Dyslexia

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There is no cure for dyslexia, but appropriate treatment at an early stage and strategies to compensate the problem can reduce its effects. Many dyslexics overcome early problems with literacy and go on to achieve professional degrees and pursue successful careers; they are generally highly motivated and when this is coupled with strong encouragement and personal tuition, they are known to achieve many successes. So encouraging a person at a young age who has dyslexia is vital for their future development. Dylsexia was first noted in 1896 when a doctor called W. Pringle Morgan published a description of a reading-specific learning disorder in a report he prepared and published in the British Medical Journal titled "Congenital Word Blindness". This was an important first step in the recognition of the condition.

The term 'dyslexia' was first used in 1887 by Rudolf Berlin. He used the term in reference to a case he had undertaken concerning a young boy who had profound difficulty in learning to read and write in spite of showing average intelligence and physical attributes in all other ways.

During the 1890's and early 1900's a Scottish ophthalmologist called James Hinshelwood produced a number of articles in medical journals describing similar cases of congenital word blindness, which he defined as "a congenital defect occurring in children with otherwise normal and undamaged brains characterised by a difficulty in learning to read."

In his 1917 book which he titled Congenital Word Blindness, Hinshelwood asserted that the primary disability was in the visual memory for words and letters, and described symptoms including letter reversals, and difficulties with spelling and reading comprehension. This set the stage for modern understanding of the condition.