"Why can't you learn this?"
"So stupid, is this still my child?"
When her son Qunxiao was in the first grade of primary school, her mother Feng Li was particularly desperate. Two months after the start of the school, the gap between Qunxiao and his peers is getting wider and wider.
A word, after a hundred times of study, still will not, the side and the head of the department in his eyes will always be a state of separation. Even the very simple words "heaven" and "big" are not written correctly, and they are always wrong when copied according to the posters.
Reading is also not OK, either reading serial or losing words. Today it is difficult to learn a word, tomorrow get up, the brain is blank again.
By the time he reached the second grade, Qun Xiao was faced with a new problem: he couldn't finish every exam. The second grade of primary school is not difficult, as long as you study hard, you can almost get a full score, but it is difficult for Qunxiao to even pass.
(Source CCTV documentary "I'm not a stupid child")
Feng Li is difficult to accept, she and her husband have been academic bullies since they were young, and their work is also very good, how did they give birth to such a "stupid child"?
It was not until later, when even the class teacher felt that there was something wrong with Qunxiao, suggested that Feng Li take the child to the hospital to see, Qunxiao's "stupidity" was reasonably explained.
He's not stupid, he's a dyslexia kid.
The concept of "dyslexia" is not our first contact. But this time, through the introduction of experts from the Sixth Academy of Peking University, I have a new understanding of dyslexia. Believe you too.
This article guides the experts
Dyslexia
It's not just reading that affects
Dyslexia, full name developmental dyslexia (DD), refers to the individual in the general intelligence, motivation, living environment and educational conditions and other aspects of no difference from other individuals, there is no obvious visual, hearing, nervous system organic damage, but their reading performance is significantly lower than the corresponding age should be the level, in a state of dyslexia.
Words that lie honestly in our eyes, to some children with dyslexia, look like tadpoles moving around. It is not easy to find the partial initials of different words and accurately identify them.
Chinese dyslexia has some typical manifestations:
Literacy is very difficult, mixing words with near form or sound, learning pinyin often regards Q as O, inverting the partial head of the word, etc.;
Slow reading speed, adding words, missing words, typos, reading according to their own ideas;
Behavior is often accompanied by the inability to concentrate, uncoordinated hands and feet, etc., and it seems very tired when writing homework, and it is quickly forgotten after learning.
In addition to reading and writing, other aspects of these children are generally normal, and only some children have problems with motor incongruity.
Many parents, when they see how their children can not read well, it is natural to attribute to the child's "stupidity" or "not working hard", will not go to the "dyslexia" aspect of thinking, and thus delay the best treatment period.
Not discovering her son's abnormality earlier was Feng Li's biggest regret.
As the younger daughter grew up, Feng Li compared the state of the eldest son and the younger daughter when they were young, and found some clues.
The eldest son is sensitive and unsociable; the younger daughter is less sensitive, very gregarious and likes to make friends.
Especially in reading and recognizing words, the eldest son avoids reading and recognizing words from the beginning, and he can't see the signs and doors on the road.
The youngest daughter is very fond of recognizing words, rushing to let adults teach, and will also think for herself.
It's just that the prevalence of dyslexia is not high, and both couples automatically ignore these. The most painful thing is that the son has been forced to carry the label of "stupid" for so many years.
He wasn't interested in everything about words
According to the survey, about 5%-8% of children in China have dyslexia, which means that tens of millions of children are suffering from dyslexia. But to this day, few parents are aware of dyslexia, and there is little professional correction institution and policy support.
Even middle-class Kochi families like Feng Li only thought of going to the hospital for diagnosis after their children encountered many difficulties in entering school, let alone ordinary families.
The main reason why Chinese children are diagnosed late is that they are exposed to reading late, and most children only start reading independently after the age of 8.
At this time, the children have gone to school, and they are very likely to become the object of contempt of their peers, being bullied, ridiculed, and encountering serious psychological crises.
(Source CCTV documentary "I'm not a stupid child", the same below)
Dyslexia, although not curable, can be corrected. The sooner it is detected and corrected, the more smoothly the child can integrate into the group and society.
Before spreading the early symptoms of dyslexia to parents, I would like to clarify some misconceptions about dyslexia:
01
Dyslexia has little to do with intellectual or learning interests. It is a neurobiological disorder that affects brain regions in the brain that are involved in word processing.
02
Despite its biological basis, dyslexia cannot currently be diagnosed with a simple blood test or brain scan. The criteria for a doctor to make a diagnosis are based primarily on reading the results of a diagnostic test and the symptoms reported by the patient, parent, or teacher.
03
Dyslexia has a range of possible symptoms, and not every patient will have all of them. According to the International Association for Dyslexia, 15-20% of the population shows some signs of dyslexia. This means that even if the child does not show relevant symptoms, if he works hard or has poor grades, it may be dyslexia.
04
Dyslexia does not disappear with age, only its symptoms change with age. The sooner the correction, the less affected the child will be in adulthood.
05
Dyslexia is hereditary. Therefore, parents who have difficulties in reading and dictation should pay close attention to the child's developmental status.
On the basis of the results of the yale University dyslexia research, Chang Dad combined the information given by Dr. Wang Jiuju, an expert on dyslexia in the Sixth Academy of Peking University, to summarize the performance of children with dyslexia at different ages, which you can refer to.
Dyslexia has been demonstrated in early childhood
Infancy and preschool
The earliest signs of dyslexia occur at age 1 to 2, when children first learn to speak.
High-risk symptoms
01
One parent has difficulty reading.
02
Language development is delayed, speaking late, and the first word is not spoken until 15 months of age or the first word is not spoken until 2 years old;
03
Compared with children of the same age, learning nursery rhymes or nursery rhymes is difficult and will be forgotten quickly after learning;
04
Compared with learning to read and read, I prefer to listen to stories;
05
Items that are very common in daily life, unable to accurately say the color or name;
06
It's hard to remember or complete, and the "go forward and turn left" command, which contains multiple steps.
Early Years of Literacy (Grades 1 to 2)
Around the age of 6, when the child begins to learn to read, the symptoms of dyslexia become more pronounced.
High-risk symptoms
01
Learn words more slowly than children of the same age;
02
Often complain that reading is difficult, and words will disappear or run away;
03
Some very simple words, such as "many", "days", "small" are difficult to learn, or often lose or multi-stroke, such as writing "days" as "big", or writing "ten" as "thousand";
04
They will secretly substitute words or read by association, such as reading "hometown" as "home".
Grade 3 to junior high school
Elementary school and junior high school are the period when the symptoms of dyslexia are concentrated and prominent.
High-risk symptoms
01
Learn words slowly, learn to forget quickly;
02
Reading is very slow, you need to read with your fingers, and you are very depressed when you read a book;
03
Often confuse words with similar pronunciation or similar shapes, such as "white" and "knot", or "jinan" and "dose";
04
There are many dictation errors, sloppy writing, easy to lose words, very slow, and I can't finish the paper during the exam.
05
Because reading problems often affect the performance of mathematics and English in other subjects, if you read out the applied problems, you will do it.
In addition, family history is also one of the important risk characteristics. According to the survey, if one of the parents has dyslexia, the child will have a 40%-60% chance of also having dyslexia, which is about 10 times higher than that of normal children.
If you feel that your child may have certain problems, you can ask for help from relevant scientific research institutions, and at present, Beijing Normal University, the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the First Normal University have experts who specialize in studying dyslexia.
Parents can also seek help from a local psychiatrist.
For example, the "Children's Clinic" of the Sixth Hospital of Peking University can accept children with dyslexia, and many experts in the department have experience in studying "children's learning difficulties".
After registering for treatment, the doctor will first let parents and children do a professional dyslexia test scale, confirm that it is dyslexia, and then give a diagnosis and correction plan according to the child's actual situation.
Turn weaknesses into strengths
Every child has a bright future
Although dyslexia can cause children to have difficulty learning and poor grades, in fact, many famous scientists and entrepreneurs are dyslexia. For example, Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Edison, Kennedy, Tom Cruise...
Why did they succeed?
The book Reversal explains:
Perhaps their success is due in part to their flaws, because in the process of fighting them they have learned things that people do not normally learn. This flaw has become a huge advantage.
Turning a huge disadvantage into an advantage can also give children with dyslexia a bright future.
For example, David Boyce, a super barrister in the United States who once defended Microsoft, was also troubled as a child that he could not read books. His mother insisted on reading for him until after the third grade of elementary school, when Boyce began to read formally.
Boyce squarely faced his own limitations, replacing "reading" with "listening" and "remembering", while deliberately exercising his ability to summarize and remember. Later, with the ability to quickly refine the main points, discover the essence of the problem, and a strong memory, he became an excellent lawyer.
Children with dyslexia, in addition to problems with reading and writing, have their own unique advantages.
(Source CCTV documentary "I'm not a stupid child")
For example, the three children in the documentary "I am not a stupid child" have obvious characteristics: the group is curious, likes to break the casserole to ask the end, the school has strong communication skills, and ruoshi has resilience and hard work in learning.
If you avoid occupations that require a lot of reading and writing, their career choices are just as broad, such as entrepreneurs, architects, photographers, advertisers, actors, composers, activists, etc.
Even if they can't have excellent grades, every child can find their own way of survival.
To this day, dyslexia is still not completely curable. But as parents, we also have things that we can do and need to do well:
01
Increase screening awareness, understand their family history, detect early signs of dyslexia, and intervene early;
02
If you have serious problems with partial subjects and slow reading and writing when you are a child, you should pay special attention to your child's performance, read more picture books and stories when your child is young, and cultivate a good language environment.
In addition to that, one thing each of us can do is understand. As long as there is a little more understanding, it is a great encouragement for children with dyslexia.
If the parents who read this article hear the child say that "the words in the book are dancing", and do not rush to criticize the child for "lying and making excuses", but crouch down and ask the child what it feels like, Chang Dad will feel that so much hard work is worth it.