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Is Dyslexia Screening Relevant?
In the future, the best dyslexia screening tests will be administered by medical doctors, rather than psychologists. Relatively new technology like MRIs and PETs will reveal structural differences in the brains of people with reading difficulties. For instance, it has already been discovered that dyslexic
adults have a deficit in a region within the left hemisphere of the brain, including the inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, middle cortex and ventral temporal cortex. Additionally, molecular biologists have linked dyslexia to modifications of certain genes: DCDC2 and KIAA0319 on Chromosome #6 and DYX1C1 on Chromosome #15.
The two tests approved in America for dyslexia, DEST- dyslexia early screening test and COPS 1- cognitive profiling system have been talked about in the 2007 book "Advances in early years screening for dyslexia in the United Kingdom". If these dyslexia screening tests are carried out in time, the students who are at risk can be pinpointed and helped before they become less motivated and start having emotional and behavioral problems. These two tests offer the best chances according to the educators responsible for teaching adults and children with learning disorders, provided they are conducted at the right time.
"Dyslexia is not a matter of low intelligence. It is mainly caused genetically, as twin-studies have shown," says Arndt Wilcke, scientist at Leipzig, Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology. He says that 1 in 4 German school children suffer with dyslexia signs and that they're "trying to find out which genes cause the disease." They propose that embryonic nerve cells may not migrate to the right places during development, thereby causing the confusion. Currently, researchers in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US are racing to see who will first identify those specific genes that are associated with reading difficulties.
Critics argue that dyslexia screening is largely subjective and that it's futile to distinguish "adults with dyslexia" from "adults who have difficulty reading." They add that saddling someone with "an adult learning disability" can actually further hinder their development or expose them to discrimination. However, researchers have also found that a number of individuals flourish once they learn about other adult learning styles that they may benefit from. Perhaps some of the biological arguments for dyslexia will settle the score once and for all.
For online Dyslexia screening please visit Am I Dyslexic.com
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