{"id":345507,"date":"2022-09-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/what-is-surface-dyslexia\/"},"modified":"2022-09-21T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T09:00:00","slug":"what-is-surface-dyslexia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/what-is-surface-dyslexia\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Surface Dyslexia?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A disorder affecting the learning of written language, dyslexia is thought to affect 5% of children<\/strong>. A classification system distinguishes between phonological dyslexia<\/strong> (difficulty decoding words), surface dyslexia<\/strong> (difficulty recognising a word as a whole), and mixed dyslexia<\/strong> (combining both difficulties). Representing respectively 70%, 10%, and 20% of cases, this more precise diagnosis helps determine how to guide the child’s remedial support<\/strong> from specialists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What difficulties are linked to surface dyslexia?<\/h2>\n

A reader without written-language learning disorders instinctively combines two “reading routes”<\/strong>: the phonological route (syllabic decoding) and the lexical route (memorising the visual appearance of a word).<\/p>\n

When a child has surface dyslexia, they must decode a word as if seeing it for the first time<\/strong>, every time! Forming a mental representation is impossible, as they don’t “store” words in their internal lexicon. They can only rely on the decoding route to read the word\u2026<\/p>\n

Generally, a child with surface dyslexia writes phonetically, making a high number of spelling mistakes<\/strong> (dysorthographia). Similar-looking letters, such as “b” and “d”, “p” and “q”, are often confused. The more erratic their writing, the more difficulty the child has reading<\/strong>. Although it affects only 10% of diagnosed dyslexics, surface dyslexia is fairly disabling, since its difficulties also affect text comprehension<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why does it need to be diagnosed quickly?<\/h2>\n

Like other learning disorders, surface dyslexia should be diagnosed as early as possible, so that a solution tailored to the child can be put in place. Note that it cannot be formally diagnosed before 18 months of reading instruction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Typically, poor pencil grip, refusal to write, untidy work, or illegible handwriting are enough to alert the teacher<\/strong>. They can then advise the parents to seek a medical consultation, which should direct them to a speech-language therapist<\/a> or a psychologist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These professionals then carry out various tests<\/strong> of cognitive function, to detect dyslexia and estimate its severity. Neurological and psychological examinations, as well as vision and hearing tests, are generally carried out to rule out other explanations and, where relevant, pinpoint this disorder.<\/p>\n

Is there a treatment for surface dyslexia?<\/h2>\n

As with other forms of dyslexia, there is no cure<\/strong> for surface dyslexia. But this does not reflect an intellectual disability, neurological damage, or a sensory problem (hearing, vision).<\/p>\n

However, the involvement of several professionals can help compensate for the child’s difficulties<\/strong>, particularly academic ones, each within their own speciality. For example, a speech-language therapist<\/strong> can use exercises on short-term visual and verbal attention, on irregular words, or on the visual recognition of certain phonemes through memory-based strategies. A psychotherapist<\/strong> will focus their work on self-confidence and managing distress or feelings of difference. A psychomotor therapist<\/strong> will focus more on motor-skill difficulties\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A disorder affecting the learning of written language, dyslexia is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":345508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[380],"class_list":["post-345507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-classe","tag-dyslexia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}