health

The diagnosis of dyslexia can be a complicated process that usually
involves a psychologist and an education expert as well as the child’s
family doctor. The first step is to rule out any disorders of vision or
hearing that could interfere with learning. The child may also be referred
to a neurologist (a specialist in disorders of the nervous system) for
further evaluation to make sure that the child does not have a brain
tumor or other physical disease of the brain.
The next step is usually intelligence testing and an evaluation of the
child’s reading and speaking skills by a qualified expert. This type of evaluation
involves testing the child’s short-term memory or asking the child to
read nonsense words as a test of his or her ability to link letters and sounds.
In addition, the child may be evaluated psychologically to see whether
depression, anxiety, or social problems are causing the learning difficulty.