Decoding dyslexia
Early diagnosis and intervention can change the lives of children with dyslexia.
DYSLEXIA affects approximately 10% of school-aged children in Malaysia but although the prevalence is high, not many are informed about the learning disability.
Raising awareness about the condition will enable early identification and intervention for children with dyslexia which, says Dr Mullai A. Ramaiah, president of the National Organisation For Dyslexia Malaysia (NOD), is crucial to ensure that children with dyslexia achieve their academic potential.
“Teachers, parents, and the government all have critical roles to play in helping a child with dyslexia. Often, children with dyslexia are ostracised and neglected in schools.
“They are placed at the back of the class or in the lower classes. Children with dyslexia have an IQ that is necessarily average or above average, but it is never low. So when this happens, they lose their self-esteem.
“Without a sense of belonging these children would eventually become school dropouts and turn to commit crimes in the society.
“Such is especially true for children with dyslexia from the lower socio-economic strata as parents are mostly uninformed about dyslexia and are unaware of the resources and interventions available for dyslexia in the country. Also, a lot of world literature have shown a close correlation between dyslexia and crime,” says Dr Mullai.
She says that currently, there is little emphasis on special education in the curriculum at teachers’ training colleges. This, she says, needs to change because teachers with the right knowledge and necessary tools can pick out a child who is struggling with language early on.
“The government must provide teachers with adequate teaching tools to effectively help children with dyslexia.
“Teachers are typically the ones to recognise the manifestation of dyslexia in school children.
“Parents too need to take heed of teachers’ observations and seek a proper diagnosis for their children with a psychologist,” says Dr Mullai.
Since its inception in 2015, NOD has run programmes to try and raise awareness about dyslexia. The association also provides services – assessing and teaching children who are dyslexic, as well as provide counselling for parents on how to bring up children with dyslexia.
“I have been to over 150 schools to introduce and teach the phonetic method.
“Dyslexia is a language learning disability where children find it difficult to read and write. Children with dyslexia need to be taught phonetically.
“This means that teachers need to educate children with dyslexia to identify a letter by its sound.
“So instead of teaching first, for instance, the 26 letters of the English alphabet, they must first be taught the 44 English phonemes,” shares Dr Mullai.
She explains that the severity of dyslexia can range from mild to severe and teaching these children using traditional methods will “absolutely fail”, especially if the child is seriously dyslexic.
In the phonetic method that NOD advances, sounds must be accompanied by pictures.
“Children with dyslexia have weak short term memory. Therefore, when a sound is associated with a picture, it helps them to visualise and remember,” explains Dr Mullai.
Another effective teaching method is the multi-sensory method.
“We implement the use of sandpaper for writing among children with dyslexia.
“When they write on sandpaper, they feel the letter sounds and it helps them to remember the letter. Aside from using multi-sensory tools, kinesthetic movement, which involves having the children write letters in the air, has proven to help them in their learning,” asserts Dr Mullai.
As part of her efforts to help children with dyslexia, Dr Mullai has developed a toolkit that has been successful in improving the academic performances of children with dyslexia. She has, to date, helped over 60 to 70 children with dyslexia.
She also urges parents to play their part in supporting and helping their child overcome their disability.
“There is only so much teachers can only do. Children with dyslexia have poor eye-hand coordination. So, games like five stones, badminton, table tennis, and squats, help improve their fine motor skills.
Doing squats while pulling one’s ears is a very good exercise as it can stimulate both sides of the brain,” she says.
“My hope is that the nation will take serious steps in addressing dyslexia.”