Dyslexia falls under the category of learning disability disorder and it makes it difficult for the person to read, write, and process numbers and letters. Dyslexia has got various types like phonological, deep, auditory, and visual dyslexia. Today, we’ll discuss what is surface dyslexia; its symptoms, causes, and treatment.
What is Surface Dyslexia?
Surface dyslexia also goes by the name of dyseidetic and visual dyslexia. It’s the subtype of dyslexia where a person experiences difficulty in recognizing and spelling whole words. People with this condition can master the art of phonics, but they’re unable to read words that have got different spellings than their sounds like irregular words. Some of the irregular words are friend, colonel, chaos, island, earth, answer, father, yacht, debt, and weight.
It’s a type of disorder that is similar to the subliminal level of reading difficulty. The dyslexic person can learn the basic level of reading skills, but when it comes to the difference between pronunciation and printed words, and then it would baffle their mind. Newcombe and Marshall were the first to recognize this disorder in 1973.
Symptoms of Surface Dyslexia
Some of the main symptoms of surface dyslexia in different categories are as follows;
Reading-Related Issues
A surface dyslexic child/person would exhibit the following symptoms;
I-Late Surface
The result of surfacing dyslexic condition is late speech. The child can’t make words because of incapability to read the whole words and limited reading skills.
II-Reading Incapability by Sight
Such people would always segment the words into letters before speaking them out. The whole experience would interrupt their reading fluency.
III-Spelling the Words Wrong
When the same word gets repeated in the sentence or paragraph, they would spell it incorrectly, and it’s a copy of surface dyslexic condition. For instance, it is possible that you would find the spelling of the word bad and dab for the word “bad.”
IV-Reading Inability that Pronounce & Spell Differently
It’s difficult for people with this condition to read such words that have got different pronunciations from their spellings. When it comes to repetitive words, it is difficult for them to correctly pronounce such words that have different sounds and spelling.
Behavioral Difficulties
The surface dyslexic condition could happen due to semantic dementia. The condition isn’t restricted to the reading disorder only. In fact, the person would exhibit symptoms in the following categories as well;
I-Remembering Dates
People with the surface dyslexic condition can easily forget the dates. You should prepare yourself to deal with such people and situations where they’re forgetting the due dates of bills, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
II-Daily Schedules
The condition disturbs a person’s capability to follow the routine and daily schedule. The dyslexic person could easily forget the actionable work and steps on the to-do list.
III-Incapability to Link Pictures with Words
People with the surface dyslexic condition would find it hard to recall the pictures and images relevant to the words. Some research studies have also shown that they also can’t speak the words by looking at the picture.
Other Impacted Skills
The condition that impacts the most is the communication skill, and you can observe its effects in the following activities;
- Building up vocabulary
- Differentiation homophones
- Pronunciation of words
- Retrieval of information
- Recalling words
- Arrangement of words in a specific order
Causes of Surface Dyslexia
Researchers don’t know the exact and precise cause of the surface dyslexic condition. Some research studies have shown that it could be inherent along with some risk factors. Some of the risk factors of surface dyslexic condition that could cause it are as follows;
- Single differences in some areas of the brain that processes language and it helps the child to read
- Parental infection that impacts the brain development of the child
- Using substances and exposure to drugs, nicotine, and alcohol during the pregnancy stage
- Lower birth weight of the baby and premature birth
- Family history of learning disabilities and dyslexic conditions
Treatment of Surface Dyslexia
In order to decrease the impact of the surface dyslexic condition, your doctor would recommend psychotherapy and different types of practices to deal with its symptoms. Some of those practices are as follows;
Sentence Activity
If you keep on intervening in the reading sessions, then the participants would be able to finish the sentence activity. It would allow them to repeat the activity and write the missing element of the sentence in order to establish the skill through neuroplasticity. It is a very useful activity when the condition happens because of a traumatic injury.
Repetitive Reading Session
Your remediators and helpers would offer you dyslexia-friendly books, sight word books, and reading apps, and also suggest you read them regularly. The activity would help them to train their brain in order to ease their reading skill and identify the sentences.
Playing Recall Game
If the child could remember the word from the pictures, then you should repeat the process by using the flashcards. The goal is to improve the memory retention skill, and repetition of the recalling process lowers the effect of neurological complexity.
Conclusion: What is Surface Dyslexia? Symptoms, Causes, Treatment
After an in-depth study of what is surface dyslexia; its symptoms, causes, and treatment; we have realized that the condition could badly impact the learning capabilities of the children. If you’re experiencing its symptoms, then you should consult with the healthcare provider in your area.
Ahsan is an accomplished researcher and has a deep insight in worldly life affairs. He goes Live 3 days a week on various social media platforms. Other than research writing, he’s a very interesting person.
