Transcription:

Bill Klaproth (Host): So, what is dyslexia? How do you recognize it and how do you treat it? Let’s find out with Jennifer Griffin, a Speech Language Pathologist at Pullman Regional Hospital. Jennifer, thank you so much for your time. So, let’s start here. What is dyslexia?

Jennifer Griffin MS, CCC-SLP (Guest): Dyslexia is a language-based neurological condition. Meaning that the brain of an individual with dyslexia processes information differently. And that can often result in difficulty with accurate and automatic word recognition, difficulty with spelling, and difficulty decoding or breaking words down into their parts.

Host: So, do people mix words up? They invert them or do they read them out of order?

Jennifer: Yes, they can actually do both. It’s very different from person to person how that specific symptom presents with them. But yes, they can mix words up mix even letters within a word up and sometimes they can leave out letters or they add letters.

Host: This is obviously what makes learning so difficult.

Jennifer: Correct. It is. There’s this unique point as we are learning and as we are going through school that we go from learning to read to reading to learn. And that typically happens in between like second and fourth grade. And that’s often where we see the most difficulty for the kids with dyslexia because they are having difficulty reading – learning to read and they have difficulty mastering that skill. So then when they are asked to use reading as their main way of learning; you can see some significant breakdowns in that process. And that can lead to low self-esteem, decreased confidence.

Host: Sure. Heh what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I get this?

Jennifer: Right, exactly like I’m stupid. I’m dumb.

Host: That’s too bad. And it happens right in the crucial years too as you were saying. So how prevalent is dyslexia?

Jennifer: That’s a difficult question but the estimate is that 15 to 20% of the hole population shows some sort of symptoms of dyslexia. What makes it so difficult to get an estimate or a more accurate number is the large range of severity within dyslexia. And as we were talking earlier; the symptom presentation can be so different from one person to another or the areas of weakness or the areas of difficulty can be very different.

And then the other thing is there are a lot of people likely out there that have never been diagnosed with dyslexia. They have it, they may or may not be aware of it but they’ve just never had that diagnosis and oftentimes the estimations we get come from individuals.

Host: Okay so, you were talking about symptom presentation. So, what should we look for? What are some of the common characteristics of dyslexia?

Jennifer: Difficulty with phonological awareness which is your ability to manipulate sounds. So, for example, in the word flat, if you take out that L sound; what sound do you get? You get FAT. Well, so that ability to manipulate the sounds can be very difficult. There can also be difficulty with short-term memory and that’s the ability to temporarily store information about various sounds and letters while you are reading or trying to spell.

Another area of difficulty is accurately and automatically retrieving information on letter sound correspondence from your long-term memory. So, if you have a weakness in one or all of those areas; ultimately, that impacts your ability to fluently read or to read smoothly and accurately.

Some additional characteristics; difficulty with math facts like times tables. You can have difficulty with reading comprehension, difficulty with attention and concentration and then time management. All of these things in combination or a couple of them with difficulty in those areas leads to that decreased confidence, that decreased self-esteem, not liking school, not liking reading and that’s not where we want our students to be. We want them to be in an optimal mindset to learn.

Host: Yeah, that’s like a tsunami of characteristics which would be very detrimental. Trouble sounding words, trouble spelling, memory, trouble with math facts, not liking to read. Talk about a barrier to learning, all of those things. My gosh.

Jennifer: Exactly. Right, but it’s also important, like you said, there’s just that laundry list of things that are difficult. But our approach is we also like to highlight the strengths of the individuals with dyslexia. So, they have done enough research that they have the list of difficulties but there’s also a list of strengths. They can be very artistic people. They tend to be mechanically inclined. They are very intuitive, and they are very aware of their environment which lends them to great people skills.

They typically have really good visualization skills so their ability to manipulate 3D objects or to transfer a two dimensional figure into a three dimensional figure is extremely off the charts most of the time in comparison to the typically more typically developing individuals. They tend to be global thinkers. The cliché of they can think outside the box. These are all the strengths that an individual with dyslexia can also have. So, it’s important to consider both the difficulties that they have but to also address some of the strengths the possess and to capitalize on those strengths.

Host: Yeah, Jennifer, I think that’s important. Too many times we just focus on the weakness, but you just articulated the strengths and it’s important to know those as well. So, if I’m a parent and I’m concerned about dyslexia in my child; what steps should I take to address these concerns?

Jennifer: Right. The first thing I suggest is to have a conversation with your child’s primary care provider. Be very open about the difficulties and the frustrations that your child is experiencing. If they have below average reading and writing scores, if they are having difficulty with confidence and self-esteem. If they are not wanting to go to school and not wanting to participate. These are all things that are really important to share with your primary care physician. Another thing is if homework is extremely difficult and they are taking more time than you would expect to complete a homework task.

Have a conversation with your primary care provider. Request a referral to the Summit Dyslexia Clinic and we can evaluate your child to see if it’s dyslexia potentially or if there’s something in another area that is being a barrier for them to access their education. And then, it’s also helpful to contact your child’s teacher. Have a conversation with them. Share with them the same things that you shared with your primary care physician and see if the teacher is also seeing those things and what the school can do to provide support for your child so they can excel.

Host: Right. So, let me ask you this. how does the Summit Dyslexia Clinic treat dyslexia?

Jennifer: This is my favorite question. So, earlier I mentioned that the brain of an individual with dyslexia functions differently. Neurologically, it functions differently than a non-dyslexic brain. So, our approach to treatment is to optimize the way that that different brain processes the information. We do this by using a researched based program that is structured and progressive. Meaning that there has to be mastery of one set of skills before moving on to the next.

And each set of skills builds on the previous set of skills. And we continue to grow that learning and that growth. How specifically we do it is, it’s an integration of multiple sensory systems so they are touching, they are seeing, they are hearing, and that allows us to integrate the auditory system, the motor system and the visual system all at once to make it a whole body learning experience. Instead of trying to isolate the systems, we want all the systems working together.

Our program is very three dimensional and it’s very visual. Again, we want to tap into the strengths and that visual learning is one of often the strengths of someone with dyslexia. So, we want to tap into that and maximize that.

Host: Well that’s a great thought and a great message and you’re right, you said the strengths, they are very artistic, mechanically inclined, intuitive, they have great people skills, global thinkers. So, take all of those strengths and learn how to manage the dyslexia and wow, what a powerful individual you have there.

Jennifer: Exactly. A powerful individual again who has no limitations to achieving what they aim to achieve.

Host: So, Jennifer what would you like our listeners to come away with from this podcast trying to understand about dyslexia? What do you want them to walk away with?

Jennifer: I want them to walk away with the knowledge that with appropriate intervention; anyone can succeed. Your diagnosis of dyslexia does not have to be a barrier for someone reaching their fullest potential. There are amazing success stories of individuals with dyslexia and in fact, some of the world’s most prominent entrepreneurs have dyslexia. So, I alluded to this earlier. Dyslexia is not only about the limitations; but also about the different way the brain of an individual with dyslexia sees the world needs to be celebrated and it needs to be encouraged and it needs to be nurtured and that’s what we aim to do.

Host: Well I know that’s comforting for many parents to hear and Jennifer thank you so much for your time. For more information please visit www.pullmanregional.org, that’s www.pullmanregional.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is The Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.