Münchner LehrerZeitung 1/2002

In the presentation “Dyslexia and other reading disorders. A new diagnosis and therapy programme”, which was presented at the German conference of the BLLV’s vocational science department on 8 December 2001, the speaker, Dr. Dr. Reinhard Werth, who works in Munich, explained where and how reading deficiencies can be identified from a medical point of view and which therapies can be used as countermeasures. The first prerequisite for reading is recognising or knowing letters, segments and/or words. Fluent reading consists of a sequence of fixation phases and gaze jumps during which visual performance is continuously switched on and off. In order to read a word, a sequence of sounds must be associated with the word segment/word. We must be able to memorise the sounds and sound sequences associated with letters and letter combinations and, at the moment of reading, be able to retrieve what is stored in our memory quickly and without errors. In addition, the meaning of words and sentences must also be recalled or recognised from memory.

1. fixation

A pupil (and adults too) reads in stages. This sequence of stages is tripartite. Werth said that reading deficits can occur during each stage. A narrowing of attention in the search for the fixation point results in some children, for example, with increasing distance from the fixation point.

2. Segment/word recognition

Many of those affected can read individual letters on their own, but no longer recognise the same letters if they are masked. However, this is always the case when reading a word segment or a word.

3. Gaze jump

Measurements at the third stage, the “gaze jump”, normally result in a rhythmic jump curve. This sometimes looks very different in children with deficits. In these children, the eye jumps uncoordinated from left to right and the gaze does not move normally to the right. Incidentally, all reading deficits are closely linked to hyperactivity and ADD (attention deficit disorder), noted Werth. Parents, teachers or therapists can localise the deficits relatively easily using a PC test. Werth describes the core of his therapy programme as follows: “Reading must then be targeted at the specific point in the sequence of stages. But beware of incorrect diagnoses or overlooked reading errors! Reading errors are also systematically trained!

The software is available on the Internet at www.celeco.de info@.celeco.de. Here you will also find further information on the subject.

Heinz Preß

Translated by celeco