In the article, Overcoming Dyslexia, Sally Shaywitz, M.D, defines dyslexia in terms of its impact on readers and its causes. One defining factor of dyslexia is a lack of phonemic awareness, which is to have difficulty recognizing that words are made up of separate sounds called phonemes. As a result, individuals with dyslexia struggle to link letters, decode, and identify words. Decoding is demonstrated when a child categorizes words based on the location of their sounds, such as in the example: words that begin with ‘p’: ‘pig’ and ‘pen.’ Before a reader can find meaning in the text, it is crucial that they decode the separate phonemes.
A lack of phonemic awareness can make it difficult for individuals to produce words on command. This difficulty is shown when a student mistakes a photo of a volcano for a tornado. Although the student knows that the picture is of a volcano, they confuse the sounds of the two similar sounding words. The student indeed knows the difference between the two words, but they retrieve a different phoneme than the one they intend. It is important to note that their lack of phonemic awareness does not signify a lack intelligence or capability of creative thought.
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Imaging studies show that the brain first registers written words as visual icons, and then transforms them into separate sounds. However, in the brain of a person with dyslexia, there is an impairment in the wiring so that it is not able to process the lines and curves of letters in order to transform them into separate sounds. To compensate for the lack of circuitry for language in their brain, individuals with dyslexia may rely on different pathways; for example, they may say words under their breath so that they become aware of how the word