Neurológia pre prax 6/2010

Contemporary view of dyslexia and related reading difficulties in childhood and adulthood

Dyslexia definitely represents the most frequented diagnostically identified type of specific learning difficulty. Moreover, it is sometimes simply comprehended as a synonym of this heterogeneous group. Despite the fact that various specialists have been addressing the issue of dyslexia for over more than a century, a definite and an exclusive etiological concept that can be implicitly accepted remains undersigned to date. Regarding previous as well as contemporary knowledge of its subtypes, specific reading difficulties can be based on phonological, as well as neurocerebellar, dysfunctions and other deficiency states. Besides dyslexia, there are also other reading difficulties which should be considered within the scope of medical practice, e.g. those related to the concept of non-verbal or pseudoverbal learning difficulties (e.g. hyperlexia) or acquired loss of reading ability (alexia).

Keywords: dyslexia, hyperlexia, specific developmental learning disorders.