The neuropsychologist talked about ways to recognize dyslexia

People with dyslexia literally cannot see words, the main difficulty is related to the peculiarities of the brain structures that are responsible for recognizing letters — converting graphemes into sounds and synchronizing visual and speech analysis. Alyona Mazina, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, psychophysiologist, and neuropsychologist, told Izvestia about this on October 2.

According to the doctor, as a result, reading becomes slow, ragged, where letters or syllables get confused, and may change places. At the same time, many people with dyslexia have difficulties that may become more noticeable in conditions of overload, intense excitement or fatigue.

Mazina clarified that this is due to the fact that reading requires increased cognitive resources and attention, but with a decrease in overall control, the system begins to malfunction more. This is exactly how dyslexia is diagnosed.

The diagnosis is carried out comprehensively, and also includes neuropsychological testing, assessment of reading and writing skills, analysis of cognitive functions (memory and attention) and visual-spatial processing. At the same time, it is important to distinguish dyslexia from pedagogical neglect or temporary delays in speech development.

The neuropsychologist said that the first thing parents should pay attention to when detecting dyslexia in a child is a delay in learning letters, difficulty remembering sounds, slow reading with a lot of errors. For example, a child replaces the letter "b" with the letter "d", may skip syllables, and most often, the ending is worth following. Also, people with dyslexia often develop alternative strategies, that is, they use visual images and associations better, and rely on the meaning rather than the form of the word, Mazina emphasizes.

In addition, many people have developed spatial thinking, creativity, and the ability to see non-standard solutions. There are also modern correction methods and special educational approaches that help greatly facilitate the learning process.

Text on IQ: new data on brain function will help treat dyslexia

How the discovery will contribute to the treatment of speech disorders

In May, scientists from Skoltech and the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology (IVND) The Russian Academy of Sciences experimentally studied the operation of a rapid semantic speech processing system. The discovery made it possible to clarify the fundamental principles of the brain and propose new methods of treating dyslexia and other speech disorders. So, the study showed that reading comprehension comes after 150 milliseconds, although it was previously thought that this happens several times slower.

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