Dyslexia and Children

"Appu!" - Sitting somewhere he may be day-dreaming. His mother has always a complaint about him. The child does not show any interest in his studies, but shows interest in music, dancing, etc!. But oh! He repaired the washing machine last week!. But the mother is worried about his laziness in studies. Whenever Appu sits for his studies, he shows symptoms of a host of illness! He has got head ache, eye-pain, wetting of the eyes, back pain, stomach-ache… etc. O, What so ever pains! His handwriting is illegible. Most of the time he writes the letters in a jumbled way. That too, only when he sits for his studies. There is no illness in him when he does whatever he likes. Is this mere illness? What else? This is what his mother’s complaints always. Let us ask Appu! “Why is it so dear child, there is head-ache, eye-pain, back-pain, stomach ache, whenever you sit for your studies?” “’m telling the truth. Not lying”, Appu responds. Poor Appu! He himself only knows his mental agony whenever he hears these complaints against him. Poor child!. He has got DYSLEXIA. Nobody realizes this. Whenever he writes, the child jumbles his letters. Why? The letters, the words, are leading him to an altogether different world of fantasy. There is no difference in the alphabets ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘p’, ‘q’, ‘f’, ‘t’, or C..D… as far as Appu is concerned. For example, when he sees the alphabets ‘f’, ‘t’, his mind may be flying along with a butterfly and when he sees ‘C’, ‘D’, there may be the image of a folded ‘Dosa’ in his mind. More than any child, Appu has the rare genius to indulge in a world of fantasy. Such quality, we can perceive n the world-renowned shoe-designers and dress-designers. From a world of fantasy and creativity, Appu learns something different. This happens because of a peculiar way of communication between the left and right sides of his brain. Poor his mother cannot understand this!. The words, the sentences, the meaning, reading, writing, etc. are confined within the left-side of his brain. It is this phenomenon, that is carrying him away from the reality of this world. Why does Appu feels multi-faced pain whenever he sits for his studies? His sympathetic system responds, when he is carried away from the world of fantasy to the world of the left-side of his brain. He feels eye-pain, his eyes wet when the Ciliory Muscles in the eyes contract. The muscles in both sides of his brain contract. He feels back pain when both sides of the vertebra contract. He feels stomach pain when acid secretion in the mouth increases. Appu experiences all these pains, whenever he sits for his studies. Poor Appu! The child is not lying. But o’ what a wonder it is that whenever he enters into his own personal world all these symptoms disappear. There are so may Appus like this around us. But, when they indulge in dance, music, repair work etc., the works they like, their amateurism can express high performances. This is Dyslexia. This world is altogether different for such people. From this common world around us, such children can gather rare jewels and diamonds. It is mere callousness to confine them within the world of spelling and grammar. What a great treasure it would be if they get opportunity to contribute their rare genius to the virtue of this world!. Instead, what would be the unfathomable pain, sorrow, and inferiority complex they would have if they are scolded? What would be the negative contribution such children hand over to the world, to the society in such cases? It is unimaginable to fathom the dimension of this. When children express such defective behavior, there may be other reasons too. Such reasons can be traced through proper medical examination, through blood checking, examination of the working of the digestive system when fat, protein are absorbed. Medical treatment can be extended in such cases. Then the child can be treated for hyper-activity, autism, autistic feeling, laziness, non remembrance etc. With the help of parents, special educator, and school teachers, the doctor can give advices for coordinating the child’s education in a proper way. Dr.Lakshmi.R.Lakshman MBBS, MD, M.Tech. Asst. Professor Dept. of Gynaecology, AIMS Despite the fact that the writer herself had been a prey to dyslexia, she could wriggle out of its clutches, with the help of Almighty God through self experimentation. The writer could professionally educate Dyslexian fellowmen to cure themselves of the illness. The spiritual as well as Yogic ways will provide immense help for this. We can extend magnanimous help to such children by giving advices to parents and to children themselves in the right time and in the right way. This must be our noble aim. Translated by: Dr. H. Sadasivan Pillai, Principal, D.B. College, Keezhoor.