Introduction: Teachers play a vital role in identifying students with dyslexia. The acquisition of this knowledge will help teachers to classify students who are at risk of dyslexia. The objective of this study is to identify the level of teachers’ knowledge about dyslexia that comprises of its general knowledge, diagnosis, symptoms and treatments. A cross sectional study was done upon 138 preschool teachers. This research was conducted by using ‘Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia’ questionnaire, which consists of 36 items with 3 Likert scale questions. Findings revealed that the level of general knowledge possessed by the pre-school teachers was relatively different based on the construct even though they have respectively received the Diploma in Early Childhood Education. On the same hand, most of the respondents were found to be having higher understanding on the general knowledge about dyslexia compared to their understanding on the symptoms, diagnosis and the treatments
Dyslexia

In this article neuroanatomical and verbal developmental process were introduced, followed that disorders and assessment of language function were reviewed. Finally, the causes and assessment of developmental dyslexia as a childhood disorder related to verbal function were reviewed.
Dyslexia ; Neuropsychology

PURPOSE: To evaluate the benefit of colored filters in Meares-Irlen Syndrome patients with reading difficulties. METHODS: Twenty-five patients were selected through a brief questionnaire aimed to determine symptoms of eyestrain or visual distortion after thorough eye examinations. The cutoff value of the questionnaire was 2.13. The rates of Korean reading and writing were measured using the RWSM (Reading Writing Speed Meter) test with and without the use of colored filters. Two months after wearing the individually prescribed colored filters, a questionnaire on the patient's subjective satisfaction with the colored filters were completed and evaluated. RESULTS: The blue (n = 8, 32%) and gray (n = 4, 16%) colors were the most frequently selected filters. The mean score of the questionnaire on reading difficulties was 2.72. The mean reading rate improved from 82.72 wpm (words per minute) to 101.84 wpm with the colored filters, a statistically significant change (p = 0.019). The mean writing rate did not improve. The overall satisfaction score with the colored lenses was 3.6, with the highest score given to ease of reading (4.08) and the lowest to writing (2.92). CONCLUSIONS: In cases of reading difficulty, colored filters were effective for alleviating visual symptoms and improving reading speed. It is important to achieve an adequate understanding of the specific symptoms of Meares-Irlen Syndrome and to perform a thorough eye examination to differentiate this from other ocular disorders.
Asthenopia ; Dyslexia ; Eye ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Writing

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with dyslexia experience reading difficulties, whereas their other cognitive abilities seem normal. The purpose of this study was to investigate the event-related potential (ERP) patterns of children with dyslexia during a target-detection task. METHODS: Seventeen children with dyslexia and 18 children without this disorder participated in this study. We evaluated their writing and reading ability, symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and intelligence quotient. ERPs were recorded while participants performed a target-detection task, and the peak amplitude and latency of P100 and P300 were analyzed. The lateral asymmetry index (LAI) was calculated for each ERP component. RESULTS: The dyslexic group exhibited longer reaction times and larger P100 amplitudes than the non-dyslexic group in the right hemisphere. The P100 latency was also significantly delayed in the right hemisphere of those in the dyslexic group compared with those in the non-dyslexic group. The P300 amplitude was larger in the right hemisphere compared with left hemisphere in the dyslexic group, whereas no interhemispheric differences were observed with respect to the P300 latency. The LAI for P100 showed a significant right hemispheric dominance, whereas the LAI for P100 was significantly correlated with the accuracy of target detection in children with dyslexia. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that right hemispheric dominance acts as an ancillary system that compensates for poor reading in children with dyslexia.
Child* ; Dyslexia* ; Evoked Potentials* ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Reaction Time ; Reading ; Writing

Cognition ; Dyslexia ; psychology ; Humans ; Language ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Reading

PURPOSE: To evaluate the main symptoms and associated ocular diseases in patients with dyslexia (reading difficulty) in Korean subjects. METHODS: A total of 16 patients were enrolled in the present study. Eleven of the patients with Meares-Irlen syndrome whose symptoms improved with tinted lenses comprised Group 1. The other 5 patients whose reading difficulty improved with other ocular therapy and did not require tinted lenses comprised Group 2. The main symptoms causing dyslexia and associated ocular diseases were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean age was 18.9 +/- 8.9 years in Group 1, and 20.4 +/- 12.3 years in Group 2. In Group 1, the most common symptoms while reading were doubling (72%), difficulty to move lines (46%), letter reversal (27%) and blurring or ocular pain (27%). On the other hand, blurring (100%) with fatigue or pain (20%) was documented in Group 2. The associated ocular diseases in Group 1 and Group 2 were refractive error (63% and 20%), dry eye (18% and 60%), and exophoria (18% and 60%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Doubling and difficulty to move lines while reading were the main specific symptoms in Meares-Irlen syndrome in the present study. Refractive error, dry eye, and exophoria were commonly associated in patients with dyslexia.
Dyslexia ; Exotropia ; Eye ; Fatigue ; Hand ; Humans ; Korea ; Refractive Errors

BACKGROUND: Neglect dyslexia is a type of neglect syndrome, in which patients with unilateral hemisphere injury omit or misread the contralateral side of a text or the initial letters of a word. Hangul can be arrayed vertically (vertical reading, VR) as well as horizontally (horizontal reading, HR). Thus, HR and VR can be differentially affected in neglect dyslexia. We conducted an experiment in a 66 year-old woman who suffered from neglect dyslexia after a right cerebral infarction. We compared HR with VR in terms of error frequencies and patterns. METHODS: Stimuli for neglect dyslexia consisted of 227 words. The 227 words were written horizontally or vertically (total 554 words) and were pre-sented in random order. The patient was asked to read the words and the examiner recorded the patient's responses and reaction times. RESULTS: The differences in HR and VR were as follows: 1) the error frequency in HR (59.0%) was higher than the error frequency in VR (20.3%), 2) the most frequent error in HR was syllabic deletion (79.1%) whereas phonemic substitution (89.1%) predominated in VR, 3) the error rate was highest at the first syllabic position in HR whereas no position effect was noted in VR. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with neglect dyslexia make less error in VR than in HR. The neural processing of HR may be different from that of VR. VR may be an alternative reading strategy that may be useful during the recovery stage of neglect dyslexia.
Aged ; Cerebral Infarction ; Dyslexia* ; Female ; Humans ; Reaction Time

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the dual route model is applicable to Korean word reading in acquired dyslexia after stroke. METHOD: Sixty-two year old patient with dyslexia after left inferior temporal and occipital lobe infarct was evaluated according to the lexical processing. After evaluation of general cognitive and language function, visual perception, semantic, and lexical stages were assessed. RESULTS: Visual perception was appropriate, and semantic categorization and picture-word matching tasks were 80.6% and 78.6% correct, respectively. Lexical decision task showed no significant differences within word classes, except shorter reaction time in reading words of Korean origin than those of chinese origin (p <0.05). The patient was able to read only 39.8% of tested words, and he could not read all the non-words. Reading of high frequency word was superior (65.4%) to that of low frequency words (10.9%) and semantic errors were not remarkable (p <0.05). CONCLUSION: The patient showed characteristics of recovery from deep to phonologic dyslexia with impairment of grapheme to phoneme conversion (GPC) route. These findings support that dual route model is applicable to Korean word reading.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Dyslexia ; Dyslexia, Acquired ; Humans ; Language Disorders ; Occipital Lobe ; Reaction Time ; Semantics ; Stroke* ; Visual Perception

BACKGROUND: Korean orthography is composed of Hanja (ideograms) and Hangul (phonograms). Based on previous studies, the fusiform gyrus has been associated with ideogram reading. We examine serial functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) images in a patient exhibiting dissociation of Hanja and Hangul reading to identify brain areas associated with Hanja reading. CASE REPORT: fMRI were taken of a 63-year-old man showing profound Hanja alexia with normal Hangul reading after an acute stroke involving the left frontal and parietal lobes, who later spontaneously recovered his Hanja reading ability. Scans were taken while performing Hanja and Hangul reading tasks on three occasions. As a result, in spite of having profound Hanja alexia, partial activation of the fusiform gyrus was observed on the first fMRI. Serial fMRI scans showed activation of the bilateral middle frontal gyri that increased in parallel with the patient's recovery of Hanja reading. CONCLUSIONS: The frontal lobe, not only fusiform gyrus, may play role in reading Hanja, although more evidence is needed.
Brain ; Dyslexia* ; Frontal Lobe ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Middle Aged ; Parietal Lobe ; Reading ; Stroke* ; Temporal Lobe*

Speech and language are uniquely human-specific traits that have contributed to humans becoming the predominant species on earth from an evolutionary perspective. Disruptions in human speech and language function may result in diverse disorders, including stuttering, aphasia, articulation disorder, spasmodic dysphonia, verbal dyspraxia, dyslexia, and specific language impairment (SLI). These disorders often cluster within a family, and this clustering strongly supports the hypothesis that genes are involved in human speech and language functions. For several decades, multiple genetic studies, including linkage analysis and genomewide association studies, were performed in an effort to link a causative gene to each of these disorders, and several genetic studies revealed associations between mutations in specific genes and disorders such as stuttering, verbal dyspraxia, and SLI. One notable genetic discovery came from studies on stuttering in consanguineous Pakistani families; these studies suggested that mutations in lysosomal enzyme-targeting pathway genes (GNPTAB, GNPTG, and NAPGA) are associated with non-syndromic persistent stuttering. Another successful study identified FOXP2 in a Caucasian family affected by verbal dyspraxia. Furthermore, an abnormal ultrasonic vocalization pattern (USV) was observed in knock-in (KI) and humanized mouse models carrying mutations in the FOXP2 gene. Although studies have increased our understanding of the genetic causes of speech and language disorders, these genes can only explain a small fraction of all disorders in patients. In this paper, we summarize recent advances and future challenges in an effort to reveal the genetic causes of speech and language disorders in animal models.
Animals ; Aphasia ; Apraxias ; Articulation Disorders ; Dyslexia ; Dysphonia ; Humans ; Language Disorders* ; Mice ; Models, Animal ; Stuttering ; Ultrasonics