Fake Reading and Dyslexia

There was much to learn about Dyslexia in the article by Hudson - including several of the misconceptions in the table in the beginning. Learning about the neurological observations on the brain of a person with dyslexia reading was fascinating. I immediately thought of the fake reading. As I learned more about dyslexia, and how many of these people find ways in their brain to compensate which are much less efficient, I thought of our 'fake readers' as described in Tovani. Obviously, the hope is to identify a child suffering from any form of dyslexia and help them use specific strategies that can help them learn to read. But, I am sure that a significant number of them have managed to continue through using compensating techniques. For these students reading must be very frustrating and could lead to many levels of fake reading. How do we catch the fake readers? And how do we help identify whether the lack of comprehension is coming from a lack of reading comprehension strategies or a true reading disability.

I would like to touch on one more area in this article, this was under the motivation of a student with a reading disability:

The roles of motivation and fear of failing are important when discussing reading problems. Students do not struggle simply because they are not trying hard enough. They may have a brain difference that requires them to be taught in a more intense fashion than their peers. Without intense intervention, low motivation may develop as students try to avoid a difficult and painful task.

We must not jump to any conclusions that this child is simply not trying hard enough and work to get to the bottom of helping identify any true learning disability.