Dyslexia

In the dictionary, ”dyslexia” is said to be derived from the Greek words “dys” meaning poor or inadequate and “lexis” meaning words or language.  The most common problem linked to dyslexia is the transposition of letters or numbers. These problems carry over into listening, writing, reading, spelling and even handwriting.  In short, dyslexics have great difficulty processing language, this has however no bearing on their intelligence.

In actuality dyslexia is a unique mind set that is often gifted and productive, but learns differently from the typical mind.  The fact is that some of the most brilliant minds of our time have had dyslexia: Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Benjamin Franklin, John F. Kennedy, John Lennon and even Mozart just to mention a few.  People with distinguished carreers like Walt Disney, Tom Cruise, Danny Glover, Cher, Magic Johnson,  Carl Lewis, Bruce Jenner and General George Patton are also known to be dyslexic.  Most dyslexics have a better sense of spatial relationships and make better use of their right brain.

Dyslexia and analyzing Sound:  Dyslexia manifests differently from individual to individual.  There is still however, a common factor: they all read at levels significantly lower than their typical counterparts of similar age and intelligence.

As per Dr. Tomatis’ research, reading, silent or out loud, has to do with processing sound. Sound is a complex blend of differing frequencies coupled with varying intensities.  Analyzing it quickly and accurately is not easy. Even the most sophisticated computers today still have trouble analyzing sound, contributing to the imperfections of the voice recognition systems that are available today. Sounds is analysed in the inner ear or more specifically in the cochlea. When the cochlea fails to analyse sound accurately it results in dyslexia.

Each sound has a base frequency coupled with some higher frequencies/harmonics. Some sounds are so similar they have the same base frequency and merely differ in the higher harmonics, a very good example of this are the sounds associated to the symbols “B” and “P” easily misinterpreted by the typical mind, and even more so by the dyslexic mind. Likewise, “T” and “D” are also similar and it is really quite easy to understand how they can be misinterpreted. If someone says “Bob”, the dyslexic is never quite sure of just what was said, it could have been “Bob”, “Bop” or “Pop.” By the time they have it figured out  the speaker is already way past that point. Consequently, the dyslexic person processes language at a slower rate.  Sure seems just like an auditory processing problem!

Here at a DLS center we retrain dyslexic ears to hear and process these very similar yet differening sounds. This is done by listen to gated music, using specific high frequency bands, causing the person to gradually be able to distinguish between the crucial higher harmonics, so that the individual can clearly tell if what he heard was “Bob”, “Bop” or “Pop”! As these sounds become clear spelling and writing improve almost magically.

Ear-Eye Coordination:  Reading, as noticed by Dr. Tomatis is a complex act requiring both, the ears and the eyes to work synchronously together.  As the eyes perceive the symbol which is a letter, the ears must identify the corresponding sound, this, even when reading silently.  The vestibule leads the eye from letter to letter and the cochlea translates each letter/symbol into a specified sound.  Ideally, these operations should happen close to simultaneously.  Trouble starts when the delay is too long.  Thus we can conclude that, if the vestibule and cochlea are not working syncroniously together then the eyes and ears are not working synchroniously either.

Complicating the process, each sound lasts for a specific amount of time and the ear must constantly adjust to the rapid changes.  When the ear fails to keep up, the eyes and ears fall out of synchronization causing sound and letter not to be coupled in the right order.  Without sound, the letter has no meaning.  The dyslexic is left guessing, hoping that the sound they finally utter or think will match the letter of the alphabet dancing on the page in front of them.

To improve vestibular function, the client is made to listen to low frequency gated music. The impact of this is usually very rapid and quite clearly visible. Motor skills and posture rapidly improve. Clients often claim to be doing better in sports, which in turn improvs their self-esteem. The client gradually starts reading with pleasure, further improving spelling.

Awaken Listening helps their dyslexic clients achieve better right-ear dominance by gradually shifting sound from the left to the right ear, as with our other clients.

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