Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a neurological disorder with biochemical and genetic markers. In its most common and apparent form, it is a disability in which a person's reading and/or writing ability is significantly lower than that which would be predicted by his or her general level of intelligence. However, as has been discovered only in the last decade, individuals may read and write perfectly and still have dyslexia (see "characteristics" below).

Variations and related disorders

Dyslexia is a learning disorder. Its underlying cause may be neurological in nature, but from there, the systems involved splay out into visual, language, etc. FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) has been used to demonstrate differences in the dyslexic brain patterns, but much research still needs to be done to apply this information. The disorder can be partially compensated for with appropriate therapy.

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In addition to the typical forms of dyslexia, there are numerous related disorders:

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• Semantic dyslexia
• Scotopic sensitivity syndrome is a form of dyslexia which makes it very difficult for a person to read black text on white paper, particularly when the paper is slightly shiny.
• Dyspraxia- a neurological disorder characterised by a marked difficulty in carrying out routine tasks involving balance, fine-motor control, and kinesthetic coordination.
• Verbal Dyspraxia- a neurological disorder characterised by marked difficulty in the use of speech sounds, which is the result of an immaturity in the speech production area of the brain.
• Dysgraphia- a neurological disorder characterised by distorted and incorrect writing.
• Dyscalculia- a neurological disorder characterised by a problem with learning fundamentals and one or more of the basic numerical skills. Often people with this disorder can understand very complex mathematical concepts and principles but have difficulty processing formulas and even basic addition and subtraction.