Dyslexia - what is it? According to statistics, every tenth inhabitant of the Earth is faced with this pathology. Dyslexia is a brain disorder, in the presence of which a person loses the ability to write and read. Why is there a mysterious pathology, is a dyslexic able to live a full life and achieve success?
Dyslexia is not illiteracy
One of the first skills that a person acquires in childhood is the ability to read. As you learn, clear associations are established in the brain between the symbols depicted on paper and the sounds they represent. If a person is sick with dyslexia, then it is difficult for him to carry out such an association. He has difficulty putting together individual symbols and syllables into words. In the presence of a severe form of pathology, dyslexics completely lose the ability to read printed or handwritten texts.
People suffering from this disease are forced to adapt to their characteristics from early childhood. They cannot learn new material from textbooks, so they have to memorize the teacher's explanations by ear. It is true that in the modern world dyslexics live a little easier - after all, you can use a dictaphone and other technical means for voice recording. But it will still be very, very difficult for them to pass exams in writing.
Experts agree that dyslexia is easier to treat early in adulthood. However, the problem is that many children experience complexes about their pathology, they try to hide it even from their parents. Adults, on the other hand, often perceive problems with reading and writing as negligence in their studies, sometimes dyslexics are mistaken for mentally retarded.
It should be noted that this pathology is in no way related to the level of intelligence. People with this disease are quite capable of graduating from college or even making a successful career. The disease does not prevent people from teaching or doing research. If necessary, take notes or write down data dyslexics have secretaries. Many of them even manage to successfully hide their illness from strangers.
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Notable dyslexics
Among people who have suffered from dyslexia in one form or another, there are many world famous celebrities. The billionaire Nelson Rockefeller, the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, the famous car manufacturer Henry Ford, the genius inventor Leonardo da Vinci and even Albert Einstein suffered from this disease. Famous dyslexics living in our time include actor Dustin Hoffman, director Quentin Tarantino, British entrepreneur (founder of the Virgin Group) Richard Branson and Bill Gates, one of the founders of Microsoft.
Few people know that the famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen had problems with writing. When he sent his manuscripts to various publishers, he was seriously advised to learn Danish. Andersen could not complain about the lack of imagination, but he had obvious problems with the design of his thoughts and transferring them to paper.
The writer Agatha Christie, dubbed the detective queen by many fans, suffered from dysgraphia. This is a pathology that prevents a person from writing text by hand. At one time, the girl even had to transfer to home schooling, since the future world famous writer made several spelling mistakes in every word. However, this did not prevent her from achieving considerable literary success. Agatha Christie recited all her works on a dictaphone.
A sensational statement by millionaire John Corcoren, who recently confessed to a press representative that he could not read, made a big splash in the media! This was a pretty bold admission for a man who owns a large urban development company. A number of publications immediately appeared in newspapers and magazines, in which the millionaire was called illiterate. Korkoren said that while studying at the university he managed to hide his illness not only from his classmates, but also from his parents and even from professors! Subsequently, none of the colleagues and business partners ever suspected that Korkoren did not know how to read and write. Like a scout, one of the most successful people in America has been successfully hiding his ailment from everyone for over 40 years.
The famous American film actor Tom Cruise also suffers from one of the varieties of this disease. In his case, the pathology manifests itself in the fact that the star of the screen writes some letters in a mirror image. A similar thing happened with his three sisters and his mother. At school, the future actor barely learned to read, of course, there were even more problems with spelling. During his studies, the boy changed about 10 schools due to the fact that he was regularly expelled for academic failure. However, the disease did not prevent him from becoming a famous actor and a favorite of the public, and not only in his own country.
It's all about heredity
Dyslexia researchers have found that the cause of the disorder lies in genetics. A group of Oxford scientists in 1998 found that pathology manifests itself in people with a violation of one of the regions of chromosome 6. Until recently, scientists believed that dyslexics have impaired sound perception. This theory was refuted by Belgian neuroscientists, who came to the conclusion that the whole point is in a violation of the exchange of data between the speech centers of the brain and auditory analyzers.
If dyslexics had problems with speech perception, they would simply not be able to understand when other people are speaking to them. Meanwhile, they did not have such problems. Accordingly, it makes no sense to talk about anomalies of secondary or primary auditory analyzers.
In dyslexics, abnormalities in the structure of the white matter uniting the left inferior frontal gyrus with the auditory were recorded. The tasks of this part of the brain include processing information perceived by hearing. As it turned out, the roots of the problem lie in the violation of communication between different parts of the brain. Today, doctors can determine whether a patient has dyslexia with an error of no more than 27%.