These learning disabilities have a significant impact on the school and social life of children. Dyslexia, dysorthography, dyspraxia, ADD or ADHD… Focus on dys disorders.
What are Dys Disorders?
Specific language and learning disorders are better known as dys disorders. According to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), they affect 5-7% of school-aged children, who have no identifiable sensory, psychiatric or neurological problems, and their causes are unknown. They lead to difficulty learning to read, write, spell, calculate, speak, remember or concentrate. Contrary to certain received ideas, they are absolutely not the sign of a weaker intelligence than the average. We take stock of the different dys disorders.
What is dyslexia?
The specific learning disorder with reading deficit is more commonly called dyslexia. It is characterized by a poor association between written signs (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes). Affected children are slow to decipher words and make mistakes when reading due to an inability to understand a whole word quickly. They therefore have difficulties in reading, writing and assimilating spelling. Dyslexia can be associated with dysorthographia and/or visuo-attentional problems.
What is dysorthographia?
Dysorthography, or specific learning disorder with deficit of written expression, is characterized by persistent difficulties in learning and mastering spelling. Affected people do not assimilate spelling rules, which leads to impaired writing. There are two types: developmental dysorthographia, which is innate, and acquired dysorthographia, which can occur after trauma. The association with dyslexia is frequent, but not obligatory. It can be spotted in a child when he confuses the letters producing similar sounds or similar words, when he inverts letters, when he misplaces the spaces between words (for example by sticking “unefleur” instead of ‘”a flower”), problems with chords and conjugations, missing letters, etc. Although they may be associated, dysorthographia, dyslexia and dyspraxia should not be confused with dysgraphia, a transcription disorder, which is a functional disorder and not a learning disorder.
What is dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is also called specific learning disorder with calculation deficit.. It is manifested by difficulties in counting, enumerating, immediately recognizing small quantities, learning and knowing number systems and switching between them, recognizing signs like “+”, “=” and “x”, to put a calculation in writing, to solve problems, to do mental arithmetic, to remember the tables of addition and multiplication, to locate and orient oneself in space (which leads to difficulties in geometry) or to differentiate quantities such as “as much as”, “three times more than”, “less than”, etc. This disorder can be associated with dyslexia and dysorthographia: it is not uncommon for difficulties in reading and writing to lead to poor perception or difficulty learning numbers.
What is dysphasia?
The dysphasia is an oral language expression disorder that can affect the way people speak. This will concern phonology, with pronunciation difficulties, distorted words or indistinct words. It can also affect vocabulary and syntax, with difficulty composing sentences properly. Dysphasia is sometimes accompanied by a comprehension disorder, for example with difficulty understanding instructions, understanding abstract words and not being able to use the context of a text to understand an unknown word. Early detection and management are recommended for this disorder, if possible from 3 years and before 5 years.
What is dyspraxia?
Dyspraxia is a specific disorder of motor development and/or visuospatial functions. It will manifest itself by a total or partial inability to perform gestures voluntarily or automatically. The children concerned will have difficulty finding their bearings in space and time, reading diagrams and doing geometry, carrying out construction games, puzzles or manual activities, dressing themselves and level of fine motor skills: handling a pencil, scissors, cutlery… Finally, they will present a form of clumsiness and experience many falls. Dyspraxia is a cerebral dysfunction, that is to say that it is a handicap that affects the development of the child without being caused, for example, by paralysis or by an intellectual deficit.
What is ADHD or ADD?
Attention disorders with hyperactivity (ADHD) or without hyperactivity (ADD) are considered to be part of specific learning disorders. Children have attention deficits, that is to say they have difficulty concentrating and staying attentive, to which is sometimes added hyperactivity. It also translates into impulsiveness and disorganization that lead to careless mistakes, failure to follow instructions, and unfinished work. These attention disorders can be accompanied by other behavioral disorders (opposition, anxiety, etc.) and psychological difficulties.
What are memory disorders?
Memory disorders affect memory, whether it is work, short-term or long-term, or immediate. Affected children have learning difficulties because they can forget the lessons yet learned by heart the day before and the instructions given, the inability to understand the meaning of a long text and regularly lose objects. The people concerned can often be seen as “head in the air”, inattentive or negligent, which impacts their relationships with others in addition to affecting their learning and their ability to work in a team.