Dyslexia is a permanent disability in which the individual has difficulties with text and numbers as well. An individual can be dyslexic due to genetic traits (developmental dyslexia) or because of early infections of the ear which results in hearing loss (acquired dyslexia). Although the causes of dyslexia have still not been fully understood, it definitely causes lifelong neurological problems in the brain. These neurological problems will cause various levels of difficulty while learning to use words and symbols.

‘Acquired dyslexia’ or “glue ear’ is a condition in which the ears become blocked due to colds, ear infections or ‘flu at a very early age. This results in the child being unable to hear the spoken words clearly and cannot make out the difference between the separate sounds which make up a word. The child is thus unable to recognize those sounds and has problems in reading, writing and spelling once he begins school. The brain has to learn how to recognize the separate parts of each word and the accompanying sounds at a very early age as otherwise phonemic awareness will be poor and will continue to remain so posing problems with language development. The majority of children with dyslexia have difficulties with text, memory and sequential numbers.

There are many dyslexia resources available including books and dyslexia program which help the parent, educators and the child deal with this condition. ‘Glue ear’ has long-term educational reverberations and hence it’s important that parents and educators alike should be aware of its consequences.