What is dyslexia and how to help our son

The difficulties when learning to read Fluidly they are normal at certain ages. However, if they persist repeatedly, it is possible that they are a symptom that our child has dyslexia, a difficulty to learn to read fluently despite intelligence and motivation. We tell you what it is and how you can help your child if he has one.

The certain thing is that to know the cause of dyslexia it is complicated and the reason for its appearance is not yet clear, but what is known is that it has nothing to do with the lack of effort or motivation of the children, but it is possible that it has a genetic basis (is there other cases in the family of difficulties with reading?).


The characteristics of dyslexia

As explained by the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (Aepap), children with dyslexia have a lot ofs difficulties in correctly associating the written letters with their sound, which means that it is also difficult for them to learn to read and write. They present some characteristic errors:

- Omissions of letters or syllables (forget to read a letter or syllable)

- Substitutions (read one letter for another)

- Investments (change the order of the letters or syllables)

- Addictions (add letters or syllables)

- Union and fragmentation of words (unite and separate words inappropriately)


- Rectifications, hesitations and line breaks during the reading.

This leads to the fact that children with dyslexia usually also have deficiencies in reading comprehension and, even, sometimes it is the cause of school failure, which ends up affecting the emotional development of the child and the family.

Likewise, an association between dyslexia and other problems in children has been observed, such as hyperactivity, defective writing, difficulty in number processing and even disorders in the development of coordination (they are clumsy, with poor coordination and ease of falling). ).

How to help a child with dyslexia?

The first thing to keep in mind, as they explain from the Aepap, is that Dyslexia lasts throughout life, which does not prevent that, if a treatment is started soon, these children can learn and be successful in their academic life.


Thus, it is essential that we, the parents, as well as the teachers and our own child, know that it has dyslexia. In this way, it will be possible to carry out an "intensive training" so that our son can learn like the rest of his classmates.

The basics, they explain, is the continuous practice of reading without forgetting the effort of reading for a person who has dyslexia. In this way, we have to encourage and motivate them to read, but without forcing them and taking into account that a child with dyslexiaIt needs to read the words more times in order to recognize them.

For example, from this association recommend that in school and the institute give more time to children with dyslexia and not be counted misspellings, among other options such as implementing specific evaluation systems for them.

Failure in children with dyslexia

With everything, the essential thing is the continuous support to our son. If he observes that those around him do not understand or value his effort, he may be overcome by a sense of failure that can lead to anxiety, depression or behavior disorders.

Angela R. Bonachera

Video: Spelling Technique for Dyslexic


Interesting Articles

4 styles to take advantage of your terrace

4 styles to take advantage of your terrace

Deciding which decorative elements are perfect for our home can often be more complicated than it seems. The key is to find the balance between our own tastes and the new trends that create beautiful...