Whether it is ill health, poverty, illiteracy, sorrow or disrespect, almost everything that man suffers from is self-inflicted. Not only are these states preventable and avoidable, but they also offer a way out.

In underdeveloped countries most NGOs and social welfare organisations work on children suffering from malnutrition, but hardly any work with children suffering from mal-nurturing.

Beyond the physical needs there are other serious matters that need to be illuminated. Many child disorders and behaviours, have not yet been explained, and even the causes of such disorders are unknown. In such a situation, only an educated and intellectual analysis — based on available facts — is possible.

Dyslexia is one such disorder wherein the cause is not known and the only method of detecting it is through analysing writing and reading. This brings me to the next very logical question: “Does this imply that the poor and uneducated children, living in slums and rural areas would never be dyslexic or never be identified?” Strange, isn’t it, but then what other conclusion can one draw?

When the cause of something is not known, as in dyslexia, it would remain a mystery how to treat it; what to treat and what to remove, or what to fight with medication. This takes us straight to the psychological form of the treatment which is concerned with positive suggestions, enriching and strengthening the mind and providing positive reinforcement.

It may be a blessing that the medical cause of dyslexia is not known, otherwise, the pharmaceutical companies would have had a field day promoting medicines for better writing and improved reading habits, and desperate parents would have bought these at exorbitant prices and children would be taking a set of pills, thrice daily.

A dyslexic child, with due attention and training, can very easily be helped over the fence. I suspect carelessness and laziness over the part of the parents and even some teachers who would always be of the opinion that there must be a medicine for anything wrong with a human being. I hope I do not live long enough to be told about a pill to love or hate somebody or to remain married!

Dyslexia was discovered by a German physician, Oswald Berkhan in 1881 and the term “Dyslexia” was coined by Rudolf Berlin in 1887. The adaptation is from the Greek word, “dys” meaning difficulty and “lexis” meaning speech. Ronald Davis categorically states that the cause of dyslexia is not known.

Dyslexia is believed to originate in the left brain, the language processing area. The right brain-left brain theory was originated by the Nobel Prize winner, Roger W. Sperry, in 1981 while studying the effects of epilepsy. Sperry discovered that cutting the corpus collosum (the structure that connects the two hemispheres of the brain) could reduce or eliminate seizures.

However, these patients also experienced other symptoms after the communication pathway between the two sides of the brain was cut. For example, many split-brain patients found themselves unable to name objects that were processed by the right side of the brain, but were able to name objects that were processed by the left-side of the brain. Based on this information, Sperry suggested that language was controlled by the left-side of the brain.

While the idea of right brain/left brain thinkers has been debunked, its popularity persists. The theory suggests that “It is absolutely true that some brain functions occur in one or the other side of the brain. Language tends to be on the left, attention more on the right. This is determined more connection by connection,” as explained by Dr Jeff Anderson.

The analysis that the left hemisphere is the seat of language comes from observations that damage to the left hemisphere (for example, due to a stroke) is invariably associated with difficulties in producing language, a problem known as Aphasia. Similar damage to the right hemisphere is observed to be much less likely to cause Aphasia. In fact, for most people, the left hemisphere does play a much more important role in the ability to speak than the right hemisphere does.

According to the right brain-left brain theory, there are a set of functions attributed to each hemisphere of the brain, these are:

Uses of the right-brain, left-brain theory

Understanding our strengths and weaknesses in major areas can help a person develop better ways to learn and study. For example, students who have a difficult time following verbal instructions, cited as a right-brain characteristic, would benefit from writing down directions and developing better organisational skills.

In an average human being, the language processing area is larger and predominant in the left side of the brain, among dyslexic children the language processing areas are almost equal in both sides of the brain. This requires connectivity and bridging at an increased speed.

The analysis is that, among dyslexics, two images are formed, one after the other, on both sides of the brain. The first image is instantly processed to respond whereas the second image is a mirror image and attached as the second part of the total image. Thus the outcome becomes noticeable in letters like ‘p’, ‘b’, ‘d’ and ‘z’ and figures like ‘3’. There are some who may also change the order of the name and say, for example: Iqbal Allama or Cruise Tom.

The concern with dyslexia is that in the event it is not addressed, and the earlier the better, it could lead to: Dyscalculia which is difficulty with mathematics, Dysgraphia a difficulty with writing, Dyspraxia which is difficulty with motor skills and even Dysphasia a difficulty with learning languages.

Basically, the learning disorders are divided into two that is ‘APD’ which is Auditory Processing Disorder and ‘VPD’ which means Visual Processing Disorder. The difficulty a child faces in APD is the ability to learn different sounds and therefore demonstrates a difficulty in reading, comprehension and language. In VPD, the difficulty is noticed in interpreting visual information and this leads to difficulty in reading maps, charts, symbols and pictures. The best possible remedy for a dyslexic child is to firstly keep the child away from watching TV or movies on the laptop. The purpose is that when information shall be transmitted in an audio-visual format, the child’s ability to develop a mental faculty to interpret sounds and words into visuals shall begin to diminish. The child should be entertained with Alpha Music, invented by John Levine, to facilitate the auditory perception.

Two activities that would help immensely would be: learning to play a musical instrument and working on jigsaw puzzles. Both these strengthen the bridging and the use of the two brains. In class a teacher would perhaps benefit from teaching such children to complete words, sentences, lyrics and writing out a description of a given picture. A very important aspect is to ensure that a dyslexic child is neither annoyed nor hurt to an uncomfortable point as it would affect the bridge development and also develop an emotional scar.

It is my contention, that whether a child is dyslexic or not, visionary parenting advocates that all children should be treated in the same manner, as recommended for dyslexic children, with the objective of ensuring mental development through the formative years.

Care for dyslexic children

Very little or no watching TV/movies on Laptop

Play Alpha Music (John Levine) in background during any activity

Working with jigsaw puzzles

Learning to play a musical instrument

Word/sentence completion games

Rainbow sentences (writing words in different colours in a sentence)

Avoid irritation, fright, agony and hurting

Word and Number projection and association games (e.g. what comes after 2: 4: 6: ? or Apple: Orange: Banana: ?)

Calligraphy and writing exercise Irrespective of how one may analyse the human body, it is reasonable to conclude that each body part would have a separate set of functions. In many cases there may be common functions but could be directed to provide for a different part of the body. The human body is the most complex of all creations and attempts to understand the body, the functions of different parts and its maintenance and repair shall perhaps remain an ongoing study till the existence of life on Earth. Scientists continue to discover and unfold and at every milestone what they regard as a conclusive and final finding is so temporary. Soon we’ll hear of another research and a brand-new breakthrough; functions, causes of damage and treatments, followed by a new set of prescription drugs.

The fact that the brain is divided into the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere and is connected by a bridge should be enough to understand that a set of activities takes place on one side and another set of activities, or the completion and finalisation of activities, takes place on the other side.

It is really not significant for parents and teachers to understand the brain science behind dyslexia but what is critical is to recognise a shortcoming in a child and immediately seek expert advice and set about corrective measures.

The key lies in visionary parenting.

The right brain According to the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory, the right side of the brain is best at expressive and creative tasks. Some of the abilities that are popularly associated with the right side of the brain include: • Recognising faces • Expressing emotions • Music • Reading emotions • Colour • Images • Intuition • Creativity

The left brain The left-side of the brain is considered to be adept at tasks that involve logic, language and analytical thinking. The left-brain is often described as being better at: • Language • Logic • Critical thinking • Numbers • Reasoning