Dyslexia is a persistent and specific literacy learning disorder that occurs in children who do not present any physical, psychological, or sociocultural handicap and whose origin seems to derive from a neurodevelopmental disorder. As educators, being aware of the needs of our students is essential. Therefore, today we want to talk a little about Dyslexia And New Technologies: Text-To-Speech.
What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading because of problems identifying speech sounds and understanding how they are related to letters and words (decoding). Dyslexia also called “reading difficulty,” affects areas of the brain that process language.
People with dyslexia have normal intelligence and usually normal vision as well. Most children with dyslexia can be successful in school with the help of a tutor or specialized teaching program. Emotional support also plays an important role.
Although there is no cure for dyslexia, early evaluation and intervention produce the best results. Dyslexia sometimes goes undiagnosed for years and remains unrecognized well into adulthood, but it’s never too late to seek help.
Symptoms
The signs of dyslexia can be difficult to recognize before a child starts school, but there are some early signs that can indicate a problem. Once the child reaches school age, the teacher may be the first to notice the problem. The severity varies, but the condition usually becomes more apparent when the child begins to learn to read.
Before School
Signs that a young child may be at risk for dyslexia include:
- Slow to start talking
- Learn new words at a slow pace
- Trouble forming words properly, such as reversing the sounds of words or confusing words that sound alike
- Trouble remembering or saying the names of letters, numbers, and colors
- Difficulty learning nursery rhymes or playing rhyming games
School Age
Once a child is in school, the signs and symptoms of dyslexia may become more visible, including:
- Reading level well below that expected for age
- Problems processing and understanding what you hear
- Difficulty finding the right word or formulating answers to questions
- Trouble remembering sequences of things
- Difficulty seeing (and occasionally hearing) similarities and differences between letters and words
- Inability to pronounce an unknown word
- Difficulty spelling
- Taking longer than usual to complete tasks that involve reading or writing
- Avoid activities that involve reading
Adolescents and Adults
The signs of dyslexia in adolescents and adults are similar to those in children. Some of the common signs and symptoms of dyslexia in adolescents and adults are:
- Difficulty reading, even reading aloud
- Slow and difficult reading and writing
- spelling problems
- Avoid activities that involve reading
- Mispronunciation of names or words, or trouble remembering words
- Trouble understanding jokes or expressions that may not be easy to understand from specific words (idioms), such as “no brainer,” which means “easy”
- Taking longer than usual to complete tasks that involve reading or writing
- Difficulty summarizing a story
- Problems learning a foreign language
- Difficulty memorizing
- Difficulty solving math problems
When to see a doctor
While most children are ready to learn to read by kindergarten or first grade, children with dyslexia often cannot grasp the basic concepts needed for reading at this stage. Talk to your doctor if your child’s reading level is below what is expected for her age or if you notice other signs of dyslexia.
When this disorder goes undiagnosed and untreated, reading difficulties that began in childhood will continue into adulthood.
Causes
Dyslexia tends to run in families. It appears to be related to certain genes that affect the way the brain processes reading and language, and to risk factors in the environment.
Risk factor’s
Risk factors for dyslexia include the following:
- Family history of dyslexia or other learning difficulties
- Premature birth or low birth weight
- Exposure to nicotine, drugs, alcoholic beverages, or an infection during pregnancy that can alter fetal brain development
- Individual differences in the parts of the brain that allow reading
Complications
Dyslexia can cause a number of complications, including:
- Problems to learn. Because reading is a foundational skill for many of the other school materials, a child with dyslexia is at a disadvantage in most classes and may have a hard time keeping up with their peers.
- Social problems. If left untreated, dyslexia can cause low self-esteem, behavior problems, anxiety, aggression, and withdrawal from friends, parents, and teachers.
- Problems in adulthood. A child may be prevented from reaching her potential when she grows up if he cannot read or understand. This can have long-term educational, social, and economic consequences.
Children with dyslexia are at increased risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and vice versa. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can cause difficulty sustaining attention as well as hyperactivity and compulsive behavior, which can make dyslexia more difficult to treat.
How Can We Assist Them As Educators?
First of all, we must remember that our attitude must be positive and constructive since to be successful in studies, the dyslexic student only requires different teaching. Although your particular needs should be attended to by a professional specializing in dyslexia, the application of the following strategies to learn will be very useful:
- Be clear about what we expect of them; accept and encourage them to ask questions during the lessons, and make sure that they understand the instructions.
- Check that the environment is structured, predictable, and orderly since people with dyslexic difficulties respond better when certain premises are met.
- Accept and admit that our students will take longer to learn and will tire more quickly than other students.
- Make sure that the instructions and explanations that we transmit are clear, according to the student’s pace, and repeat them as many times as necessary.
- It is highly positive to praise the student’s abilities, their strengths, and above all their effort and courage to confront their dyslexia, without forgetting the psychic pain that it causes them.
Dyslexia And New Technologies: Text-To-Speech
Reading is probably one of the most challenging aspects of this process. With the Text-To-Speech technology, you can convert Texts to audio format to facilitate their accessibility. Although you can provide this format only to those students with dyslexia or other visual impairment, the truth is that it is a very good idea to share these versions with all your students, since this creates a level playing field for all. Let us always remember to put ourselves in the place of the others: we never like to be the only ones or those who receive different treatment at school, university, or work. Therefore, it is interesting to think of this tool for accessibility to work materials and equal conditions.
Use Woord To Aid Your Students With Dyslexia With A Free AI Voice Generator?
Woord is an extremely easy-to-use and user-friendly tool. It has two qualities that make it one of the best on the market: its affordability -it even has a free version-, and its high-quality results. Using it is extremely simple, just follow these steps:
- First, you have to go to https://www.getwoord.com/, where you can share text you want to convert. You may also use the SSML editor to write it there yourself.
- Choose your favorite voice, selecting gender, and accents. Here you will also be able to edit other settings, like the speed or pauses, for example.
- Finally, allow the platform to create your audio by clicking ‘Speak it.’ Play it once it’s ready. You may download it as an MP3 file if you like the result, or keep editing.
For More Inclusive Uses Of Text-To-Speech We Recommend…
How Text-To-Speech Aids Visually Impaired Students
Text-To-Speech: Resource For Inclusion Of Visually Impaired People
Also published on Medium.