What is dyslexia? - Kelli Sandman-Hurley

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Dyslexia affects up to 1 in 5 people, but the experience of dyslexia isn't always the same. This difficulty in processing language exists along a spectrum -- one that doesn't necessarily fit with labels like "normal" and "defective." Kelli Sandman-Hurley urges us to think again about dyslexic brain function and to celebrate the neurodiversity of the human brain.

Lesson by Kelli Sandman-Hurley, animation by Marc Christoforidis.

Take a moment to read the following.

How was that?

Frustrating?

Slow?

What were those sentences about?

They're actually a simulation

of the experience of dyslexia,

designed to make you decode each word.

Those with dyslexia experience
that laborious pace

every time they read.

When most people think of dyslexia,

they think of seeing letters
and words backwards,

like seeing "b" as "d" and vice versa,

or they might think people with dyslexia

see "saw" as "was".

The truth is people with dyslexia

see things the same way as everyone else.

Dyslexia is caused by a phonological
processing problem,

meaning people affected by it

have trouble not with seeing language

but with manipulating it.

For example, if you heard the word cat

and then someone asked
you, "Remove the 'c',"

what word would you have left?

At.

This can be difficult
for those with dyslexia.

Given a word in isolation,

like fantastic,

students with dyslexia
need to break the word

into parts to read it:

fan,

tas,

tic.

Time spent decoding makes it hard

to keep up with peers

and gain sufficient comprehension.

Spelling words phonetically,

like s-t-i-k

for stick

and f-r-e-n-s

for friends

is also common.

These difficulties are more
widespread and varied

than commonly imagined.

Dyslexia affects up to one in five people.

It occurs on a continuum.

One person might have mild dyslexia

while the next person has
a profound case of it.

Dyslexia also runs in families.

It's common to see one family member

who has trouble spelling

while another family member

has severe difficulty decoding
even one syllable words,

like catch.

The continuum and distribution of dyslexia

suggests a broader
principle to bear in mind

as we look at how the brains
of those with dyslexia

process language.

Neurodiversity is the idea

that because all our brains
show differences

in structure and function,

we shouldn't be so quick to label

every deviation from "the norm"

as a pathological disorder

or dismiss people living
with these variations

as "defective."

People with neurobiological
variations like dyslexia,

including such creative
and inventive individuals

as Picasso,

Muhammad Ali,

Whoopi Goldberg,

Steven Spielberg,

and Cher,

clearly have every capacity

to be brilliant and successful in life.

So, here's the special way

the brains of those with dyslexia work.

The brain is divided into two hemispheres.

The left hemisphere is generally
in charge of language

and, ultimately, reading,

while the right typically
handles spatial activities.

fMRI studies have found

that the brains of those with dyslexia

rely more on the right
hemisphere and frontal lobe

than the brains of those without it.

This means, when they read a word,

it takes a longer trip through their brain

and can get delayed in the frontal lobe.

Because of this neurobiological glitch,

they read with more difficulty.

But those with dyslexia

can physically change their brain

and improve their reading

with an intensive,
multi-sensory intervention

that breaks the language down

and teaches the reader to decode

based on syllable types
and spelling rules.

The brains of those with dyslexia

begin using the left hemisphere

more efficiently while reading,

and their reading improves.

The intervention works

because it locates dyslexia appropriately

as a functional variation in the brain,

which, naturally, shows
all sorts of variations

from one person to another.

Neurodiversity emphasizes this spectrum

of brain function in all humans

and suggests that to better
understand the perspectives

of those around us,

we should try not only to see
the world through their eyes

but understand it through their brains.