Dyslexia is a learning disorder that manifests itself as a difficulty with reading, spelling and in some cases mathematics. It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction. It is estimated that dyslexia affects between 5% and 17% of the U.S. population.
Dyslexia is thought to be the result of a neurological defect/difference, and though not an intellectual disability, it is variously considered a learning disability, a language disability, and a reading disability, among others.Dyslexia is diagnosed in people of all levels of intelligence (normal to above)
Yes, Imran, 9 years old, our one and only child had been diagnosed as dyslexic. He experienced difficulty in reading and in fact affected his speech ability (meaning not as 100% as normal kids speak). Reading is a nightmare to him and school is a no-no..he hates school. We realized he is dyslexic when he was 8 years old..after a year he spent his time in standard 1 at primary school. Teachers in standard 1 didn't help much in fact ignoring him was the best method. What triggered us was during his early month in standard 2, a teacher called us saying that he refused to do his homework and did not respond well in the class. (i'll be forever thank this teacher for his effort to inform us)
Imran was sent to this class so called "Kelas Pemulihan". We took the initiative to meet this "Kelas Pemulihan" teacher and realized that she kept suggesting us to sent Imran to the Special School. Special school here referred to students who are slow learner, down syndrome, retarded and austism. Washing hand, wasn't she? She really believed that Imran is a slow learner student. We told her that Imran can speak, in fact read a bit, not a total zero. She was speechless at first and later still suggested us to do some medical assessment to know which category he falls into (or more like to prove that our son is really a slow learner according to her).
We did get the referral letter, but weren't not convinced and satisfied that should be the way. My husband took the initiative calling all his friends in medical field and yes they confirmed that sending him for assessment is only one time assessment, if Imran failed to show any responds or show his abilities like normal kid, he will be referred to the special school. In fact his friend suggested us to bring Imran to his doctor (a pediatrician at Shah Alam SS 9 - Klinik Adek) and get his view on this. And the Dr respond? He was annoyed with this teacher because had Imran is a retarded, he (a kid specialist) will be the first to know. (He had treated Imran as his patient since Imran was 3 months old). This kind Dr suspected that Imran is dyslexic and gave us a referral letter to Pusat Dyslexia Wilayah Persekutuan.
