Dyslexia is an information processing and neurological disorder that makes it difficult for a person to read, write, interpret, and process information. Today, we’ll discuss what is auditory dyslexia; its symptoms, causes, and treatment.
What is Auditory Dyslexia?
Auditory dyslexia is a subcategory and subtype of dyslexia, and it also goes by the name phonological dyslexia and dysphonetic dyslexia. It is a type that focuses on children that face difficulties with reading because they struggle with processing basic phonemes (sounds of language), groups of letters, and sounds of letters.
The term dyslexia is derived from the combination of two Greek words “dys” meaning difficult or ill and “lexis” meaning words. It refers to a situation where a person has difficulty in reading.
Symptoms of Auditory Dyslexia
Some of the main symptoms of auditory dyslexia are as follows;
Sound-Symbol Association Problems
It happens due to the breakage in the interneurosensory processing. It means that the child can’t develop the needed link between phonemes and graphemes. However, the biggest problems a child could face in understanding the following things;
- 26 letters of the English alphabets, and they comprise 44 phonemes
- Phonetic properties are different from the names of the letters
- Completely different sounds produced by the combination of vowels and consonants
- They produce different sounds if they change their combination
- Soft and silent sounds rely on the position of letters in the words
If the child has also got memory disorder, then the difficulty would get multiplied.
Auditory Discrimination Difficulties
The child faces difficulty in differentiating between different and similar sounds of words and letters. The condition would get worse when the child can’t filter out the background noise from the voices. However, they experience difficulty in understanding some consonant sounds like t, d, n, m, p, and b; and short vowel sounds like i and e. For instance, they usually misread the three-letter word joined by the vowel sound like pin or pen.
Synthesis & Auditory Analysis Difficulties
They can’t read difficult and unfamiliar words because they have a limited structural analytical approach. You have to recognize the morphemes in the structural analysis and they comprise root words, suffixes, and prefixes. When you recognize these smaller units they become the whole.
Auditory Sequence Difficulties
The condition disturbs the temporal order of sounds in words. The child can’t retain the information in the short-term memory like the sequence of sounds long enough to pronounce in the correct order. The individual letters have an association with correct sounds and identifying syllables. The child can easily reverse the order when it comes to pronouncing them.
Problems with Auditory Memory
The continuous usage of words and retrieving the sounds of the letter is difficult for people with auditory dyslexia condition due to t the inefficient long-term storage and system of processing. It’s also difficult for them to remember the name and the specific sounds, and they make substitute sounds relevant to such words. However, the substitute words are easy to remember and pronounce due to the phonic principle.
Substitution/Additions/Omissions
While pronouncing the words, they would leave the single syllables and phonemes like walk for walking, box for boxes, and rut for rust. The omission of syllables in the words makes some words meaningless. Sometimes, they omit the whole word due to the visual oversight, and the child would ignore some words because of the difficult pronunciation.
Mispronunciation
Mispronunciation of various kinds happens in this condition like the wrong pronunciation of vowels. The child would experience difficulty in pronouncing the short vowels, and not fully understanding the difference between short and long vowel sounds, like mat and mate.
The variation and differences among various sounds would confuse the child. For instance, words like put, but, and mut, all have the same properties with a slight difference in initial consonants, but different pronunciations.
Repetitions & Hesitations
Correct pronunciation uncertainty about particular words would make the child take the incorrect pause between words. The child would pronounce the word or phrase repetitively many times before attempting to solve the problematic word.
Causes of Auditory Dyslexia
Some of the main cognitive skills issues that could cause auditory dyslexia are as follows;
Phonological Awareness
It means awareness of a person from the structure, sound, and phonological structure of the language. It is a form of listening skill comprising of differentiating various units of speech like phonemes in syllables, syllables in words, and rhymes.
The subtype of phonological awareness is phonemic awareness and it focuses on manipulating and recognizing small words. Both of them comprise blending and segmenting of the word. However, blending means pronouncing the word fully, and segmenting is the process of breaking the word. The most important skill for reading and phonics is phonic awareness.
Short Term Verbal Memory
Verbal memory comprises verbal and written word items. Verbal memory falls under the category of short-term memory and it means keeping the information active in your mind for some time. However, short-term verbal memory comprises three main elements; encoding, duration, and capacity.
Rapid Atomized Naming
It means the speed of a person’s mind to recall symbols, picture objects, letters, and words by retrieving them from the long-term memory. People with auditory dyslexia usually score poorly on the test RAN (rapid atomizing naming).
Treatment of Auditory Dyslexia
The causes have shown that auditory dyslexia occurs because of weakened cognitive skills. If diagnosed in the early stages, then you can strengthen your cognitive and mental skills through practice and training. However, the Edublox and other training programs would help the person with the condition to strengthen their cognitive skill by rapid naming, short-term memory, phonic awareness, and addressing the spelling and reading deficit among children.
Conclusion: What is Auditory Dyslexia? Symptoms, Causes, Treatment
After an in-depth study of what is auditory dyslexia; its symptoms, causes, and treatment; we have realized that the condition occurs because of weak cognitive skills. If you’re experiencing its symptoms, then you should consult with the healthcare provider in your area.
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