If your child is a struggling reader or suffers from Dyslexia, there are a lot of things that you can do to help him overcome this difficulty. Some of the common signs of reading difficulties include: problems in manipulating sounds in words, issues with rhyming, inability to recognize words with the same sound, difficulty in memorizing letters/number/ symbols etc.
Below is a list of certain terms that you need to be aware if your child struggles with reading or displays symptoms of Dyslexia:

• Multisensory Structured Language Education (MSSL): This approach utilizes visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses to enhance reading and spelling capabilities. MSSL is used by trained teachers and focuses on developing links between sight (language we see), sound (language we hear), motion and touch (language symbols we feel). Students are given extensive practice sessions for reading, writing and listening the basic elements of their language.
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Children affected by ADHD are believed to have a slight abnormality in the way their brain functions. The symptoms displayed by children suffering from ADHD include: impulsive behavior, increased distraction and clumsiness among others.
• Decoding: It is defined as the ability to sound out letters and words by forming letter-sound relationships. This happens when a child understands that a certain letter is associated with a particular sound. Another term used for decoding is “word attack”.
• Phonics: It is a method to help children develop reading and writing skills by using phonemic awareness. This simply means that the readers are taught to decode new written words by sounding them out. There are different phonic approaches that are specific to a particular country.
• Phonemic Awareness: Readers with phonemic awareness are easily able to distinguish different sounds in spoken words. This helps in putting together a specific word (phonemic blending) or breaking it into different phonemes (phonemic segmentation).
• Fluency: The ability to read words and sentences smoothly without any breaks or stops is termed as fluency. When a reader is fluent, he can focus on understanding the meaning of sentences rather than trying to decode every word. Fluency is an important characteristic for enhanced reading comprehension.
• Phonological Processing: The ability to differentiate between various sounds within words is known as phonological processing. Children weak in phonological processing often leave out important sounds in a word or replace certain sounds for others.
• Word Recognition: It is important to have word recognition skills in order to become a fluent reader. Word recognition involves reading words by just seeing them without sounding them out.

Since parents of children with reading disorders often receive advice from all quarters, it is important to understand the above listed terms related to this issue. For tips on improving reading skills in your child, visit http://www.see-n-read.com/