Testing Kids for Dyslexia

One thing to understand when testing kids for dyslexia is that it will not help correct the underlying problem. Accommodations are made, tutoring is scheduled, and extra study time is allotted, but what is going on in the brains of people with Dyslexia and can the problem be mitigated or even fixed?

Sometimes children with Dyslexia will go years, or even a DECADE without being diagnosed. Why? Not entirely sure but at HML we see that most school district’s funding and resources in 504 or Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and special needs in general going towards children with attention and/or behavioral problems. This could be because there are more children with focus, concentration and behavior issues than learning disorders such as Dyslexia. There may be more to that, but that is neither here nor there…

At HML, we are blessed to say that we have seen immense changes after testing kids for dyslexia in boys and girls from ages 8-24 years old in their learning and cognitive abilities. Children and adults going from failing grades to C’s or failing grades to A’s and B’s. Helping these children and adults is so gratifying because most of the time they have low self-esteem and little confidence in themselves and motivation to do what they are called to do in life. And when we can help turn things around, their lives are truly changed forever. 

Of course, we are Neuro Nerds (Neurds) here, and we always come at things from a neurological perspective. In the literature, the best biological markers in imaging for people with Dyslexia is seeing weaknesses or delays in the right portion of the cerebellum (CB) and the left parietal temporal occipital (PTO) region of the brain. The right side of the CB feeds information to the left side of the brain all day every day and it is the left side of the brain that is primarily responsible for learning, logic, rationalizing, and cognitive processing. See https://hmlfunctionalcare.com/dyslexia-and-other-learning-disabilities-ld/ to learn more. The frontal lobe on the left tells the eyes what to do when reading and in milliseconds the brain plans, coordinates and executes (oculomotor) eye movement. Then with the help of the parietal and temporal lobes further movement and processing occurs. All the while the brainstem keeps things moving along. And lastly, the CB coordinates all of this into the orchestra that is reading and learning! You read it, we got 4 primary areas of the brain that control and coordinate eye movement. And to top that off, we can put rockets into space, but all of the math that is involved in describing eye movements is not yet fully understood! Take a breath and give yourself or your loved one a break, because there is a lot going on between their ears!

At HML we utilize the RightEye system https://hmlfunctionalcare.com/righteye/ to help find the deficiencies in oculomotor function along with other objective computerized and bedside tests. Once we find the issue, we perform specific eye movements, vestibular therapy, or sensory input to bring those areas of the brain online to work more efficiently (called our therapeutic trial). After the trial we retest and see if our initial findings have improved, if they have, we know what we are doing to help CORRECT the issue, if we don’t then we “go fishing” and find out what will! Then after all of this, a specific treatment plan involving in-office and at-home brain-based therapy is devised. Results can take 3-12 months depending on the age and severity of the individual. But most of the time, changes can be made!