Causes of Reading and Spelling Problems

What can neuroscience tell us about dyslexia and other language-processing difficulties? How do differences in the brain's wiring help explain the best approach to helping struggling readers, writers, and spellers? This article answers those questions and more.

How Brains Develop for Average Children

• First three years of formal schooling - During this time, the brain is rapidly firing, wiring, and interconnecting its literacy centers, especially on the left side of the brain--the area responsible for language, including speech sounds, letter symbols, reading, and writing.
• By the 4th grade - By this time, the brains of most children who have had reading and writing instruction have formed strong interconnections (called neural networks) for reading and writing. For normal readers, these networks generally run in the “background” without much conscious effort, freeing the brain for other cognitive functions.

Brain Wiring in Children with Language Processing Differences
Nearly 30% of children have differences in brain wiring associated with language-based learning disabilities. For example, studies show that, compared to average readers, children with dyslexia tend to have more activity on the right side of the brain when they are reading. This can mean inefficient, slower processing, and inefficient and slower reading and writing.*

Effective Treatment and Support

Structured Literacy and Mind’s Eye

The methods used to treat dyslexia and specific language impairment are different so in the first session we use language processing assessments to identify the underlying problems and patterns. Once we understand the cause(s) of your child's learning difficulties we customize treatment to meet their learning needs. Our clinical educators can also give recommendations for the accommodations and assistive technologies that are most appropriate for your child.

• Structured Literacy (aka, Orton-Gillingham), a method that has been used for over 70 years, has a deep research base as the most validated approach for helping children and adults with language processing differences such as dyslexia. Upper-level reading, writing, and spelling concepts are mastered through explicit, systematic, and multisensory instruction. At Lexercise, highly qualified clinicians administer The Lexercise Structured Literacy Curriculum™ online through live, 1-on-1, interactive video sessions.

• The “Mind’s Eye” Approach is a method that has been used since the times of the great Greek and Roman orators. It is designed for children with specific language impairments and teaches structured visualization to help improve comprehension and expression. Lexercise teletherapists use The Lexercise Mind's Eye Curriculum™ to help students strengthen weak listening and reading comprehension.

There are many published curricula that are based, to varying degrees, on structured literacy models, but a curriculum or “program” is of limited use without a practitioner who has the knowledge and skill to adjust it to the needs of individual children. Although schools are well-intentioned, they often invest more in boxed “programs” than on the professional development that has been shown to be essential for effective implementation. For that reason--and many others--we strongly recommend parents seek individualized, professional assistance from qualified practitioners, rather than "waiting and hoping" for a solution from schools.

If your child is a struggling reader, speller, or writer consider working with one of our literacy experts to get your child where he/she should be in just a few months. See this video for more information.

* Note: approximately 5% of the population experiences delays with reading caused by significant development delays caused by more global intellectual functioning delays, not dyslexia or language-based learning disabilities.

Sandie Barrie Blackley, MA/CCC and Lexercise Chief Knowledge Officer, also contributed to this article. Learn more about Sandie's background here.