to the intervention.<br /><br />Sometimes it is informative to actually read the references that are used to evaluate them for quality and make sure they are inclusive of the information to date. GF Eden did one of the first fMRI studies on dyslexia and vision and found about the same differences that are seen in other areas of the brain : you can see differences between groups of dyslexics and non dyslexics. <span style="font-weight:bold;">That study was big news at the time <span style="font-weight:bold;">I would think the everyone belonging to the Eye MD association would be familiar with the study</span>. </span>G. Eden went on and studied other areas of the brain related to reading and found the same differences as with vision. The eye MD's included one of Eden's studies just not the one on vision. I always liked the comment from a young girl in her study who said she could read if the words would just stop walking. I have a vested interest in this discussion because I sell glasses that would stop those letters from walking so that girl could read normally.<br /><br />I can understand the eye MDs being upset with the low quality studies done on vision therapy and colored lenses but just as poor studies don't prove anything positive they also don't prove anything negative. It is not proper to conclude that because a study is very flawed that it proves that something doesn't work, it just still needs to be properly studied. <br /><br />I have no idea about how effective vision therapy is. Personally, I believe there is no way that claims of 80% of learning problems are vision related can possibly be true so there has to be huge failure rates and since it can take months and thousands of dollars and is never guaranteed I would advise against it until a target group can be identified so that the success rate can be raised to the point that a guarantee could be offered. I just don't see that vision therapy is a viable product at this time.<br /><br />I don't like the lack of a guarantee and the overselling of colored lenses either. Again the studies done with colored lenses have been poorly designed but are suggestive that a better selected at risk population could increase the success rate. The eye MDs just can't claim that poorly designed studies prove a negative when they don't prove anything.<br /><br />Just because the eye MDs are embarrassed that anyone would invade their turf with big claims little proof and no guarantees doesn't give them the right to speak from the mount and spew poorly researched and selected articles to get rid of the invaders. <br /><br />Since I sell and financially guarantee that See Right Dyslexia Glasses remove described visual problems that make reading difficult for a minority of dyslexics I have a dog in this (fight) discussion.<br /><br />Statistically, dyslexics in general and visual dyslexics in particular have a higher rate of poor depth perception. My glasses restore normal depth perception for that group. It seems that eye MDs can't restore normal depth perception yet but they can measure depth perception. Feel free to challenge my glasses ability to do that if you find a dyslexic with poor depth perception. I run across them occasionally myself.<br /><br />I think using the FAQ's on a dyslexia site as a reference indicates a sloppy gathering of information to develop a national policy on dyslexia and vision not being related. Also since Eden's study on dyslexia and vision indicating dyslexia and vision are related was of the same excellence as the one you used as a reference<br />I wonder if the eye MDs did more than read the abstracts. Eden often mentions the non universality of her results as pertains to dyslexics.<br /><br />Put the policy back on the agenda and do a better job next time. Here is some info on <a href="http://dyslexiaglasses.com">visual dyslexia</a>.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-9332832095782729892009-06-12T16:29:00.000-07:002009-07-10T22:19:05.856-07:00Dyslexia Theories<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><br /><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pub=hayesatlbch" onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-addthis-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js?pub=hayesatlbch"></script><br /><!-- AddThis Button END --><br /><br />Another way of looking at the theories of what causes dyslexia is to understand that all are partial explanations of the large condition that is dyslexia.<br />Together they form a fairly good understanding of what dyslexia is where they all fail when considered individually.<br /><br />Granted, each theory has believers that claim " This is dyslexia ". If the goal is to understand a particular dyslexic and get help for that particular dyslexic, then the reality is that it needs to be determined which theory applies to that dyslexic so that a focused intervention can be developed.<br /><br />There seems to be a disconnect between what dyslexia researchers are trying to do ,which is finding the single cause of dyslexia and what is wanted by most dyslexics which is what intervention will help him or her.<br /><br />I offer as proof the different studies using fMRI to study dyslexia that study<br />specific areas of the brain ( generally each of which is related to a particular theory of what dyslexia is ). All the studies find the same result of being able to see the difference between groups of dyslexics and non dyslexics but with data overlap between the groups that makes identifying individual dyslexics impossible.<br /><br />If you have only read the media reports of those studies and have already picked one that you firmly believe is the right result and that what causes dyslexia has been found , I suggest you find and read the researchers conclusions. Not one researcher can claim to evaluate a person by fMRI and determine if he or she is dyslexic.<br /><br />When different dyslexics have different problems , which is what is observed, how can one theory of one cause be correct. On the plus side you can conclude that indeed these theories are each and every one of them are supported by fMRI<br />FOR SOME DYSLEXICS BUT NOT ALL .<br /><br />I personally have developed filter glasses for the minority of dyslexics that fit the criteria of being able to describe a visual problem that makes reading difficult. While that criteria covers a broad range of visual problems that make reading difficult it is narrow enough so that an individual can determine if he or she is in the group.<br /><br />My point is that while no one theory covers all dyslexics, together they do form a list of problems from which any particular dyslexic is likely to be able to find the cause of his or her dyslexia problems. What is still needed is for the different interventions to determine criteria that will identify which intervention will help which dyslexic.<br /><br />Until that happens, dyslexia interventions developed for a particular theory will continue to have failure rates due to the simple fact that some dyslexics have problems in other areas that are not addressed.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-23389110525101409332009-05-03T20:45:00.000-07:002009-05-04T00:59:45.118-07:00Dyslexia InterventionsDyslexia interventions and reality. " Holly Shapiro <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ph</span></span>.D. said... I must advise this blog’s readers that dyslexia is not a visual problem (<a href="http://dyslexia.yale.edu/" rel="nofollow">dyslexia.yale.edu</a>). " and is using Sally <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Shaywitz</span></span>, popular author and fundraiser , as her source of information.
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<br />A minority of dyslexics have visual problems as a primary source of their reading problems. I have never said that dyslexia is a visual problem but if an intervention ignores the visual problems that some dyslexics have it will fail for those dyslexics.
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<br />Well since Dr & DR <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Shaywitz</span></span> seem to come to their conclusions from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">fMRI</span></span> data and are also promoting sort of the same phonics and phonemic interventions as being the only valid and effective dyslexia interventions and useful for all dyslexics, I say open your eyes and look and the data again.
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<br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">FMRI</span></span> data does not support any universal problems for all dyslexics. If the data supported that position then you could identify a person as dyslexic or not by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">fMRI</span></span>.
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<br />As for dyslexia and vision not being related if you are using <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">fMRI</span></span> studies to show the phonics relationship the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">fMRI</span></span> vision studies should be as valid. This dyslexia and vision <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">fMRI</span> study shows similar results to all the dyslexia and language areas of the brain studies .
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<br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">The human brain consists of a patchwork of regions that carry out different activities. At least 32 regions (labeled with a "V") are thought to participate in vision. Region V5, for example, seems to be crucial for tracking moving objects; V1 and V2 recognize colors and patterns. A number of studies in recent years have targeted a visual pathway that includes V5 as a trouble zone in people with dyslexia. </span>
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<br /><img src="http://science.education.nih.gov/home2.nsf/f88b5e3545c02bae85256ca0006af34f/63464347915c760a85256ccd006392e5/Body/0.96D4?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gif" alt="<span class=" error="" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" />fMRI images of people with (bottom) and without (top) dyslexia, taken while looking at stationary patterns (left) or moving patterns (right) of dots" height="165" width="200">
<br /><b><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:78%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">fMRI</span></span> images of people with (bottom) and without (top) dyslexia, taken while looking at stationary patterns (left) or moving patterns (right) of dots</span></b>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">In 1996, Eden and her coworkers at the National <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Institue</span></span> of Mental Health (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">NIMH</span></span>) in Bethesda, Md., (where she worked at the time) confirmed this association</span> "
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<br />Pay attention readers, the reason that different dyslexia interventions are being promoted is that not one is effective for all dyslexics. Several government studies have found that<span style="font-weight: bold;"> systematic phonics instruction from a professional is the<span style="font-size:130%;"> best</span> reading help for children struggling to read</span>. I do not and can not understand how that <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Best </span>can be perverted into a conclusion that phonics instruction is <span style="font-weight: bold;">effective</span> for all dyslexics.
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<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">When there is found a reading instruction method that is <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Effective</span></span> for all dyslexics there will be singing from the roof tops. Holly </span></span>Shapiro<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-size:100%;">says <span style="font-weight: bold;">all </span>her students learn from her phonics program and I assume she is talking about reading. I do not believe it. She either has a very low standard of success or is being misleading.
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<br />I am not saying that her particular program is good bad or indifferent. I am not saying that she is doing anything different than many other people selling dyslexia interventions. The reason I am not saying anything is because it is almost impossible to find what the results of these interventions are.
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<br />How would an effective intervention be defined? At the low end of effective I would at least require that the dyslexics would not be falling further behind . At the higher end an effective intervention would yield people who read at a level that would be expected from their intelligence.
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<br />Quack Quack Quack . Who was that . " </span></span> Readers should also be made aware that Mr. John A. Hayes is an Internet marketing quack, who <a href="http://mainosmemos.blogspot.com/2008/05/dyslexia-glasses.html" rel="nofollow">might be practicing optometry without a license</a>."
<br />says Holly Shapiro. Internet Marketing QUACK. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Hummmmmm</span> It seems that what started me off on this subject was all the PAID articles with PAID links showing up on my google alerts and wasting my time that were made to seem to be articles by different people.
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<br />Personally I don't use paid links or write articles as if I was a third party with no interest but the truth. That is considered Black Hat <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">SEO</span> techniques and frowned upon by google. Let's see sleazy black hat Internet Marketing techniques by Holly saying all her <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">stuents</span> learn ( I assume reading) no dyslexia testing needed, no guarantee Quack Quack. That is misleading . I did notice that you <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">kept</span> changing a few words here and there in that bogus article touting your place with links saying you are better than everyone else. Oh that's right, if you didn't change a few words now and then google would notice they were duplicate content and they would never see the light of day.
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">If I was trying to generate really good success stories for a dyslexia intervention, I might suggest that any poor reader in trouble not be tested for dyslexia but just start paying for the intervention. That way if I was lucky, I could get paid thousands for what could have been achieved with a few hours of after school instruction and when the non-dyslexics started reading as well as they should I could claim a very effective dyslexia intervention. Oh, I am sorry, that's not my technique that is what </span></span> Holly Shapiro does. Quack Quack!
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<br />But if I did that I couldn't sleep at night. I would feel I was over promoting and misleading dyslexics to think my intervention could help <span style="font-weight: bold;">all </span>of them. Isn't that the definition of being a QUACK . I bet if I was going to be that unethical I sure couldn't offer any guarantee or for that matter give any kind of indication of what results my intervention might have. Paid links ,Paid articles as ads, fake claims of helping every dyslexic, duplicate content and I am the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">internet</span> marketing quack.
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<br />It might be argued that because dyslexics differ in their specific problems and severity of those problems it is difficult to predict what the individual results would be. I suggest that if the people charging for the intervention can not evaluate an individual and come to a conclusion as to how well the individual will do at least in a general way then, <span style="font-weight: bold;">they don't understand the relationship of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">individual's</span></span> problems to the intervention.
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<br /></span>I on the other hand, having become familiar with the I have the answer for all dyslexics interventions, represent my visual dyslexia intervention to those for which it is 100% successful only and I identify who will or will not be helped by them. Rather than quacking up customers who will not benefit from my product I am the anti-salesman shooing them away.
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<br />To Holly who would say I may be practicing optometry without a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">license</span> I say put that joint down and get your facts straight. The glasses I sell are usually without prescription and the prescription glasses I sell have the prescription provided by the customer. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;">Nothing I do requires a license.
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<br />Holly you are welcome on my blog any day to voice your opinions. I am sorry but it is you that seems to have all the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"></span>internet marketing hype and a narrow and incomplete understanding of dyslexia. You charge more for 2 hours of instruction that I do for my glasses and I refund the price and shipping if my customers ship them back. Who is the Quack??????????????
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<br />People like you and Shaywitz with your concept that dyslexia is a single condition and can be fixed with a single intervention are wrong . I am not even saying that your program isn't a good one for many or even most dyslexics. Teaching phonics is very important for the majority of dyslexics but it is not the whole answer for every dyslexic as you imply.
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<br />I have people calling me up and telling me how they have spent thousands for dyslexia interventions that didn't help much. Thinking about it now I have never had a pair of glasses returned by someone with whom I have discussed their vision.
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<br />You can not tell me that when you were working with children yourself that you didn't sometime have thoughts after the first interview that that child wasn't going to do well with your intervention.
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<br />My problem is with people who oversell their dyslexia interventions and drain out all the available money from non-responders so they end up stopping their hopes of finding an intervention that works for them because they go broke. Offer a guarantee and I won't be as harsh.
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<br />The worse possible financial situation someone buying my glasses could be in from trying my glasses is that they would be out the cost of return shipping . Trying your intervention for 3 months would cost $2500 with no guarantee of any help. Take the money and run is your business philosophy right ?
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<br />By the way ,your ignoring fluency and comprehension and assuming that they will develop on their own after the dyslexic learns phonics IMO is missing the point that the faster a dyslexic is helped the better off he or she is. Your program could be better .
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<br /></span>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-76142517594308209752009-04-21T07:11:00.000-07:002009-07-10T22:28:20.541-07:00Adult Dyslexia as a money making machine<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><br /><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pub=hayesatlbch" onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-addthis-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js?pub=hayesatlbch"></script><br /><!-- AddThis Button END --><br /><br />I might just be having a bad week but everywhere I look I see products and services out to rip off adult dyslexics. If you are an adult with reading difficulties and suspect you are dyslexic , let me save you some money by giving you the results of any on line dyslexia test. The results will show you are dyslexic. The reason I say that is by the definition of<span style="font-weight: bold;"> not</span> being a dyslexic , having normal or expected reading skills, the person who is not dyslexic is not going to be taking the dyslexia test.<br /><br />It doesn't even matter if you are dyslexic or not and dyslexia is not the only reason for poor reading skills. Having English as a second language 20 or more years ago or missing a lot of school because you were ill come to mind as common reasons the educational system might have failed for an individual. Simplistic adult dyslexia tests are just going to identify poor readers as being dyslexic.<br /><br />All these dyslexia tests for adults suggest once you know you are confirmed dyslexic it is easy to find a program to help your dyslexia, easy to complete the program and then blue skies forever. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it is just not so. There may be the rare adult program available maybe even free but generally free programs if available are for children.<br /><br />This is where I should be putting the answer to all your dyslexia problems for $29.99, get it today, limited offer and all the other hype for a product that isn't going to help anybody. I don't have such a product.<br /><br />That hasn't stopped others from<span style="font-weight: bold;"> claiming</span> to have the answer. To be fair I haven't reviewed this book but when the normal selling price is over $1 a page I think that it is going to be over priced. Here is the reason for my rant today. <span style="font-weight: bold;">This is not new information !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</span><br /><br />Notice that almost every topic is covered in 1 page. Some pages cover 2 topics. I know that being concise and to the point is a virtue in writing but you can't cover much in a 2-3 page chapter. <span style="font-size:180%;"> Chapters 4, 5,6,7,11,12 ,13,15 are all of 1 page long. </span><br /><br />Look at their P.S. P.P.S. and P.P.P.S . and what they claim you will get from this book. I don't believe it!<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br /><br /><img src="http://curefordyslexia.info/images/dyslexia_cover_b.jpg" alt="how to cure dyslexia" height="285" width="164" /><br /><h1 align="center"><span class="style1"><img src="http://curefordyslexia.info/images/toc.gif" alt="table of contents" height="479" width="497" /></span></h1><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>P.S. Remember when I told you about those tips above? You could be enjoying the freedom from worry right now! Act Today!</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>P.P.S You could be enjoying the freedom and happiness that comes with controlling your dyslexia symptoms....Don't wait another minute! Join the hundreds of others that are completely impressed with the product! </strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>P.P.P.S. After this special pre-launch offer, I will be raising the price tag back up to the original $34.00 price. Advertising online can get very expensive, and I'm not even sure if I can keep this offer up much longer!</strong></span></p><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br /><h2 style="color: rgb(51, 51, 0); font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size:130%;">I assembled these useful links as a resource for dyslexics without visual dyslexia.<br /></span></h2><h2 style="color: rgb(51, 51, 0); font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size:130%;">These links were chosen because they either offer free services or information about dyslexia that is presented in an objective manner.</span></h2><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/links.html">useful links</a></span><br /><h2 style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;">If you are the type of person that thinks something only has value if it costs money you can send me the $29.99 LOL .</span></h2>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-40808269345567566382009-04-20T21:20:00.000-07:002009-04-20T22:55:19.372-07:00Garbage Dyslexia Spam Ravina Reading Center ChicagoI get annoyed sometimes when dyslexia spam fills my mailbox because I have google alerts for dyslexia. The latest is being put out by <span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ravinia</span> Reading Center in Chicago</span></span> and is an article that bashes everyone so that people looking for dyslexia will turn to this source of dyslexia wisdom. I have seen this garbage dyslexia article in about 20 alerts so far. That is about what I usually see on a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> real</span> new dyslexia topic.<br /><br />The title is<a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com"> <span style="font-size:100%;"></span></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><a rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Reputable Dyslexia Clinics Teach Dyslexic Kids and Adults More Effectively than Unspecialized Instructors">Reputable Dyslexia Clinics Teach Dyslexic Kids and Adults More Effectively than <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Unspecialized</span> Instructors</a></span>.<br /><br /><br />Here is their deal . They charge about $100/hour and suggest 2 hours a week all year long . That's $10,000 a year . They are so good at what they do that you can expect the program to last 1,3 or 5 years or until you run out of money.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span>They mention Orton <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Gillingham</span> as a method but say about the center's head<span style="font-weight: bold;">" Dr. Shapiro has elected not to pursue <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">recertification</span> as a Fellow of the Academy."<br /><br /></span>All instructors<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>are<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Speech Language Pathologist .<br /><br /><br />Here is a real gem of useful information." A <span style="font-weight: bold;">pediatrician</span> is often the 1st diagnostician to explore the nature of the problem. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The doctor should figure out if the origin of the difficulty in reading by taking a standard physical examination and interviewing a thorough health history.</span>"<br /><br />So what should the pediatrician do ????<span style="font-weight: bold;"> If indicated, the patient could be referred for {a neurological examination</span> I can only guess that when you take your child for a physical exam to determine why he or she has reading problems he or she can be evaluated for severe head <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">trauma</span> as a cause. <br /><br />Well what to do if the pediatrician and the neurologist have not found the cause of the reading problem????????????????? "<span style="font-weight: bold;">If dyslexia is instead suspected, the doctor should refer the struggling reader for intervention by a speech-language pathologist or needed testing with a specialized tester in learning disabilities</span>."<br /><br />Well what advice can I get from the website about testing ?????????????????????" <span style="font-weight: bold;">No dyslexia test or evidence is necessary to confirm a reading difficulty, other than observed difficulty reading. It’s really that simple.</span>"<br /><br />So let me recap . How should parents find help in Chicago for poor reading children suspected of dyslexia.????????????????? Between the article and the website the answer is to just sign up for the $10,000 a year program no testing needed.<br /><br />I assume that the people expect that having dozens of random blogs ( I suspect paid) post an article with a link back to <span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Ravinia</span> Reading Center in Chicago is enough to get high ranking in the search engines. </span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span>What is funny in my opinion is that local search engine results are easy to get.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>This post will probably end up next to their search engine results.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br />What does the article say about finding dyslexia interventions ?????????????????????????????<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Despite the fact that it’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">spossible</span> to locate good </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.raviniareadingcenter.com/">dyslexia help</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> in most big cities, exercise caution. Ignorant, uneducated practitioners are marketing lies. Some solutions are out there as dyslexia treatments like colored overlays for “dyslexia reading glasses”. If dyslexia tools like these help with any disability or problem, it is surely not dyslexia, and could be nothing more than quack science.</span>"<br /><br />Since I have developed See Right Dyslexia Glasses and market those glasses with a money back guarantee I would usually just comment on the blog posts of articles like this one to set the record straight. Every blog with this article on it has had their comments closed.<br /><br />Visitors to my blog never find closed comments. My blog tries to weed out bad dyslexia information and the article and dyslexia help business in Chicago is as bad as any I have sen in a long time. BTW all the spelling errors are from my copying and pasting from the article or website.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-9978086774965676792009-03-18T13:03:00.000-07:002009-03-20T12:23:42.609-07:00Dyslexia Misunderstood and WhyI have been reading some blogs that try to explain dyslexia in a few paragraphs and it is just impossible. By pointing out some common short cuts that are taken when writing about dyslexia I hope to promote a more careful reading of the material about dyslexia.<br /><br />Dyslexia is very difficult to write about because having individualistic symptoms everything needs to be qualified. I thought I would make a couple of comments about what I have read lately. One recent study is being promoted as" Dyslexia <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Unraveled</span> ". It repeates some generalized meaningless statements.<br /><br />"In fact, most people who have this disability have average to above average intelligence." This is a nice feel good statement that everyone makes but is often taken to mean that people with below average intelligence never have dyslexia.<br /><br />Here is the truth. Because dyslexia is easier to detect in people with higher <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">IQ's</span> ,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> diagnosed dyslexics generally have a average or higher IQ.</span><br /><br />Many definitions of dyslexia also have a cut off on the low end of the IQ scale where reading difficulties can't be attributed to dyslexia or low IQ because reading standards for low IQ individual don't exist. <span style="font-weight: bold;"> If you remove low IQ people from consideration as dyslexics of course the remaing dyslexics will tend to have average or higher IQ's</span><br /><br />While the feel good statement is important to help dyslexics know that their reading problems are not generally caused by being stupid or slow it does direct the effort to identify dyslexics away from people with lower <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">IQ's</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Those unidentified lower IQ dyslexics would also benefit from help so the feel good statement also does quite a bit of harm also.</span><br /><br />Consider that the following 2 statements are<span style="font-weight: bold;"> both true and add nothing of value to understanding of what a person is.</span> Note: the reason both statements can be true is that average people are included and counted in both groups.<br /><br />1) <span style="font-weight: bold;">People</span> generally have average or HIGHER than average <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">IQ's</span>.<br /><br />2) <span style="font-weight: bold;">People</span> generally have average or LOWER than average IQ'.<br /><br />Here is a statement that is true for both dyslexics and people .<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dyslexics , in common with people </span>, may have lower,higher or average <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">IQ's</span> and as far as science has been able to determine <span style="font-weight: bold;">dyslexics do not differ from people in respect to IQ.</span><br /><br />I submit that the statement "In fact, most people who have this disability have average to above average intelligence." is true but also misleading and has<span style="font-weight: bold;"> the potential to divert attention away from dyslexics of lower IQ causing them to be under represented and ignored. </span>This harm very well offsets<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>the advantage of being a feel good statement.<br /><br />My niche is visual dyslexia so I have to make another comment about another common statement used to define define as being <span style="font-weight: bold;">"often exemplified by reversing letters and the order of letters in a word."</span>. Another true statement but not really helpful in understanding dyslexia and reversing letters only adds confusion because so many people with and without dyslexia reverse letters when writing is first encountered and beginning to be mastered.<br /><br />Early on in school people often reverse letters. This behavior in dyslexics continues longer than it does in people without dyslexia. Early on , because people without dyslexia outnumber those that do, indeed the group of those who reverse letters can have fewer dyslexics than non dyslexics.<br /><br />There are standards of ranges of how many reversals are common at different ages with the behavior being extinguished in those without dyslexia usually by the second grade.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Without the qualification of age and rate of </span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">occurrence</span>, reversing letters as a description of dyslexia is useless and I suspect causes many parents to worry that they have dyslexic children when they do not. Again a counter productive description of dyslexia because it is not qualified.<br /><br />There are other visual problems , such as seeing vibrating text as an example, that are useful in identifying visual dyslexia because they are not common in the non dyslexic population. Adult visual dyslexics can usually describe their visual problems . Children will often be able to describe their visual problems if how they see the page is discussed. More information about visual dyslexia can be found at www.dyslexiaglasses.com .<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> About 10% of dyslexics have visual dyslexia as a primary and sole cause of reading difficulties.</span> Most dyslexics have no visual problems and a poorly defined % have both visual and language processing problems.<br /><br />Which brings us to .<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Once a child is diagnosed, studies have shown that </span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">multi sensory</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> learning techniques have helped children with dyslexia a great deal"</span><br /><br />All dyslexia intervention techniques have non responders. Because <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">multi sensory</span> instruction does address the most common dyslexia problems it has been proven to be effective for a majority of dyslexics. If no specifics are known except that a person is dyslexic, then in a statistical way it can make sense to use multi sensory instruction. It would be better to try to identify a dyslexic's individual problems and focus the intervention on his or her specific problems.<br /><br />Visual dyslexics are not going to be have their visual problems addressed by multi sensory instruction. There are also some additional dyslexia related problems that are not addressed that may require different techniques.<br /><br />We have found the cause of dyslexia or not ! There are 2 major sources of the " cause of dyslexia found". There have been many fMRI studies that have imaged many different areas of the brain to compare dyslexics and non dyslexics. Most have been reported to have identified the cause of dyslexia from a single area of the brain. To date all the studies have had the same result of seeing differences between groups of dyslexics and non dyslexics but with enough overlap of results that individuals can not be identified as dyslexic or not.<br /><br />If you take the time to read all the fMRI studies and treat them as a single study you would have a much clearer understanding of what the present fMRI research data is telling us.<br /><br />The following statements seem to be true.<br /><br />In general every dyslexic will not show positive results in every area of the brain studied.<br /><br />Ever area of the brain studied will show that<span style="font-weight: bold;"> some of the dyslexics have problems</span> related to that area.<br /><br />Every area of the brain studied will show that<span style="font-weight: bold;"> some of the dyslexics do not have problems</span> related to that area.<br /><br />The conclusion that seems reasonable is<br /><br />Different dyslexics have different problems and those problems are related to different areas of the brain. It seems likely that individual dyslexics can have an assortment of problems that are individualistic. It also seems likely that the severity of a dyslexic's reading difficulty will be reflected by differences in severity in the individual areas of the brain wher his or her problems exists.<br /><br />Another common source of " the cause of dyslexia is found" is from personal accounts that basically say " I am dyslexic , this is my problem, so this is what dyslexia is. ". This personal account often results in an intervention based on that belief and you would expect that intervention to be successful for the % of dyslexics that do indeed have that particular problem and a failure for those dyslexics without that problem.<br /><br />Ron Davis, "Dyslexia is a Gift" and believes dyslexia problems are caused by the fact that dyslexics think in pictures is one example. The Dore method that promotes a physical exercise program as a cure for dyslexia is another example. Both of these examples claim that their method will help all dyslexics.<br /><br />Until techniques are developed to identify an individual dyslexic's weaknesses and also identify the best interventions matched to each of them so that the most effective individual plan can be developed, much time and money is going to be wasted .<br /><br />As I said , my niche is helping visual dyslexics that can describe visual problems that make reading difficult. More information can be found at the<a href="http://dyslexiaglasses.com/"> visual dyslexia solution</a> where I sell See Right Dyslexia Glasses.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-90082276724674269562009-01-24T21:29:00.000-08:002009-01-24T22:59:17.887-08:00Visual dyslexia videos<span style="font-size:130%;">Without getting too technical, the visual noise that causes visual dyslexia is generated by a finite group of wavelengths of light . A particular dyslexic may be adversely affected by one or more wavelengths from that finite group. Different dyslexics may be affected by different wavelengths but they will all be from that finite group.<br /><br />The good news is that by filtering out all the wavelengths of light from that group at the same time a universal visual dyslexia filter has been developed that can remove all the visual noise for all visual dyslexics . This filter is used for the lenses of <a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolution.html">See Right Dyslexia Glasses</a> and is effective at removing all the visual problems for all visual dyslexics.<br /><br />Visual dyslexia exists across a spectrum from mild to severe and it is impossible to depict the variations of severity or all the different manifestations of visual distortions that visual noise causes and how the individual brain responds to that visual noise.<br /><br />I have collected a few <a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.citymax.com/visual_problem_video.html">visual dyslexia videos</a> and posted them on my web site where they are easier to view than here. Together they give a fair picture or representation of the types of visual problems that cause difficulty reading for visual dyslexics.</span>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-91489045444996257862008-11-11T05:11:00.000-08:002008-11-11T08:18:31.659-08:00Multiple Deficit Theory of DyslexiaTry as I might I haven't been able to make popular the idea of dyslexia as a syndrome. Syndrome being a term that has major essential aspects which all people must have to be considered having the dyslexia syndrome after proper reading instruction. Poor reading skills ,lack of fluency,slow inaccurate reading and poor comprehension seem to be common to all dyslexics and could be considered major essential parts. A dyslexia syndrome also has minor aspects <span style="font-weight: bold;">that may or may not affect the individual</span> and usually make up a laundry list of symptoms.<br /><br />reading below grade level<br />trouble rhyming words<br />oral word confusion<br />short term memory problems<br />poor spelling<br />Bothered by glare on print<br />see text in motion<br />left and right confusion<br />auditory problems<br />poor phonemic understanding<br />reversing letters in words<br />writing letters backward after third grade<br />slow naming of pictures<br />delayed speech<br /><br />and many more minor essentials would usually be included in the list. Most of you reading this have seen similar lists. If anyone wants to comment and have other minor essentials added to the list I will, but that is not the point of this post.<br /><br />Failing to make the dyslexia syndrome popular as a way of understanding why dyslexics are different from each other and need interventions based on their individual problems, like a thief in the night, I am going to steal new terminology, modify it, and hopefully come up with terminology that the public can use to discuss the subject of dyslexia in a more comprehensive way .<br /><br />My opinion is the the issue of dyslexia needs a paradigm shift , A paradigm is a system of belief<br />based on an individuals personal knowledge and assumptions. It is a way of looking at situations. Your personal paradigm about particular issues actually colors your opinions and behaviors.<br /><br />I am sure I need to have an example of a paradigm shift to show how changing a paradigm can be powerful. Many people have the paradigm that the homeless are lazy,dirty ,thieving,drug addicted alcoholics that wouldn't work even if they had the chance and so helping them is futile .<br /><br />A different paradigm might include different facts such as a large % of the homeless are veterans who suffered post traumatic stress syndrome from being exposed to horrors in war defending or country, others are hard working family people who have lost their jobs through layoffs, and some are single mother families with children who are on the street because of financial hardships that they had no control over. We can also expect a large increase in homeless from people that we actually know due to the financial depression we are having in our country. Many people are only a paycheck or medical problem away from being homeless. The conclusion from this paradigm is that many homeless are not that different from us and so are deserving of help and that with help they may indeed recover and leave the homeless population.<br /><br />The second paradigm does not exclude that the first paradigm is partly true. There are indeed some homeless that will always be homeless for different reasons. The second paradigm does try to expand our thoughts and can change people's behavior to some degree. Perhaps they might consider voting for rather than against some homeless laws to protect the homeless. If nothing else, having more information is likely to help people make better informed decision about the homeless.<br /><br />Back to dyslexia. I have posted before about how people tend to report about dyslexia as if it has a single cause. I propose that we now call that the Single Deficit Theory. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">SDT</span> (single deficit theory ) has been pretty common to describe dyslexia and some ore used to base <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">SDT</span> interventions.<br /><br />The Dore Method <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">SDT</span> dyslexia is based on brain structure problems that can be helped by exercise programs .<br /><br />Ron Davis Method <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">SDT</span> dyslexia is based on the fact that dyslexics think in pictures.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Irlen</span> method <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">SDT</span> dyslexia reading problems are based by their sensitivity to a single color<br /><br />Timing problems in the brain <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">SDT</span> dyslexia problems are caused by slow processing in the brain<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Phonoogicial</span> problems <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">SDT</span> dyslexics have problems associating sounds with letters<br /><br />Auditory processing problems <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">SDT</span> problems differentiating individual sounds<br /><br />Language processing problems <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">SDT</span> problems in the word formation part of the brain<br /><br />Executive processing problems <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">SDT</span> problems sequencing thoughts<br /><br />Short Term Memory Problems <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">SDT</span> problems with short time memory as the cause of dyslexia<br /><br />MRI areas of the brain <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">SDT</span> every area of the brain associated with reading visual,auditory,<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">phonemic</span>,language processing,word formation etc has each has its day as the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">SDT</span> of dyslexia<br /><br />See Right Dyslexia Glasses <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">SDT</span> for the 10% of dyslexics that can describe specific visual problems that make reading difficult.<br /><br />There are many more <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">SDT's</span> about dyslexia. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">obvious</span> lack in all is they have is that none account for all the different problems that dyslexics express as why individuals with dyslexia have problems reading fluently with good comprehension.<br /><br />I read a post the other day about the concept of the Double Deficit Theory of dyslexia. The position was that while the author used to believe in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">SDT</span> of phonological problems she saw dyslexics that had no phonological problems still having reading difficulties She thought by adding delayed time processing problems and calling that the DDT she could now describe all dyslexics as having phonological and or delayed processing problems.<br /><br />I see the DDT as still lacking as a final description of what problems all individual dyslexics have.<br /><br />My first thought was that be DDT lacked any acknowledgement that some dyslexics have visual problems that make reading difficult and there needed to be at least a Triple Deficit Theory or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">TDT</span>. My second thought, seconds later, was that it was unlikely that even a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">TDT</span> was going to be able to accurately describe dyslexia.<br /><br />This is why I am proposing the paradigm shift to the Multiple Deficit Theory of dyslexia or MDT. The value of the paradigm shift to include MDT rather than DDT or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">SDT</span> is this. If you are looking for dyslexia help and the person you see believes in a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">SDT</span> , say phonological problems,<br />then your are tested for phonological problems and any positive results for phonological problems are defined as being your dyslexia problems and any intervention is based on helping you overcome those phonological problems only. No other dyslexia <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">problerms</span> are looked for ,evaluated or have interventions available at that location.<br /><br />On the other hand if someone believes in the MDT of dyslexia then while phonological problems will probably be evaluated and intervention recommended that will not be the end of the process. Perhaps auditory processing will be evaluated next and intervention recommended if needed. Perhaps executive decision making and short term memory evaluations would follow with <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">recommendations</span> that interventions would or would not be needed in those areas. To be complete I would recommend visual testing for visual dyslexia and if problems are found that See Right Dyslexia Glasses are considered if necessary.<br /><br />If you are out in the woods and want to have a fire and only consider that fires are made from big logs, when you return with only big logs you are going to have trouble making that fire. Call that Single Object Fire. Double Object Fire might include matches also. A Multiple Object Fire might also include an ax, dry grass, fire pit, rocks for fire pit, pine cones, bucket of water, cell phone, small dry branches, chairs, cooler with drinks,book to read, snacks, friends, music, permit or other objects as well. Few people will need all the Multiple Objects to make their fire just as most dyslexics only need help with a few different problems but only by considering that their problems need to be identified from an all inclusive list rather than than an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">SDT</span> or DDT to start their reading fire.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-85721432532967554692008-10-29T20:16:00.000-07:002010-04-28T15:47:14.352-07:00Educational Neuroscience Dyslexia and Special Educational Needs<p>Too many people think that researchers have already found all the answers to why people are dyslexic by studying the brain. The following article is much broader than my usual focus on visual dyslexia. For those that really want to understand what has and has not been discovered in the field of neuroscience as pertains to dyslexia and special educational needs I think this states the information as well as anything I have read on the web.</p><p>It also inplies support for what I have long believed , that the individual educational problems that need to be worked on for the individual are not going to be identified anytime in the near future by imaging techniques. Pen and pencil and verbal type testing is much more likely to produce indications of specific skill deficiencies that need to be addressed for educational success.</p><p>While being able to describe visual problems that make reading difficult is a start in being able to define visual dyslexia, I am finding that some dyslexia evaluations are starting to include visual testing also and finding co-existing visual and non-visual problems with much success in removing the visual dyslexia problems with See Right Dyslexia Glasses.<br />
</p><p><span style="font-family:verdana, courier new,courier,tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://mail2web.com/cgi-bin/redir.asp?lid=0&newsite=http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/educational-neuroscience-where-are-we-3675">http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/educational-neuroscience-where-are-we-3675</a> > </span></p><p>Are advances in brain sciences useful to the field of education? Dr Jodi <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Tommerdahl</span> looks at whether breakthroughs in our knowledge of how the human brain works can provide insight into how children learn, particularly in the area of SEN, and, if so, what’s taking so long?</p><p><strong><br />
</strong></p><p><strong>The rise of educational neuroscience</strong></p><p>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-43440075201807730402008-10-13T08:23:00.000-07:002008-10-13T09:58:22.214-07:00Misleading Dyslexia Headlines<h2 class="tv12red padtb5 mzero"><b> Research Finds Genetic Causes Behind Dyslexia</b></h2> <center> </center>That's the headline . It <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">doesn't</span> really say that in the article. Dyslexia reporting is often of this poor quality. I was put off by their calling dyslexia a disease but I did some research and did find that some sources include genetic defect as a definition of disease. That isn't the most common use in English but I can't say it is wrong just that many will not be familiar with how they are using the term disease.<br /><br />This isn't a shout it out from the rooftops moment but I like the direction of the research. It is new, fresh and based on a different way of developing what may be a cost effective dyslexia identification method for a majority of dyslexics.<br /><br />This is what the article says that relates to the headline. My analysis of the value of the research follows. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"We are trying to find out which genes cause the disease. A predisposition to dyslexia could be detected by a </span><a id="KonaLink2" target="_new" class="kLink" style="text-decoration: underline ! important; position: static; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.medindia.com/news/Research-Finds-Genetic-Causes-Behind-Dyslexia-42832-1.htm#"><span style="color: rgb(102, 153, 0) ! important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-weight: 400; font-size: 12px; position: static;color:#669900;" ><span class="kLink" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(102, 153, 0); color: rgb(102, 153, 0) ! important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-weight: 400; font-size: 12px; position: static; background-color: transparent;">genetic </span><span class="kLink" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(102, 153, 0); color: rgb(102, 153, 0) ! important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-weight: 400; font-size: 12px; position: static; background-color: transparent;">test</span></span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> to support affected children appropriately at a very early age," says </span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Arndt</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Wilcke</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, scientist at the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Fraunhofer</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Institute for Cell Therapy and </span><a id="KonaLink3" target="_new" class="kLink" style="text-decoration: underline ! important; position: static; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.medindia.com/news/Research-Finds-Genetic-Causes-Behind-Dyslexia-42832-1.htm#"><span style="color: rgb(102, 153, 0) ! important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-weight: 400; font-size: 12px; position: static;color:#669900;" ><span class="kLink" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(102, 153, 0); color: rgb(102, 153, 0) ! important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-weight: 400; font-size: 12px; position: static; background-color: transparent;">Immunology</span></span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (</span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">IZI</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">) in Leipzig. </span><br /><br />The research focus is based on the structural differences in the dyslexic brain and is trying to determine the genes that cause the structural differences. To date the genetic research has looked at families with a high incidence of dyslexia and found "dyslexia genes " related to those families but have not been successful finding " dyslexia genes" that are universal.<br /><br />These scientists hope to find the gene responsible for the structural differences in the brain which is likely to be more universal to populations of dyslexics. The identification of the particular genes is still years away but their investigation is in a direction that I believe could be successful. By the time they identify the gene ( or genes) the cost of genetic testing should be relatively inexpensive. The cost of genetic testing continues to drop as new techniques are<br />developed and more labs have the capability to run the tests.<br /><br />One down side of medical testing for dyslexia is that if 10% of the population is dyslexic then 10 people need to be tested to identify 1 dyslexic and the effective cost is 10 times the cost of the test. That is why even if fMRI testing finally becomes able to identify individual dyslexics it will never be used as a screening method.<br /><br />It must be recognized that all dyslexics that take part in dyslexia studies have been identified as dyslexic by pen and paper tests and personal evaluations. As much of the testing can be done in stages eliminating many as not dyslexic early on at little cost , it may be that what is missing from dyslexia screening is not a new method but rather the failure to use the screening methods available on all our children.<br /><br />Perhaps the best headline we could<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>hope for is not a new medical breakthrough in medical testing but<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Federal Government Mandates and Pays for Dyslexia Screening for All Children!!!!!!!!</span>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-75300303091767283232008-10-12T07:37:00.000-07:002008-10-12T09:57:38.783-07:00When Should Dyslexics Try Visual InterventionVisual dyslexia only affects about 10% of dyslexics as the primary cause of their reading problems and so it is seldom the first thought about what intervention is needed. While that is as it should be , I don't think that it should only be considered after spending much time and money on interventions and concluding that the final results fall below what could be reasonably expected from those interventions.<br /><br />To muddle things up more, there are perhaps another 20% of dyslexics who co-mingle visual and more prevalent language and auditory processing problems. As these dyslexics show the typical early speech and communication problems so common to dyslexia they are likely to be enrolled in whatever the local community has deemed the answer to dyslexia without visual problems ever being considered.<br /><br />People tend to believe their own senses and assume whatever they experience is normal. This is particularly true in children. Depending on the age of the child, visual problems can sometimes be determined by discussions about their vision. Being extremely near sighted all my life my Ah-ha moment came when I went to school with my first pair of glasses. I found that my teacher was not doing her usual arm waving dance up front while explaining things by the black board but was actually writing on the black board. I had no idea . It occurred to me later that if someone had asked how well I could read the blackboard I would have answered " read what?". I also remember my first eye exam and the first question . What direction is the E pointing? my answer " what E ?". My mother almost screamed THAT E ON THE WALL , "what E? I said.<br /><br />My point being that , at least for me , as a child I thought my vision was normal . My fuzzy little world where only things closer than my outstretched arm were clear was normal. Later in life I realized that any discussion about my vision would have revealed its flaws.<br /><br />My criteria for whether the<a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolution.html"> </a><a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolution.html">See Right Dyslexia Glasses</a><a href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com.html/"> </a>will help visual dyslexics is: can the visual dyslexic describe specific visual problems that make reading difficult. That works well for adults. Children can often answer questions about how they see the page that indicate problems that to them seems normal. Are all the words clear ,sharp , in focus , stable or in motion, and look uniform?<br /><br />I am going to add another indication of visual dyslexia for children that parents can check. It is not universal but often can be used as an indication of visual dyslexia. If by changing font size on the computer the child's fluency improves with increasing size then a visual problem may be indicated.<br /><br />As some visual dyslexics experience problems even with the large print in first grade books it may be impossible to both increase the size and have enough words to read for a fair test for all.<br />It is a better test for those visual dyslexics that only started to have their problems about third grade when print size in their school books gets smaller. It might also be helpful to stop near a billboard with very large print and ask if the print looks the same as that in their books.<br /><br />A careful observer can often listen to a child's speech and determine if any language or auditory processing problems are likely to lead to reading problems and need to be addressed. In an ideal world discussions about vision and how a child see the written word would also be included. As visual dyslexia is unlikely to produce any noticeable problems before school age it is important to at least have a discussion about their vision if reading problems occur.<br /><br />Visual intervention should be tried when there is an indication that visual problems with seeing the printed page are present. As See Right Dyslexia Glasses have a money back guarantee they are a low financial risk and are very effective in removing visual dyslexia associated visual problems.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-36386740289821985922008-02-09T23:35:00.000-08:002008-02-09T23:41:17.637-08:00Dyslexia V's Visual DyslexiaDyslexia and <a href="http://dyslexiaglasses.com/visual_dyslexia_symptoms_help.html">visual dyslexia </a>result in the same types of reading difficulties. Slow, inaccurate reading that results in poor comprehension of written material is common to both dyslexia and visual dyslexia.<br />Dyslexia and visual dyslexia are both information processing problems but have different causes. The different causes require different interventions.<br /><br />Dyslexia or Visual Dyslexia ?<br /><br />The problem is how someone can determine if an individual's problem results from dyslexia or visual dyslexia.<br /><br />The most common research based theory of dyslexia is that it is a brain structure problem that interferes with processing the auditory and phonemic information in a normal manner.<br /><br />This often shows up in speech and comprehension of speech difficulties prior to exposure to reading.This is the child who mixes up words, has trouble with rhyming and sometimes following directions. The inaccurate processing of speech makes learning to read a battle which leads to poor fluency, accuracy and comprehension. When asked to describe a page of print the response from a dyslexic is a clear, focused, uniform and stable page. This indicates that their problem is not visual.<br /><br />Visual dyslexia is not an auditory or phonemic processing problem.<br /><br />The visually dyslexic child does not have the speech problems associated with dyslexia of mixing up words, rhyming or following directions. His or her problems show up when difficulties with the visual aspects of reading are<br />encountered.<br /><br />Moving words, missing, transposed or reversed letters and an assortment of other visual problems are what the visually dyslexic child has to battle. When asked how the words on a page look the result is quite different for the visually dyslexic child than the dyslexic child.<br /><br />I could read if only the words would stop moving or if the words would always look the same are common complaints for the visually dyslexic child.<br /><br />Visual dyslexics have trouble with reading because they have trouble seeing what is written. With the See Right Dyslexia Glasses all the words on the page will be stable, uniform and in focus. That is why they are called the visual dyslexia solution.<br />Reading errors caused by visual problems will be eliminated with the See Right Dyslexia Glasses. The visual dyslexic will no longer have to slow down or stop to guess at words. This results in an immediate increase in reading speed, fluency and accuracy.<br />Spelling will also improve over time as having an accurate visual memory of words makes them easier to remember.<br /><br />Dyslexia and Visual Dyslexia may co-exist.<br /><br />When dyslexia and visual dyslexia co-exist it may still be beneficial to have the visual problems removed by the See Right Dyslexia Glasses. If a dyslexic can also describe a visual problem that makes reading difficult that visual problem will still be removed by the glasses. While not a complete solution he or she will no longer have to battle both types of problems when reading.<br /><br /><a class="" href="http://dyslexiaglasses.com/See_Right_Dyslexia_Glasses.html">More about See Right Dyslexia Glasses </a>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-21717320326209732042007-07-18T09:55:00.000-07:002007-07-18T12:02:30.790-07:00MRI Screening for DyslexiaI recently read an article where a researcher concluded that by using both reading skill tests and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">fMRI</span> tests together that the identification of dyslexics would be improved. This seemed to be greeted with the usual enthusiasm from the public that is looking for the magic bullet that is going to be able to finally identify dyslexics so that appropriate help can be arranged. It seems to be reasoned that as the identification of dyslexics has already been mandated by law in many states that the states will pay for any method that works.<br /><br />I don't think that even the MRI researchers themselves believe that there will ever be routine MRI scanning procedures to identify potential dyslexics in the general population. Who would pay for it ? Genetic testing suffers from the same problems. First of all, both are medical procedures, and under existing conditions that means that either the insurance companies would have to include that as a benefit ( not likely ) or the individual would have to pay. Neither are cost effective methods for the identification of dyslexics.<br /><br />Consider this. If the 5-10% of the population that is dyslexic could be identified by a test, then the effective cost of identifying 1 dyslexic will be 10 to 20 times the cost of the test. If an MRI evaluation costs $2000 then the identification of 1 dyslexic would be $20,000 -40,000.<br /><br />The reason the researcher in the article said that a combination of MRI and a reading skills test together would increase the ability to identify a dyslexic is that MRI tests alone can not identify individual dyslexics at this time. Only differences between groups of dyslexics and non dyslexics are reported with so much overlap that individuals can not be put into either group with certainty. It does seem to be almost a cheat if ( as far as MRI goes ) to find that someone has good reading skills and so can be removed from the group with dyslexic looking scans and put into the group of non dyslexics or moving someone into the group of dyslexics from the non dyslexic looking scans because of poor results on a reading skills test.<br /><br />I can understand the frustrations of going into a study with the preconceived idea that a particular part of the brain is going to be able to identify whether a person is dyslexic or not and having the results only be able to tell the difference between groups of dyslexics and non dyslexics. What I really can not understand is the continued fixation with only focusing on one part of the brain for each study.<br /><br /><br /><p>Common knowledge is that different dyslexics have different dyslexic symptoms. Some dyslexics seem to have auditory problems where they have difficulty hearing the difference between sounds. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">fMRI</span> studies have determined that this occurs in one part of the brain and when studied the standard results of being able to determine differences between groups of dyslexics and non dyslexics but not individually dyslexic or non dyslexic is found. Some dyslexics seem to have problems making words from letters. This word forming part of the brain has been studied by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">fMRI</span> studies with the same standard result......................I get tired of writing it all out.................................different groups...............................not able to identify individuals. Some dyslexics have visual processing problems. Again the visual center is identified with the same result............................groups ....................not individuals. Some dyslexics have problems with the meanings of words. Word processing area of the brain identified same <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">fMRI</span> results ...........................groups ....................................not individuals.</p><p>Now I suspect that some of you know where I am going with this but I am going to spell it out anyway. Some dyslexics may have problems in all the above areas to different degrees but most function adequately in some areas. Not all dyslexics have auditory problems and so for those dyslexics their results of being in a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">fMRI</span> study focused on the auditory area of the brain would likely result in a similar analysis as non dyslexics. There are dyslexics without word processing problems that can't be identified by looking at only the word processing area. Dyslexics without visual problems that can't be identified by looking at only the visual processing area of the brain by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">fMRI</span>.</p><p>Now as far as overlap going the other way I am going to use an analogy. Many dyslexics are poor spellers. There must be a spelling part of the brain. Some very good readers are also poor spellers. Any <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">fMRI</span> study that only had a focus on the spelling part of the brain to identify dyslexics would expect to see the same standard results....................groups ...................not individuals.</p><p>I am not saying that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">fMRI</span> research into dyslexia is worthless. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">useful</span> information that is being developed by looking at specific areas of the brain is just not ever going to develop into a identification screening procedure for dyslexia by looking at one brain site. I predict that at some point <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">fMRI</span> may be used to determine what specific areas are problem areas for a particular already diagnosed dyslexic so that an intervention may be developed that most <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">effectively</span> addresses his or her dyslexic problem/s.<br /> </p><p>The economics of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">fMRI</span> evaluation for the best intervention selection for a diagnosed dyslexic could turn out to be very favorable for the people that can afford $20,000-30,000 a year for dyslexia intervention. Spending $2,000-4,000 to custom design the intervention based on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">fMRI</span> results could be cost effective.<br /></p><p>A more reasonable future screening process for dyslexia from the general population would include some skill tests and include a family's IQ and educational history along with a questionnaire about their reading habits and other questions that might be found to be helpful such as how well oral directions are followed. The goal should be to identify not only dyslexics but all who are likely to need extra help developing reading skills. Some screening tests already exist and are possibly something that could find funding from educational budgets.<br /><br />My niche in dyslexia is for the minority of dyslexics that describe visual problems such as jumping or missing letters that make reading difficult for them. I sell dyslexia glasses that remove described visual problems at <a title="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/" href="http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/">http://www.dyslexiaglasses.com/</a> . I follow most mainstream dyslexia research and am amazed at the hype that is generated as if dyslexia is caused by a single factor and that the answer has been found. I am also concerned that the % of poor readers is so much higher than any estimate of dyslexics and conclude that the educational system is failing many when it comes to teaching the skills needed to read.</p><br /><br />MRI studies have their place in generating information about dyslexia but are not ever going to be used for evaluation on a widespread scale because the cost of testing all the non dyslexics would also need to be absorbed.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-41079494082468070722007-02-15T09:44:00.000-08:002007-02-15T13:56:57.107-08:00Dyslexia and High Intelligence a Common BeliefI have posted on a couple of sites lately that there is no scientific data that indicates that dyslexics have normal to above average intelligence . Diagnosed dyslexics do have average or above average intelligence not because dyslexics have average or above average intelligence in general but because lower intelligent dyslexics are harder to identify and so never enter the group of diagnosed dyslexics that is used for all comparisons to non dyslexics.<br /><br />While below average dyslexics may be harder to identify that does not mean they could not be helped by proper intervention. The result of this false belief is that dyslexics that could be helped are never identified.<br /><br />After searching the Internet , I have found why this is such a common belief.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Everybody says so</strong> - </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> A review of many pages of dyslexia web sites indicates that almost all say dyslexics have normal or above normal intelligence. ( This seems to be enough for some people but I usually require at least anecdotal evidence )</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>By Definition - </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Dyslexia is considered a learning disability in the Federal Register under Public Law 94-142. As with other learning disabilities covered under this law, dyslexia involves what is called an exclusionary diagnosis. That is, instead of describing characteristics directly, the definition <strong>describes all the conditions that must be ruled out (e.g., low IQ,</strong> physical handicaps, environmental factors, etc.) before making a diagnosis<strong>.</strong> ( This carries more weight than everybody says so. This is a case of I say so and I make the rules. The agenda here seems to be to limit who will be able to get added money from school resources.)</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>There are other definitions for dyslexia and learning disabilities. I tend to think this next source's agenda is more directly related to scientific reality.</strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br />The term "learning disability" was apparently first used and defined by Kirk (1962, cited in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Streissguth</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Bookstein</span>, Sampson, & Barr, 1993, p.144). The term referred to a discrepancy between a child’s apparent capacity to learn and his or her level of achievement. A review of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">LD</span> classifications for 49 of 50 states revealed that 28 of the states included IQ/Achievement discrepancy criteria in their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">LD</span> guidelines (Ibid., citing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Frankenberger</span> & Harper, 1987). However, the National Joint Committee for Learning Disabilities (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">NJCLD</span>) (1981; 1985) preferred a slightly different definition: "Learning Disability" is a generic term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or mathematical abilities. These disorders are intrinsic to the individual and presumed to be due to Central Nervous System Dysfunction. <strong>Even though a learning disability may occur concomitantly with other handicapping conditions (e.g. sensory impairment, mental retardation, social and emotional disturbance) or environmental influences (e.g. cultural differences, insufficient/inappropriate instruction, psychogenic factors) it is not the direct result of those conditions or influences. </strong><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> <strong>Another reason for believing dyslexics are above average is not that they are but only that they are easier to detect.</strong></span><br /><br />Current National Institutes of Health (NIH) studies estimate the prevalence of this disorder (dyslexia) at 20% of school age children. This means that one in five children have the fears and emotions expressed above. It is by far the most common form of learning disability. In addition, dyslexia affects all <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">socio</span>-economic classes and all races equally (2) <a title="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web1/Gilbert.html#2" href="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web1/Gilbert.html#2">(2)</a>. It affects as many boys as girls <a title="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web1/Gilbert.html#3" href="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web1/Gilbert.html#3">(3)</a>. However, boys are usually spotted more quickly because they tend to exhibit externalizing behaviors such as acting out when doing poorly in school. Consequently the teacher is more likely to look for a problem in a child who is acting out in class rather than one who is quiet. Thus, boys who tend to act out more will be noticed more by the teacher.<br /><strong>As described above, children with the disorder often feel stupid as a result of their constant struggle in school. However, there is no correlation between intelligence and dyslexia. Furthermore it is important to note that phonological abilities do not depend on IQ - the genetic risk can affect learning to read in children of high and of low IQ equally <span style="font-size:130%;">though the problem is easier to detect in those of higher ability who do not show other learning problems</span>. This does not mean however, that it will be easy to differentiate at school entry </strong><br /><strong>between children with dyslexia and children at risk of failure because they come to school from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">socio</span>-economically or linguistically disadvantaged backgrounds. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Has anyone actually looked to see if low IQ children would benefit from reading intervention compared to higher IQ children? </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span><br /><br /> There's now evidence from research at York University that shows - contrary to what you might have expected - that children with a low IQ can be helped just as much with reading problems as children with a high IQ, providing it's the right reading programme and providing it's implemented in the right way. <strong>What you might have expected is that children with a low IQ wouldn't progress as quickly as children with a high IQ: but what these studies in York have found, he says, is that they do.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />This isn't a complete review of the subject and I should add that some researchers have looked at dyslexics V's non dyslexics and indeed concluded that dyslexics are of average or above average intelligence. The flaw I see is in those comparisons is that the group of dyslexics does not actually represent all dyslexics but rather diagnosed dyslexics. As the NIH says, the higher intelligent dyslexics are easier to identify and therefore I believe they are over represented in the groups of dyslexics that are compared. If you consider the fact that there also does not seem to be any real difference between the prevalence of dyslexia in boys and girls but more boys are identified as having dyslexia because they seem to act out their frustration more often, then the resulting ,everybody says so , that dyslexia occurs more often in boys than girls starts to be explained in a similar manner.<br /><br />My little niche in the field of dyslexia involves visual dyslexia. I would like to give one anecdotal example of a undiagnosed visual dyslexic who was considered mildly mentally retarded. It is about the saddest waste of potential I have ever experienced. <div> </div><br />Briefly, I accidentally discovered filters that seemed to remove visual problems for a dyslexic back in 1992. After reading all the literature and seeing how badly everyone thought about tinted lenses as a solution I really didn't want to get involved.<br /><br />My girlfriend's son seemed to meet the description of reading below his intelligence level for being dyslexic as he was a 20 years old special ed student and had never written or read a word in his life except his name and still did not know his alphabet. He was classified as being mildly retarded, had cerebral palsy affecting his left side and had some hearing loss.<br /><br />Being bored one day, I thought to see if the filters that later became the See Right Dyslexia Glasses might help Chris. It wasn't readily apparent how to go about that but eventually I tried writing out the alphabet once in order and below that I scrambled the letters. I asked him to match A-A and B-B etc. He could only match 13 of the letters. That did seem to help explain why he never learned his alphabet or to read.<br /><br />After putting on the See Right Dyslexia Glasses he could match all 26 letters and in 3 days he could read the alphabet from flash cards. He wrote his first note to his mother after a week. Since then I have been looking for the research that has been done to conclude that dyslexics are only from the group of average to above average intelligence and I still do not believe it has ever been done.<br /><br />My experience with how Chris responded to the dyslexia glasses motivated me to investigate several subjects. The first was to identify who the See Right Dyslexia Glasses might help and why. The second was to identify why dyslexics were thought to be from the group of people who have average to above average intelligence.<br /><br />15 years later I have the answers to both questions. <a href="http://dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolution.html">The See Right Dyslexia Glasses</a> remove any described visual problem that makes reading difficult for visual dyslexics and so benefit any dyslexic that can describe a visual problem that makes it difficult to read. The myth of why dyslexics are considered to have average or above intelligence is the result of several factors described in this post but does not seem to have any valid support and is a self fulfilling <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">prophecy.</span>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-52256155646629871102007-02-12T10:09:00.000-08:002007-02-12T01:41:21.502-08:00An Example of Sampling Bias in Dyslexia ReportingPre selecting has a long history in dyslexia research. " dyslexics are of average or above average intelligence." is a self fulfilling prophecy because if you look for dyslexics from the group of people having average to above average intelligence to the exclusion of below average intelligence then that is what you find. This technique produces what is called a sampling bias.<br /><br />The following is from an article that suggests that schools need to do a better job teaching dyslexics how to read. That is certainly true. I just do not believe that the example below supports what is inferred from the rest of the article.<br /><br />"Robert Broudo, the Landmark School's headmaster, said the school selects students with strong intellectual ability, even if they have serious reading deficits.<br />It then gives them concentrated help with their reading difficulties, he said, including one-on-one tutoring each day and grouping students by reading ability in each of their classes.<br />The results? About 90 percent of Landmark's graduates go on to college, and all of them passed Massachusetts' state graduation exam last year, compared with 65 percent of special education students elsewhere in the state. "<br /><br />Let me take the above information and look at it differently to see why I suggest the results might not be what it suggests. I will use a group size of 100 as an example.<br /><br />1) Normally 65 special ed students pass the Massachusetts' state graduation exam out of a group of 100.<br /><br />2) Normally 35 special education students do not pass the Massachusetts' state graduation exam college out of a group of 100.<br /><br />3) If you look at the top 50 of the group as indicated by intellectual ability you would expect a higher % to pass the Massachusetts' state graduation exam .<br /><br />4) If you look at the bottom 50 of the group as indicated by intellectual ability you would expect a smaller % to pass the Massachusetts' state graduation exam.<br /><br />5) All 50 passed the Massachusetts' state graduation exam from the top group after intervention.<br /><br />6) If 15 out of 50 passed the Massachusetts' state graduation exam from the bottom group ,a 30% average, then the total would be the same.<br /><br />Is it reasonable to suspect that the rate of passing the Massachusetts' state graduation exam is 100% from the top half and 30% from the bottom half for special education students when the average for the whole group 65% without the intervention? I believe it is.<br /><br />For the intervention to not be indicated as any success by the standard of passing the Massachusetts' state graduation exam , the only thing that would have to be true is that the 35 special education students who did not pass the Massachusetts' state graduation exam all were from the bottom half of the students.<br /><br />I think it is reasonable to suspect that the 35 students who were not going to pass the Massachusetts' state graduation exam were indeed from the bottom half of the group along with 15 students who were going to pass the Massachusetts' state graduation exam.<br /><br />Do I think the intervention was of no value? NO ! Was any information given that would support the value of the intervention? NO !<br /><br />How reading is taught needs to be improved, examples are everywhere in the statistics.That is why I will not say that the intervention had no value. This sloppy example does nothing to give any indication of what type of intervention works or does not work. The standard used, that the selected students did better than average as indicated by passing the Massachusetts' state graduation exam, could have also resulted from the sampling bias of selecting the better students and then comparing the selected group to the average.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-71433249254456062102007-02-12T00:52:00.000-08:002007-02-12T01:37:43.859-08:00Dyslexia is a syndromeA minority of dyslexics have predominantly visual problems and most of these dyslexics surprise their parents and teachers with their difficulty learning to read because they have normal verbal development. When these ( a minority of dyslexics ) describe symptoms such as not being able to read because the letters are moving around to much or there is an amount of time before the next word comes into focus, it is easy to see their problem isn't phonological.<br /><br />The prejudice against visual problems being involved with dyslexia partly is generated by the public response to those overselling the concept that there is a single color for a particular dyslexic that will help their dyslexia. When the evaluation is actually the product being sold there is no recourse when there is failure and no financial reason to limit those tested as the profits are the same for both success or failure.<br /><br />This failure of high priced evaluations to determine a particular color for a particular dyslexic should not result in the conclusion that dyslexics have no visual problems. All the failure does is to make it a financially risky action to try those high priced evaluations.<br /><br />Why then are we reading lately that fMRI studies have now proven that dyslexia is caused by phonological processing areas of the brain? Simply because that is the latest study reported and almost all fMRI studies conclude that they have found the cause.<br /><br />My opinion is that there just doesn't seem to be any glory in concluding that a factor in dyslexia has been found. In fact every part of the brain that involves reading ,when studied by fMRI , shows the same type of results when a group of dyslexics is compared to a group of non dyslexics. The results show differences between groups but have so much overlap that individuals can not be identified as being dyslexic or not.<br /><br />Now, I do not question any of the brain imaging results. I do note the fact that the differences observed ( when looking at any single brain location ) only show up when comparing groups and not individuals.<br /><br />I suggest that the dyslexics in those studies whose results overlap non dyslexics actually have their dyslexia caused by different factors than what is being studied. I suspect that 1 group that skews the results have visual processing problems. This also works in reverse when studying the visual centers by the phonologically impaired.<br /><br />Having a group of dyslexics made from dyslexics that actually have different factors causing their dyslexia would produce the fMRI results that are reported. I think that dyslexia having more than one cause the more reasonable conclusion rather than there is one cause which can not identify a individual as being dyslexic.<br /><br />To consider dyslexia a syndrome and not be constrained by the single cause theory is much more likely to result in arriving at being able to identify a dyslexic by the fMRI method. This would require that several areas of the brain are evaluated for signs of dyslexia and at least might identify those individuals whose cause of dyslexia is able to be evaluated by fMRI data.hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4254308803311332023.post-25308549509939105752007-02-02T06:42:00.000-08:002007-02-02T07:58:23.564-08:00The Visual Dyslexia Solution<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I have a web site where I sell See Right Dyslexia Glasses that claim to remove any described visual problem that makes reading difficult for dyslexics. I used to blog on Jumbled Letters which was for dyslexics but they are no longer in existence.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;">The address for the site is <a href="http://dyslexiaglasses.com/visualdyslexiasolution.html">dyslexiaglasses.com</a> . </span>hayesatlbchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404937694819904773noreply@blogger.com0