by Rossella Grenci
Speech therapist

There are children who may have difficulty in reading, in the‘spelling, doing calculations or remembering tables by heart, or in the most mundane things, such as reading the‘watch or tie your shoes. This is why they are often labeled as listless, lazy or unintelligent. Instead they just have dyslexia: Dyslexia is a different kind of learning… .

The story of Lorenzo

School has started and the children are in class sitting at their desks while the teacher explains. Lorenzo is also sitting down but his head is elsewhere: he tries to follow the explanation but he gets lost, he can’t keep up with the lesson, the letters on the blackboard seem to fidget, the teacher’s voice is confused with the vociferousness of the class. Lorenzo seems distracted. In the meantime, his notebook slips on the floor and he slips under the desk to look for it; as he gets up again, the desk moves, the pens also fall and the teacher scolds him. How he wishes he was out of that school!

Lorenzo is a very bright child but he just can’t read fluently. He needs to mature, the teachers say, or he needs to practice more. Is he lazy, a bit listless or perhaps he is a child who is neglected at home? Yet, Lorenzo can do many other things well: he is sociable and has a loving and attentive family. Maybe Lorenzo could be dyslexic and no one is to blame, not even him.

Giovanni, Andrea, Marco and many others are children seemingly like any other. They start school with a great desire to learn, with their notebooks intact, their pencils new, their pinafore clean. But what happens to these children during the months, years of school? Why is it that when they begin to read they struggle to put letters together, their writing is often illegible and full of errors?

This is just one story, one of many. But what is the difference between this and other similar stories? The difference is that Lorenzo was understood before it was too late, he had a diagnosis, he followed a rehabilitation path, his teacher became informed and no longer blamed Lorenzo or his family. Behind every child there is a story of learning to read, successful or not, the mechanisms of which must be discovered if there is a failure.

DSA, how to recognize it and how to treat it

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to get your child to calmly resume school is through routines. It is very important for children to have a well-defined positive routine that allows them to know in advance what to expect during the day, what they will be doing and who they will be with. Routine, in addition to making the child aware of his time, helps him in the development of autonomy. As we know children are often energetic and resourceful, they can’t wait to learn and make new discoveries, but they need a few cornerstones in their day.

What to do if your child does not participate

Specific Learning Disorders account for about 4% of the school population and are not an invention of modern psychiatry. They have always existed since the day man created written language, because reading is not a natural aptitude of man, but an invention of his, perhaps the most ingenious, dating back 6000 years in Mesopotamia with the cuneiform writing of the Sumerians.

An attentive and up-to-date teacher can no longer exclude from his knowledge those that are Specific Learning Disorders, especially since Law 170 of 8 October 2010 protects dyslexic students in schools.

On the other hand, a parent who observes the difficulties of his or her son or daughter who struggles with letters and numbers should contact his or her paediatrician who will refer him or her to a specialist, be it a child neuropsychiatrist, a speech therapist or a psychologist, or even better, to a specialised centre. Never wait if there is any doubt, even in Year 1 of Primary School.

What are the risk signals?

A first sign is a previous or still current speech disorder (even a simple speech disorder). By the first three months of school, the child should have already begun to read and write, i.e., to put syllables together and make whole words. The graphic line, although still uncertain, should be recognizable and respect the space of the paper.

Sometimes some initial difficulties can be overcome with simple “reinforcement”, that is, through targeted training of the deficient skills (the same curriculum teacher can do it).

If this is not enough, the intervention of the speech therapist, the key figure in the treatment of this type of disorder, is required. The speech therapist will make an initial assessment and from that will start with a targeted program. The parent, should it be appropriate, can follow the speech therapist’s instructions at home, even better if a specific program is carried out that requires daily PC training. For homework, it is ideal to have a learning tutor follow the child. This is because the parents are emotionally involved and the child does not always tolerate showing his difficulties to mum and dad, not only that, but the tutor has specific skills. In addition, the risk is that some children are uncooperative with their parents, creating friction that would affect the emotional relationship between them.

A natural aid

In addition to the diagnosis and the most appropriate therapeutic indications, as a speech therapist and expert in naturopathy, I can only recommend the use of a good dietary supplement based on medicinal plants such as Memorens an excellent product of Exerens, which can help with all the problems related to Learning Disorders, difficulty in concentration and memory, tiredness and fatigue due to the stress that the child experiences (let’s not forget that the dyslexic child has 5 times more effort to learn!).

Memorens (oral solution or tablets ) is a food supplement that, if taken every day for at least three months, helps to significantly improve memory and concentration and allows you to be even more effective.

The natural active ingredients contained are designed and calibrated for the well-being of the body and brain which in turn will lead to positive change and active improvement of skills and competencies.

The extract of Bacopa monnieri improves memory and cognitive function and may be useful in promoting relaxation and maintaining mental well-being.

L’Eleutherococcus senticosus is used as a tonic to invigorate and fortify the body in times of fatigue and weakness and when concentration and attention levels are lowered.

The Maritime pine is an important natural antioxidant that exerts protective effects against oxidative stress, both by increasing the synthesis of antioxidant enzymes and by acting as a free radical scavenger.

---

References

• Grenci R., “Eagles were born to fly”, 2004
• www.miur.gov.it/dsa
• Kean JD, et al. A systematic review of the Ayurvedic medicinal herb Bacopa monnieri in child and adolescent populations. Complement Ther Med. (2016) Dec;29:56-62