Articles

What Is Dyslexia?
While the term is mostly used to describe a severe reading problem, there has been little agreement in the literature or in practice concerning the definition of severe or the specific distinguishing characteristics that differentiate dyslexia from other reading problems. Instead of getting involved in the wrangling over a definition, one could simply use the "symptoms" below as an indication that a child has a reading problem and therefore needs help. Read more…

b-d Reversals: A Telltale Sign of Dyslexia
The word "dyslexia" means "difficulty with words or language." A telltale sign of dyslexia is reversals. People with this kind of problem often confuse letters like b and d, either when reading or when writing, or they sometimes read (or write) words like "rat" for "tar," or "won" for "now." Read more…

The Foundational Skills of Reading
Before building a house, one needs to lay a foundation. Unless there is a strong and solid foundation, cracks will soon appear in the walls, and with no foundations, the walls will collapse. In the same way one needs to lay a proper foundation before it becomes possible for a child to benefit from a course in reading. If this foundation is shaky, learning "cracks" will soon appear. Read more…

Effective Help for Spelling Problems
Children with reading difficulties usually have problems in spelling as well, and oftentimes have more severe deficits in spelling than in reading, according to Hallahan et al. in Introduction to Learning Disabilities. In reading, context and other cues help one to decode a word, but in spelling, one must produce the word after hearing or thinking it. Read more…

Cognitive Skills Determine Learning Ability
Research has shown that cognitive skills are a determining factor of an individual's learning ability. Cognitive skills are mental skills that are used in the process of acquiring knowledge; according to Oxfordlearning.com the skills that "separate the good learners from the so-so learners." In essence, when cognitive skills are strong, learning is fast and easy. When cognitive skills are weak, learning becomes a struggle. Read more…

Memory: Fundamental to Reading, Spelling and Learning
Memory is the retention of information over time. Although the word memory may conjure up an image of a singular, "all-or-none" process, it is clear that there are actually many kinds of memory: sensory register, short-term memory, long-term memory, visual memory, auditory memory, and sequential memory, to name but a few. Read more…

Why Is Logical Thinking Essential?
Aside from food, water, and shelter, the one thing that a person will most need in life is an education. Of those four necessities, education is the only one that can help ensure a person’s consistent ability to provide himself or herself with the other three. Unfortunately, the importance of logical thinking skills is underestimated in education, and training in logical thinking skills is therefore grossly neglected. Read more…

Neuroplasticity: An Extraordinary Discovery of the Twentieth Century
In the past few years neurologists have dismantled, piece by piece, the entrenched view that the human brain is fixed and unchanging in adults. It was long believed that once we grow up, our brains have a set number of neurons performing functions in a fixed way. According to the theory of neuroplasticity, thinking, learning, and acting actually change both the brain's functional anatomy from top to bottom, and its physical anatomy. Read more…