Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Dyslexia occurs in at least 1 out of 10 people, which means that in a world with population of 7 billion, more than 700 million children and adults are at risk of life-long illiteracy and social exclusion.

This was stated by Irum Mumtaz, a remedial therapist of dyslexia, while addressing an awareness seminar at Shifa College of Medicine.

“Around 90% of the students can achieve success if taught in regular inclusive classrooms with timely intervention. Unfortunately, due to the lack of awareness about dyslexia in Pakistan, we have to rely on the international statistics, according to which 15%-20% of the children in each class have some form of learning difficulties. Based on this ratio, it’s estimated that approximately 12 million children in Pakistan out of the 60 million need help,” she said.

Irum Mumtaz said that due to the lack of awareness about dyslexia, dyslexics suffered in all spheres of life. “Most of the parents of dyslexic children are in denial. Educational institutes are not ‘dyslexia friendly’,” she said.

“Indicators include delayed milestones, difficulty in rhyming, short attention span, not like going to school, confusion between left – right, up – down, tiring quickly when reading or writing, difficulty with buttoning up, colouring, cutting, being late in learning to tie shoelaces or telling the time,” she said.

She advised the teachers to encourage families to get involved in the life of their child, stimulate student’s motivation, empathise with children to understand their point of view and use multi-sensory methods to analyze the potential of the child. “Richard Olson states that evidence from genetic influence does not deny the powerful influence that parents, teachers and therapists can have,” she said.

Dr Rabia Nazir, instructor/coordinator Shifa Clinical Health Sciences and Informatics Lab (SCIL), defined dyslexia as a general term for learning difficulties involving reading, writing and interpreting words, letters and symbols, regardless of general IQ. “After you understand the potential of the right brain dominant individuals, this should not come by as a surprise that the greatest gifts to humanity have been given by these dyslexics,” she said.

Dr Rabia also discussed the common signs and symptoms of dyslexia. She said that there was no cure because dyslexia was not a disease. “With support, proper instruction, and hard work, many people with dyslexia are able to succeed academically and in their later lives. Dyslexia is a life-long condition, but intervention can have a positive effect on a person’s symptoms and outcomes. After an evaluation determines the specific area of difficulty and disability, it is very important that the child’s school and/or instructor are prepared to help implement a specific plan for intervention. There are many specific reading approaches that rely on a multisensory experience to strengthen the child’s weaknesses while using his/her strengths,” she said.

Published in Daily Times, August 20^th 2017.