Dyslexia is a reading disorder, which is believed to be caused by genetic and environmental factors. The main underlying mechanisms of dyslexia in an individual are problems within the brain’s language processing abilities. Individuals with normal intelligence who are dyslexic, tend to have difficulties in the following areas:
- Difficulties in spelling words
- Reading quickly
- Writing words
- ‘sounding out’ words in their heads
- Pronouncing words when reading aloud
- Understanding what they have read
Dyslexia, a cognitive disorder, has two types of causes: language processing and visual processing. A student who is dyslexic should first be tested by a psychologist to determine what are his strengths and challenges in reading, spelling and writing. Dyslexia is usually diagnosed through a series of tests of memory, spelling, vision and reading skills.
Dyslexia can also be accompanied by several learning disabilities.
- Dysgraphia, a disorder which causes the student to difficulties with writing or typing. Some students may also have difficulties with eye-hand coordination which cause them to have impaired letter writing.
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a learning and neurological disorder, which is characterized by students having difficulties in focusing on completing their given tasks, due to their short attention spans. 35% of ADHD individuals have dyslexia.
Dyslexic students tend to struggle to read as they have difficulties in segmenting words into individual sounds. Another difficulty they may also have is struggling to produce the right word when blending sounds. They eventually become poor spellers and writers due to their difficulties in reading and decoding words.
Mr Edward Yee, a Singaporean who has been awarded the prestigious Singapore Rhodes Scholar award, is a dyslexic. Despite his disadvantage as a dyslexic student, he has still managed to overcome his linguistic shortcomings by accepting his condition as a strength, and not a weakness. He has commented, “ I am where I am today because of dyslexia, and not in spite of it.” The 23-year-old was a slow starter and failed most of his exams in his primary school-Henry Park.
How did Mr Yee overcome his learning difficulties as a dyslexic student to successfully enrol in the six year IP ( Integrated Programme ) at National Junior College? His success started when he was diagnosed as a dyslexic student when he was a primary four student. His caring parents helped him to overcome his learning difficulties with smart learning strategies. He eventually managed to pass his PSLE ( Primary School Leaving Examination), with intensive coaching from his father. His father had taken leave for three months, prior to the PSLE, to help and support Edward to teach him to prepare for the examinations. His father taught him in a different way by using various colours of highlighters. Each colour is used to denote a different important point.
Mr Yee will be studying in the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in October 2019. He is aiming to take up two Masters degree, with the goal of helping other dyslexic students after he has completed his studies.