Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

AD/HD is a disorder which affects hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. People with AD/HD can often have difficulty staying still and maintaining attention, which can often in turn affect the ability to read.

Researchers think that symptoms result from problems in the systems which regulate and control behaviour. AD/HD affects up to 5% of the population and is often accompanied by other conditions/disabilities.

These are just a few of the possible reasons a child may have difficulty reading or learning to read. This site can only go some way towards helping a parent to identify a problem and professional expertise/advice is essential.

Dyslexia

Recent research suggests that the cause of Dyslexia lies in a specific gene. A difference in a single part of the brain makes learning language excessively hard.

The process of 'translating' the letters on a page into the sounds of the words is disturbed, so that the whole business of 'decoding' a word or sentence is made difficult.

From a very early age, a dyslexic child may well have trouble learning to understand speech and make him/herself understood and may have trouble recalling words and sequencing words or letters.

Learning to read by traditional approaches can therefore be extremely difficult - but there are alternative methods available, which are proven to be more effective. For example, children with dyslexia need direct instruction in the relationship between letter and sound.

Dyslexia can be difficult to recognize as many of its characteristics are those which most children go through as a natural part of growing up. It is when these phases seem to last longer than normal and child seems to be 'stuck' in difficult stages that there may be an indication of dyslexia.

Find books about dyslexia

Find organisations offering support to dyslexics and their families and carers

Identifying Dyslexia

Someone with dyslexia may avoid difficult tasks (especially if they involve reading, writing or spelling), guess words instead of reading them, prop up the head when writing, know a word one day but forget it the next.

They can often be very talented in other areas and may have a vocabulary which exceeds his/her reading ability. Sometimes a dyslexic child appears to be lazy, not trying hard enough, or just slow.

In fact, the dyslexic mind is working harder to bridge the gap between what s/he sees, hears and feels in the outer world, his/her thoughts about these things in his head and how to put them into words.

Speech and Language Disorders

This is a general term which describes problems with communicating, including understanding, speaking and forming sounds.

Sometimes it means that a child stutters, uses 'babyish' language or has difficulty understanding words in a conversation or written material.

Speech and language disorders often accompany learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

Processing problems

This term is used to describe situations where the information taken in by the senses is disturbed or distorted. This might include visual, hearing, and motor deficits.

Although they are classed as learning disabilities, these difficulties overlap with speech and language disorders and specific learning disabilities like dyslexia.

Letters can be reversed and a child can easily lose his/her place while reading or forget simple instructions.

Developmental Disabilities

There are many developmental disorders, which may affect a child's reading.

The term autism (or autistic spectrum), for example, is used to describe any of a complex range of developmental disabilities.

Autistic disorders tends to appear during the first three years of life and may mean a number of challenges when learning to read including difficulties in attention, motivation and problems with decoding.

A child can be very bright and go to mainstream school but have autistic tendencies. Autistic spectrum disorders can often be combined with learning difficulties and often seems to run in families.

An autistic child can often have seemed 'normal' as a baby but then appeared to 'regress' and lose the power of language.

Other characteristics can include obsessive tendencies, a liking of order/collecting things, and a general difficulty communicating with and understanding the outside world.

Autism affects more boys than girls, and has nothing to do with ethnic, socio-economic or educational background.

Getting help

Parents are almost always the first to sense a problem or difference in a child's development. However, they often assume that the child will catch up, just needs more time, or is simply not as 'bright' as other children.

Sometimes their observations are a sign that there really is a problem - there is a disability or difference that is affecting the child's reading. In this case, an alternative type of help in reading development can often provide the answer.

Many people who have been diagnosed as being dyslexic, for example, in fact have average to above average intelligence. All they need is the right type of help and support to become confident readers.

It’s therefore important to trust your instincts and insist on getting the professional help and the extra support your child needs.

Ask your child’s teacher, doctor or health visitor for help – and insist you get it.

Visual impairment

Accessibility of books (and other written material) is a problem for many blind and partially sighted people.

There are many organisations which offer services and support for reading including:

Your local library

The RNIB which has a huge library of audio books

Booktouch (www.bookstart.co.uk) is part of the national Bookstart programme. It now offers a special Bookstart pack for babies with a visual impairment. The “Booktouch” pack contains specially selected books and a leaflet to help alert families right from the start to the services available.

The National Library for the Blind (www.nlb-online.org) which lends Braille books

ClearVision (www.clearvisionproject.org) is a UK postal lending library of mainstream children's books with added braille. The books all have braille, print and pictures, making them suitable for visually-impaired and sighted children and adults to share.

The Living Paintings Trust (www.livingpaintings.org) is a registered charity that offers a completely free service for visually impaired people of all ages, their families, carers and schools. They produce specialist touch and sound packs that explain a wide variety of pictures for those who cannot see. These packs are distributed from their library by post. They are sent to all parts of the UK and Eire and there is no charge.