I noticed that some learners in the first grade experience the phenomenon of "dyslexia." You may find that a student, as described in the dialect of our Eastern brothers at Arab world, "memorizes without understanding." This means the child can recite the entire text without any grammatical or linguistic errors, but if you stop them and ask about the location of a particular word, they won't be able to answer because they cannot read the letters once they are combined into words, or words combined into sentences.
This phenomenon, dyslexia, occurs in learners whose parents fail to acknowledge their children's real condition in front of society and teachers, especially the educators. These parents try to hide their children's learning difficulties from the teacher and others, fearing that it will damage their idealized image of their child. This phenomenon also affects pampered children whose parents are detached from the reality of their children. They see their children as perfect and believe they should not be criticized, even if the challenges, such as suffering from dyslexia, are evident and real. This further exacerbates the difficulties faced by these learners, often worsening due to the parents' stubbornness or delay in addressing the issue.
A child who cannot recognize all the letters of the alphabet will inevitably struggle with dyslexia. However, there are varying degrees of difficulty with this phenomenon. For example, a learner may not know the shapes or sounds of the letters, which represents a very complex case. Diagnosing and treating such cases can be much more difficult than a teacher might imagine. Some learners recognize the shapes of the letters but cannot associate them with their sounds, which places them in the second level of difficulty. Another group can recognize the sounds and associate them well with the shapes through different signs and marks but still struggle with reading words. This means they fail to assemble the letters into a single word.
According to pedagogical psychology, the teacher is the most suitable person to diagnose dyslexia, as they interact with the learners daily and accompany them throughout their critical developmental stages, typically considered by most psychological schools, particularly Anglo-Saxon ones, to be between the age of four and twelve.
Once dyslexia is diagnosed, whether by the educator or a psychological expert, it is essential to determine the level of difficulty to apply the appropriate treatment. This assessment is done through a series of tests, which should be culturally relevant and consider the learner's psychological readiness.
Each level of difficulty requires a specific treatment method. For instance, a learner who cannot recognize the letters of the alphabet or connect their shapes with sounds is considered a very difficult case. In treating such a case, it is important to avoid breaking words down phonetically when reintroducing a target letter and instead attempt to link the letter directly to its sound before moving on to the next letter.
Early detection of dyslexia accelerates the treatment process before it worsens. Involving parents in both diagnosis and treatment is crucial, considering the limited time a teacher has within the classroom to care for the rest of the learners. It is vital not to neglect the majority for the sake of the minority.