dyslexia

Question 1

What is dyslexia?

Answer 1

specific learning difficulty where the individual finds it more difficult than others to learn to read

-generally isn’t detected until they’re in school and learning to read

Question 2

what are some signs of dyslexia

Answer 2

-starting to speak later than others

-jumbled words/phrases

-slow reading and inconsistent spelling

-more obvious as you go further into education as you start to rely on reading and writing more

Question 3

what are some features of dyslexia

Answer 3

-effects reading, spelling and writing

-delayed onset speech, mispronunciation and rhyme appreciation so not knowing if words rhyme or not

-difficulty learning letter sounds (phonics), poor spelling and slow to read

Question 4

what happens if dyslexia is not recognised or treated

Answer 4

-mental health issues

-falling behind in work

-poor exam results

-poorer qualifications limits employability

-lower income and quality of life

-risk of crime

Question 5

what is the basis of the simple theory of reading

Answer 5

you need to be able to decode and comprehend to be able to read

Question 6

what is decoding

Answer 6

decoding is the ability to translate letters and words on the page into their head

Question 7

what is comprehension

Answer 7

comprehension is the ability to understand what the words and phrases mean and working this out by linking it to your ltm and things stored there

Question 8

explain why learning to read is such a difficult process

Answer 8

-involves looking at the relationship between the words and sounds which requires ALL of your working memory however the WM has a limited capacity and so it is mainly used to decode the words leaving little left to actually comprehend what it means

Question 9

how do we learn to read

Answer 9

more practice means that it becomes more automated and so it requires less of your working memory (develops AUTOMATICITY)

-so you get better at decoding meaning more of your WM can now be used on comprehension

Question 10

why do people with dyslexia struggle to read

Answer 10

they struggle for decoding to become automatic as they still have to think about it a lot so it’s hard to hold together what they’ve read and comprehend what it means at the same time

Question 11

what is encoding

Answer 11

encoding requires the individual to take the things from their head my learning the shapes of the letters and working out how it corresponds to the sounds in their head

Question 12

what is the simple theory of writing

Answer 12

suggests that you need two skills those being encoding and planning

Question 13

why is learning to write difficult for dyslexic people

Answer 13

encoding occupies almost all of our WM so there is little left to actually plan what we want to say. With normal people this becomes automatic and so we have more WM left to actually think about what we want to say. However dyslexic people get stuck at encoding and how to bring everything they know together so it takes longer to become automatic

Question 14

how can we then deduce the working memory as a cause of dyslexia

Answer 14

-likely to have a problem with their PL as they cannot create a relationship between words and sounds aswell as finding it difficult to translate letters to sounds

Question 15

what are some reasons for accepting the working memory as an explanation for dyslexia

Answer 15

-dyslexic people tend to have a below average PL functioning

-dyslexia appears more common in countries that use writing systems where relationships between characters and sounds are inconsistent and complex (deep orthography)

Question 16

what are some limitations of using the working memory to explain dyslexia

Answer 16

-Alloway 2013 shows that training dyslexic people with wm strategies can lead to improved academic performance

-dyslexia still present among JP people despite their shallow orthogrpahy suggesting that PL deficit is only one component of dyslexia