Letters
By Lydia Ngwakwe
Lagos, May 15, 2018 (NAN) A neuro-anatomist, Dr Ademola Oremosu, has appealed to parents to show understanding with any child who finds it difficult to read and recognise letters.
Oremusu, who is the Chairman, Lagos Neuroscience Group (LNG), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that such a child could be suffering from a learning disorder known as `Dyslexia’’.
Dyslexia a learning disorder marked by a severe difficulty in recognising and understanding written language, leading to spelling and writing problems. It is not caused by low intelligence or brain damage.
“A child, who finds it difficult to repeat a word definitely has some affectations of the brain but they are at different levels; such a child may have some hearing deficits which makes her not to be able to repeat everything.
“But once you scramble letters and it is difficult for that child to recognise, then that child has a learning disorder under a group called dyslexia.
“That child needs to be accessed and a comprehensive neurological assessment carried out on her to know that she is hearing and doing well and the brain can recognise letters and figures,’’ Oremusu said.
He said dyslexia was the most common learning disability in children and could persist throughout life, saying the severity of the illness could vary from mild to severe.
Oremusu said the illness could be hidden in the early grades of schooling and could make a child become frustrated by the difficulty in learning to read.
He said the earlier dyslexia was treated, the more favourable the outcome would be, adding, “it is never too late for children with such sicknesses to learn to improve their language skills.’’
“The sickness is of three types; the primary dyslexia, secondary or developmental dyslexia and trauma dyslexia,’’ he said.
The LNG chairman said the primary dyslexia was the most common and was a dysfunction of the left side of the brain (cerebral cortex), not necessary damage to the brain “and does not change with age’’.
He said the secondary was more common in boys and caused by problems with brain development during the early stages of fetal development but would reduce as the child matured.
He said trauma dyslexia usually occurred after some form of brain trauma or injury to the area of the brain that controls reading and writing, “as it is rarely seen in today’s school-age population’’.
Oremusu suggested that a child suffering from dyslexia should be taken to see a psychologist or a healthcare professional, adding that a classroom teacher might not be able to say if a child had the condition.
He said the signs of dyslexia were delayed early language development, problems recognising the differences between similar sounds or segmenting words, slow learning of new vocabulary words and difficulty copying from the board or a book.
“Others are difficulty with learning to read, writing, and spelling skills; inability to remember content, even if it involves a favourite video or storybook, the child may appear to be uncoordinated and have difficulty with organised sports or games and others,’’ he said. (NAN)
LED/GY
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Edited by Grace Yussuf