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Dyslexia – A Neurodevelopmental Approach
By Jan Bedell M.ND, M.Ed, October, 2008

Our nation worries about the education of its citizens. Companies are concerned about their workers’ ability to learn.  School budgets and finite staff struggle under the weight of federal mandates and the learning challenges of their students. Home school moms question their ability to teach. At the heart of the struggle is the debilitating diagnosis of dyslexia, which is affecting an estimated 5-15% or more of our U.S. children, particularly boys, and “…is the most frequently occurring learning disability and the most common disorder of childhood” (Richards et al, 1999).

What is Dyslexia?
          Dyslexia, the word that strikes fear, dread, and despair into the hearts of thousands of parents each year, is a complicated and controversial diagnosis.  Parents hear this devastating diagnosis and are typically told that teaching coping and compensating skills is the only answer. They see this proverbial “pile of bricks” loaded on their child’s back and are told he has to carry it around for the rest of his life. A definition used to describe, identify and treat this malady was proposed by the World Federation of Neurology in the 1960s and states:  “Dyslexia is a disorder manifested by difficulty learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and socio-culture opportunity.” (Catts & Kamhi p. 58). This definition seems to focus more on what dyslexia is not instead of what it is and has been used for decades to label hundreds of thousands of people.

Exploring the Symptoms
Many common dyslexic symptoms have been articulated by the learning disability researchers over the last one hundred years. They include deficits in: phonological awareness, balance,  motor control, visual discrimination, visual sequential processing, auditory processing, listening skills and are often characterized by letter reversals or transposing, clumsiness, figure drawing errors, and heightened emotionality.  A situation has been created where more research has resulted in less understanding, which is not the hallmark of a scientifically sound concept. But what is to be made of unexpected reading failure in otherwise average-functioning students (Kavale & Forness, 1998).

It is this author’s belief and experience that much of the confusion and often ineffective treatment of dyslexia is due to far too many professionals having the narrow view of a  “one size fits all” solution. It seems clear that with so many different symptoms, many aspects of human development are involved. 

What Could Be The Cause?
Many hypotheses are proposed for the “cause”. Some say it is a hereditary neurological disorder; others blame the structure and function of the brain; still others trace the causes to auditory processing deficits, visual dysfunction and or motor (cerebellar) dysfunction. Questions abound. Could primitive reflexes be interconnected causing problems with coordination of visual, vestibular and proprioceptive systems necessary for good feedback to the individual for reading?  What influence do ear infections have?  What about cultural reasons? The large amount of time children watched television and played video games, have caused them to stare straight ahead and try to read what is in the area of focus without moving their eyes (Corso, 1997). Of concern here, too, is the inhibited physical activity (Healy, 1994 p. 171). Confusion abounds to both parents and professionals!
Current Approaches
For many decades the traditional treatment for individuals with dyslexia has been a phonological approach first introduced by Samuel Orton (The Orton/Gillingham Method). The question a neurodevelop-mentalist (NDs) might ask is:  Was the approach he settled on too narrow when he himself in the 1920s listed multiple symptoms not related to phonology to describe this condition? Although the evidence in favor of the phonological weakness of dyslexics has dominated the scene recently, it does not diminish the importance of the visual perceptual problems that many dyslexics report (Stein, 1997) as well as the myriad of other symptoms with various causes.
The Neurodevelopmental (ND) Approach
It seem reasonable to NDs that dyslexia actually results from a combination of several different inefficiencies.  They would suggest that each case of dyslexia has a unique set of causes that needs to be addressed by looking at individual situations. This involves a global look at the child and specific activities based on the findings, in each case, treating the root causes.  They look at the whole child and focus on the causes instead of the symptoms! 
When you hear “The ND Approach” think “neuro-plasticity,” the brain’s natural ability to change and modify itself in response to changes in or enrichment of the environment (Ratey, 2001 p. 167) (See article online.) Plasticity is present as long as a person lives, otherwise stroke victims would have no hope of regaining function.  ND is the study of the brain’s plasticity to make advancements regardless of the current condition of the person with an understanding that abilities can be enhanced with brain stimulating activities when applied with the keys of frequency, intensity, and short duration over a specified period of time. (See related article online.)   NDs believe that these three keys to input, used in the stimulation of an individual’s auditory, visual, tactile, manual, language and mobility systems, are the solution to causing low or non-functioning parts of the brain to gain function thus reducing dyslexic symptoms. 
This unique approach relies on creating the right environment for the brain to essentially heal the faulty wiring which causes dyslexic symptoms. Theoretically, the ND Approach establishes learning difficulties as symptoms of incomplete development and inefficient communication between brain and body.  For instance, if an infant is not allowed to move from the stages of random movement into more specific coordinated movement and experience cross patterning activities gained through normal progression of crawling and creeping, the organization of the brain will be left in an incomplete state.  A surprising 75% of students with diagnosed learning difficulties never crawled (Corso, 1997). Crawling even promotes a new level of brain organization, as indicated by more organized EEG brain-wave activity in the cerebral cortex.
 Other Key Elements
NDs are keenly aware of the auditory system and the important role that it plays in the acquisition of reading skills.  Auditory memory refers to the ability to take in pieces of information, hold them in your mind and manipulate them in the short-term (Ness, K. 1999). There is an understanding that language skills such as speech, reading, writing, and spelling develop only if the child has learned to “listen” (Goddard, 2002 p. 106). The auditory system is a major aspect of phonology. All auditory deficits negatively affect phonological processing which would explain why many dyslexics make slow or minimal progress from phonetic instruction while others benefit greatly. Phonics being an auditory system requires decoding and holding sounds together to achieve words. It would follow that the better an individual’s auditory processing ability, the easier it would be to utilize phonics.  However, developing auditory skills is a challenge in a society which has become primarily visual Developing advanced auditory processing is highly recommended by NDs! It enhances the ability to decode unknown words as well as increasing reading comprehension. When low auditory processing exists, a different reading strategy is required until the auditory deficit can be remediated.
NDs also agree with prominent researchers in learning disability history who noted issues with the visual system of dyslexics from eye-hand coordination to tracking and teaming, to central detail vision issues, etc. The visual system does not act alone but relies on the vestibular and proprioceptive systems for accurate information, confirming the ND approach i.e. an individual is an integrated whole with different systems interacting and affecting each other.  Eye dominance (a subject too extensive for discussion here, see “Learning Disability” article online) has proven a key factor in correction of dyslexic symptoms. Orton (1938/1989), said that “eyedness… is not so widely recognized as handedness, but it is probably of equal importance” (p. 30). NDs have found that when eye dominance coordinates with the dominant hand and additional inefficiencies are addressed, dyslexic symptoms diminish and often disappear entirely. Refer to a bar graph, which shows the percentage of individuals (personal clients labeled as dyslexic by other professionals) that had mixed dominance as well as low auditory and visual sequential processing.

                                                                                  Conclusion