Dyslexic? You're not alone...

yslexia is a syndrome of many and varied symptoms affecting over 40 million American children and adults. Many with dyslexia and related learning and attention disorders realize quite early that they are not like their peers. Their learning and coordination or klutzy difficulties often lead to ridicule and/or self-recrimination — leading them to feel dumb and depressed-isolated. As a result, one can only wonder just how many potential creative geniuses — how many Einstein’s and Da Vinci’s — have been stigmatized and pushed aside? All too often, learning-disabled children grow up to be underemployed adults, shunted into routine, dead-end occupations for life. Some have difficulties maintaining families and raising children properly. Many drift into drugs and alcohol — even crime. Their loss and cost to society is incalculable. And tragically, this staggering loss was, and is, preventable!

Since dyslexia is often a self-compensating disorder that can often be overcome with time, effort and understanding, it is crucial to provide dyslexics with success stories of well known individuals so that they don’t give up and indeed persevere. Thus for example, there have been many dyslexics that have made tremendous contributions to mankind. They include famous entertainers, designers, architects, writers, athletes, jurists, physicians, scientists, and political and business leaders.

These successful dyslexics learned to overcome or sidestep their barriers, permitting them to accomplish their dreams and desires. In fact, at times their disorder was found to be a catalyst for success — forcing them to develop and utilize hidden talents. Often, their most crucial "life-saving"characteristic was perseverance. They never gave up no matter how difficult the task before them seemed. Their successful lives, despite dyslexia, shows us that "miracles" can be accomplished so long as dyslexics are encouraged by loving parents and caring teachers to believe in themselves.

An inspiring sample of some self-compensated famous and successful dyslexics follows. But just remember — for every famous or well-known dyslexic, there are thousands and thousands more who have made it, despite their disorder. Sadly, there are millions that have not — that could have!

1. Pablo Picasso

ablo was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain. He was a famous, controversial, and trend-setting art icon. Pablo attended local parochial schools and had a very difficult time. He is described as having difficulty reading the orientation of the letters and labeled a dyslexic, and despite the initial difficulties was able to catch up with the curriculum. However, dyslexia made school difficult and he never really benefited from his education. Dyslexia would trouble Picasso for the rest of his life. Pablo’s father was an art teacher in Malaga, and encouraged Pablo to attend. Pablo enrolled in the school in 1892. Despite the difficulties that his learning disabilities posed, it became clear that Pablo had an incredible talent. From an early age Pablo Picasso had developed the sense of how people wanted to be seen and how others saw them. Over the course of his career he developed a unique sense of beauty and style that seemed to call to people. Pablo painted things as he saw them — out of order, backwards or upside down. His paintings demonstrated the power of imagination, raw emotion, and creativity on the human psyche. As others before him, Pablo Picasso took art to a new level. A prolific painter, some of his famous works includes The Young Ladies of Avigon, Old Man with Guitar, and Guernica.

2.

Tom Cruise

om Cruise was born fighting. He grew up poor, and his family moved around a lot while his father looked for work. Tom never spent a lot of time any one school because the family moved around a lot. Tom, like his mother, suffered from dyslexia and was put into the remedial classes at school. Tom is right handed when writing, but does most things left handed. While Tom was not an academic success, he focused on athletics and competed in many sports. A knee injury derailed his hopes of a promising athletic career. Tom Cruise then spent a year in a Franciscan monastery, but the priesthood was not for him. While in high school, he appeared in a number of plays, and with his mother’s encouragement and support, pursued a career in acting. Tom focused all his energy on developing his acting career, once again revealing his drive and dogged determination. He never let his learning disability stand in the way of his success.

3. Richard Branson

ichard Branson, founder and chairman of London-based Virgin Group, didn't breeze through school. In fact, school was something of a nightmare for him. His scores on standardized tests were dismal, pointing to a dismal future. He was embarrassed by his dyslexia and found his education becoming more and more difficult. He felt as if he had been written off. However, his educators failed to detect his true gifts. His ability to connect with people on a personal level, an intuitive sense of people, was not detected until a frustrated Richard Branson started a student newspaper with fellow student Jonny Gems. The incredible success of the Student was but the start of a richly diverse and successful career. Despite the difficulties and challenges posed by his dyslexia, by focusing on his inner talents, Richard Branson successfully overcame his difficulties. From his first taste of success and believing in himself, Richard Branson never looked back.

3. Leonard Da Vinci

orn in 1452, Da Vinci was sent to Florence in his teens to apprentice as a painter under Andrea del Verrocchio. He quickly developed his own artistic style which was unique and contrary to tradition, even going so far as to devised his own special formula of paint. His style was characterized by diffuse shadows and subtle hues and marked the beginning of the High Renaissance period. Da Vinci dedicated himself to understanding the mysteries of nature, and his insightful contributions to science and technology were legendary. As the archetypal Renaissance man, Leonardo helped set an ignorant and superstitious world on a course of reason, science, learning, and tolerance. He was an internationally renowned inventor, scientists, engineer, architect, painter, sculptor, musician, mathematician, anatomist, astronomer, geologists, biologist, and philosopher in his time. Da Vinci was also believed to suffer from a number of learning disabilities including dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Some believe that the initiation of many more projects than he ever completed suggest that he had attention deficit disorder. Strong evidence in Da Vinci’s manuscripts and letters corroborates the diagnosis of dyslexia. It appears that Leonardo wrote his notes backwards, from right to left, in a mirror image. This is a trait shared by many left-handed dyslexic people. In addition to the handwriting, the spelling errors in his manuscripts and journals demonstrated dyslexia-like language difficulties. Da Vinci overcame his learning disabilities by funneling his creative talents into visual depictions of his thoughts. His creative, analytic, and visionary inventiveness has not yet been matched.

4. Thomas Edison

orn in 1847, Thomas Edison was a brilliant scientist and inventor. He was thrown out of school when he was 12 because he was thought to be dumb. He was noted to be terrible at mathematics, unable to focus, and had difficulty with words and speech. It was very clear, however, that Thomas Edison was an extremely intelligent student despite his poor performance in school. In the late 1860s and early 1870s electrical science was still in its infancy and Thomas Edison was keeping abreast of the latest developments. He was an avid reader of the latest research of the day and frequently contributed articles about new ideas in telegraph design to technical journals. Over the course of his career Edison patented 1,093 inventions. Edison believed in hard work, sometimes working twenty hours a day. He has been quoted as saying, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." Hard work and perseverance helped Thomas Edison focus his keen insight and creative abilities on the development of ingenious tools that have laid the foundation for our modern society.

5.

Jay Leno

ay Leno has worked very hard all his life. A mild dyslexic, he did not do very well in school getting mainly C’s and D’s. Jay, however, was determined to accomplish his goals. Despite his poor grades, he was determined to attend Emerson College in Boston. While told by the admissions officer that he was not a good candidate Jay had his heart set on attending the University and sat outside the admission officers’ office 12 hours a day 5 days a week until he was accepted into the University. Jay credits his dyslexia with enabling him to succeed in comedy. He credits his dyslexia with helping him develop the drive and perseverance needed to succeed in comedy, and life in general.

Whoopi Goldberg

hoopi Goldberg, born Carolyn Johnson, is an outstanding American entertainer, having acted in major motion picture hits like Ghost, Sister Act I and II, Made in America, Jumping Jack Flash, The Color Purple, and Star Trek: Generations. Whoopi had a lot of difficulty in school, but it was not until she was an adult did she learn that she had dyslexia. When Whoopi was growing up, she remembers being called dumb and stupid because she had a lot of problems reading. It was clear to her teachers and family that she was neither slow nor dumb, but had some problem that had not yet been well defined. Despite her dyslexia, Whoopi Goldberg has gone on to have a successful film and television career.

Source : http://www.dyslexiaonline.com/famous/famous.htm

definisi disleksia

Definisi Disleksia

Perkataan disleksia diperkenalkan oleh Profesor Berlin pada tahun 1887, seorang pakar perubatan dan “ophthalmotologist”. Ia adalah gabungan dua perkataan Greek – ‘dys’ iaitu kesukaran dan 'lexia' adalah perkataan.


Kesukaran menggunakan perkataan atau disleksia ialah golongan yang sukar dalam mengenal huruf, membaca, menulis mengeja dan memahami teks bacaan. Ia merupakan ketidakupayaan pembelajaran (masalah pembelajaran) yang khusus (spesifik) dan teruk (sereve learning disability). (Pierangelo, 1996: 171)

Thomson (1990) mendefinisikan disleksia sebagai “masalah perkataan” yang tidak terhad kepada bacaan sahaja tetapi merangkumi masalah ejaan, menulis dan aspek bahasa yang lain.
Word Federation of Neurology (1998) pula menyatakan bahawa disleksia ialah satu ‘disorder’ dalam kanak-kanak yang telah menerima pendidikan biasa, tidak memperolehi kemahiran bahasa, bacaan dan ejaan yang setaraf intelek.



Types of Dyslexia based on Different Functions

Visual dyslexia is the term used for the specific learning disability termed visual processing disorder. This form of dyslexia is the result of immature development of not only the eyes, but the whole process that gets information from the eyes to the brain. Eyes that are not completely developed will send incomplete information to the brain. Incomplete information to the brain then results in poor comprehension of what the child has read, or poor memory of visual information. Sometimes this process results in number and letter reversals and the inability to write symbols in the correct sequence.

Phonological (auditory) dyslexia refers to the specific learning disability termed auditory processing, or the more severe condition termed Auditory Processing Disorder (OPD). This form of dyslexia involves difficulty with sounds of letters or groups of letters. When this form of dyslexia is present, the sounds are perceived as jumbled or not heard correctly. And just as with visual processing, the brain correctly interprets information that it correctly received.


Dyspraxia refers to the learning disability term sensor-motor integration and is a widely pervasive motor condition characterized by impairment or immaturity of the organization of movement, with associated problems of language, perception and thought. Typically, the child in question may be seen to be clumsy and poorly coordinated.
The term dyspraxia is separated into "true dyspraxia" a lifelong condition that responds to some degree to consistent, early, and structured intervention; and “developmental dyspraxia” a matter of neurological immaturity, a delay rather than a deficit that can be resolved over time with appropriate treatment. The problem is that only time determines the difference.

“Verbal praxis” refers to weaknesses observed in the mechanisms of speech production such that articulation is impaired and expressive language is inhibited. Speech production and articulation are not considered learning disabilities, and are addressed by a speech and language therapist.


Dysgraphia is the term given to the most significant educational effects of the condition and refers to an inability to hold or control a pencil so that the correct markings can be made on paper. These symptoms are most commonly seen as poor letter formation in printing, or as poor cursive handwriting skills. As a specific learning disability these symptoms would be identified as immature fine motor development.


Dyscalculia is a lesser known disability, similar and potentially related to dyslexia and developmental dyspraxia. Dyscalculia is an impairment of the ability to solve mathematical problems, usually resulting from brain dysfunction. It occurs in people across the whole IQ range, and sufferers often, also have difficulties with time, measurement, and spatial reasoning. Although some researchers believe that dyscalculia necessarily implies mathematical reasoning difficulties as well as difficulties with arithmetic operations, there is evidence that an individual might not be able to manipulate the numerals in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (or dyscalculia), with no impairment of, or even giftedness in, abstract mathematical reasoning abilities.

Dyscalculia can be detected at a young age and measures can be taken to ease the problems faced by younger students in the same way that dyslexia can be dealt with by using a slightly different approach to teaching. However, dyscalculia is the lesser known of these learning disorders and so is often not recognized.

Effective Teaching Aid

Effective Teaching Aids
(taken from "Pemulihan" class SJK Sam Hap Hin, Kuching)

Teaching aids for primary school are things such as classroom decorations, classroom organizers, activity tools, grammar games and pre-made blank books.

Teaching aids are useful to:

z reinforce what you are saying,

z signal what is important/essential,

z enable students to visualise or experience something that is impractical to see or do in real life,

z engage students’ other senses in the learning process,

z facilitate different learning styles.

Pocket Charts

1. The picture above is our pocket chart.
2. We are using pocket chart to teach the weather (Rainy, Sunny, Windy, Snowy)to the students.
3. There are 4 different pictures with are related to the weather.
4. We might place the words on each different pocket.
5. The students have to place the pictures on the right pocket which correctly describe the word.
(eg. For "Rainy", the student need to place the picture with a girl wearing raincoat next to the word "Rainy").
6. We might use pocket charts for other teaching materials, like food, fruit, animal, etc.

Diagnostic Test

1. What is the definition of diagnostic testing in education?

Diagnostic testing is individually administered tests designed to identify weaknesses in the learning preocesses. Usually these are administered by trained professionals and are usually prescribed for elementary, sometimes middle school, students.


These are two example of Diagnostic Test by our group.

TEST１

-Matching Objects to their shadows-

________________________________________________

TEST 2

-Define and Calculating Shapes-

"There are 4 types of shapes including rectangle, square, triangle and round in the figure. Calculate the shapes and write down the total of the certain shapes."

________________________________________________

TEST 3

________________________________________________

TEST 4

________________________________________________

TEST 5

Speech Language Therapy

1. What Is Speech-Language Therapy?

Speech-language therapy is the treatment for most kids with speech and/or language disorders. A speech disorder refers to a problem with the actual production of sounds, whereas a language disorder refers to a difficulty understanding or putting words together to communicate ideas.


2. Speech Therapy


When there is an underlying medical condition and a speech disorder, speech therapy may be utilized. Prior to the initiation of speech therapy, a comprehensive evaluation of the patient and his or her speech and language potential is generally required before a full treatment plan is formulated.

Speech therapy services should be individualized to the specific communication needs of the patients. It should be provided one-to-one by a speech-language pathologist educated in the assessment of speech and language development, the treatment of language and speech disorders, and the evaluation of people with swallowing disorders. A speech-language pathologist can offer specific strategies, exercises and activities to regain function communication abilities (Kortte and Palmer, 2002).

Before speech therapy is initiated a complete evaluation by the speech-language pathologist should be performed. As part of the evaluation, standardized assessment tests should be used for evaluations to identify and quantify impairment (Kortte and Palmer, 2002): Tests include the following:

Coverage Policy Number: 0177
• Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale (REEL): infants (birth to three years)
• Test of Language Development (TOLD): school-age children
• Porch Index of Communication Ability (PICA): adults
• Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination: adults
• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT): for all ages

For the child with speech delay, the speech/language evaluation may demonstrate that the potential exists that, through speech therapy, the child will reach an age-appropriate level of speech. Some situations for which speech therapy may be appropriate in the prelingual child include: following long-term intubation, chronic otitis media, or after cochlear implant or cleft palate surgery.

A hearing test may also be conducted to determine if the child is experiencing mild hearing loss as a result of transient or persistent ear infections or allergies. Should these conditions be identified, then medical management and monitoring should be used to minimize the effects that this could have on future language learning. Comorbid psychiatric disorders, environmental deprivation, pervasive developmental disorders, mental retardation, autism and selective mutism should all be considered in cases of language delay (Johnson, 2005).

Speech therapy is generally not appropriate for use in prelingual children when there is no identified underlying medical condition or there is no possibility of the child reaching an age-appropriate level of speech (e.g., autism, pervasive developmental disorders developmental delay or mental retardation; the inability to construct sentences, stuttering or tongue thrust) (Johnson, 2005; Bressmann, 2005; Kroll, 2005).

Documentation of the proposed treatment should include all of the following:
• findings of the speech evaluation, including motor and expressive results
• short- and long-term measurable goals, with expectations for progress
• specific treatment techniques and/or exercises to be used during this treatment
• determination of how the goals will be measured and reported every two weeks
• expected duration of therapy for goals to be met
• documented strategy to transition this supervised therapy to a patient-administered or caregiver-directed maintenance program


Before continuing speech/language services, the results of these patient-specific measures should demonstrate that the individual is consistently improving and that a plateau (i.e., where no additional meaningful improvements are being measured or are expected to occur) has not been reached. Once the individual has reached their goals or a therapeutic plateau has been reached, then ongoing therapy becomes maintenance in nature.


The use of group therapy is not one-on-one, individualized to the specific patient needs. Services that are provided by speech therapists and occupational therapists may overlap (Michaud, et al., 2004). Speech therapy that is being provided as part of an occupational training program is considered duplicative in nature.

Flashcards

Introduction

1. A picture flashcard represents a particular vocabulary item that you want to introduce.
2. It can be an object, an animal, an adjective, a character, a place, an action, etc.
3. We can represent anything on a flashcard, provided there’s no ambiguity in what is represented !
4. Uses of Flashcards:
a. To teach vocabulary
b. to practise vocabulary
c. for reading and writing practice


Now, we will be discussing the uses of flashcards into more detail.


A. TO TEACH VOCABULARY

A flashcard is meant to be seen by the whole class and will be held up by the teacher. If necessary, in larger groups, the teacher may have to walk around the room to show the flashcard to the pupils.

To present vocabulary, hold up a flashcard, saying the word clearly with and without the indefinite article :

« Look. A pencil.
Pencil.
A pencil. »


Say the word clearly two or three times while the pupils listen.

They then repeat the word several times after you : use words and gesture to get them to repeat the word. Then, ask individual pupils to say it.

Teacher :Now say it after me.
A balloon.
Class : a pencil.
Teacher : Again
Class : a pencil
Teacher : Robin
Joseph : a pencil




B. TO PRACTISE VOCABULARY

All these activities can be done to practise vocabulary you’ve just taught or to reinforce it . We’re just giving some here, you can obviously devise many more !

1. Hold the flashcard asking « what is this ? » or « is this a ball ? », expecting « a balloon », « No. It’s a balloon ».

2. Hold up the flashcard and get pupils to say the word without saying anything yourself. The pupil who says the word first wins the card.

3. Hold up the flashcard but let pupils see only part of the picture and ask them to guess what it is as you remove the covering sheet little by little.

4. Put the flashcards on the board and ask pupils to point to the picture of the word you say.

5. Put the flashcards on the board and say the words for all the cards in the set except one. The pupil who says the word first wins the card.

6. The teacher names a flashcard. Pupils must do a simple mime or gesture to represent the item on the flashcard.

7. Give some cards to the pupils, and ask them to hold up their picture when they hear the right word.

8. Pupils stand in a line. Give one card to the last pupil in the line. Pupils, starting from this last one, must whisper the word up the line to the first person, who says it.


C. FOR READING AND WRITING PRACTICE

We can have word flashcards matching the picture flashcards, thus allowing you to teach the whole word and develop reading and writing skills.

Word flashcards should never be used to introduce a word for the first time. Always use the picture flashcards first and revise the vocabulary orally.



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You can devise your own set of flashcards, or use the sets provided by some publishers. If you make your own set, make sure:
· the drawings are clear and unambiguous
· the cards are drawn on cardboard paper, and can’t be torn
· they are sorted out (for instance in colour groups) to be easily found : you can group them in topics (toys, animals, food,…) or code them according to your teaching sequences, or any other classification you may find suitable and useful.
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