The Indian populace Dyslexia disorder, primarily because of the Bollywood movie ‘Tare Zameen Par, which does an excellent job at depicting a child with dyslexia and the struggles he faces due to the harsh education system. But what exactly happens due to dyslexia? How does it affect learning and education? Is the movie an exaggeration or is it true?
Knowing the answers to these questions is important for all of us- and here to satiate your curiosity, we answer and tackle facts and myths, this October, for dyslexia awareness month.
Now, what exactly is Dyslexia disorder?
It is defined as a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but do not affect general intelligence. This means that reading and writing that one may do easily, is a stressful and tiring activity for them.
What usually happens in the process of reading is that our eyes see words (visual media) which are then interpreted by our brain. In the case of people with dyslexia, the brain interprets the words, differently. So, words like ‘SAW’ may be read from right to left instead – so the person would read ‘SAW’ as ‘WAS’.
This is just one example of how dyslexia makes reading and writing considerably more difficult. People with dyslexia explain that they find letters to be ‘dancing’ or ‘jumping’ around, and have a hard time understanding the actual word. They need more time reading as they have to consciously reverse the interpretation done by their brain, to understand the text. This also exhausts them physically and mentally.
Initially, this was seen to mean that dyslexic people can’t do well in studies- however, now, research shows that with counseling and special educational methods, many children continue to thrive in the field of academics. Dyslexia is no longer seen as a hindrance, just a different way of life!
