Thursday, September 2, 2010

Dsylex* (for Dyslexia, Dyslexic)

Today’s typo might look like a classic case of dyslexia, but letter or word reversal is just one symptom of this learning disability that the Mayo Clinic defines as “an impairment in your brain's ability to translate written images received from your eyes into meaningful language.” Other symptoms include late talking, difficulty rhyming or spelling, delayed reading ability, problems understanding what is heard, trouble remembering the sequence of things, inability to sound out unfamiliar words, and difficulty with foreign language acquisition.

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability in children, and it usually occurs in those with average or above-average intelligence. Although a dyslexic may have trouble understanding spoken or written language, his or her own speech is most often unaffected.

Dsylex* is a low-probability typo. There are currently 2 occurrences of it in the OhioLINK database, and keyword search of WorldCat yields only 8 results. Most are for versions of the film Just Another Stupid Kid–which is how others might mistakenly judge someone with dyslexia. The variants Dylex* and Dylsex* each bring up a single hit.

(Boy Reading Book by hortongrou, from stock.xchng)

Deb Kulczak

1 comment:

ben said...

Thank you for bringing up the important issue of dyslexia in the education setting. As many as 6-7% of school-aged students are already identified with learning disabilities, and many more are likely unidentified. Students with a learning disability are just as competent and proficient as other students, but they may require different teaching methods or tools to help, especially in the library environment. As someone identified with dyslexia as a young child, I’ve found that different forms of assistive technologies can be incredibly helpful, allowing me to access print and learn more effectively. I’d encourage all librarians to become familiar with these technologies so that they can provide kids with the ramp they need to access the information in books.

The National Center for Learning Disabilities has some great resources to help you choose the right assistive technology; you can learn more at http://www.ncld.org/at-school/general-topics/assistive-technology/choosing-an-assistive-technology.