Dyslexia children.

It is estimated that Britain has 170,000 dyslexic children. Many, undiagnosed, are considered stupid and lazy and may become withdrawn at school to avoid notice. Prof. Anthony Monaco carried out family history and twin studies and found a strong hereditary component in the condition. Dyslexia was only recently recognized as a learning disorder in this country, although the U.S. has carried out well funded research for many years. Brainscans (shown) reveal that reading causes disruption in the neural circuitry of dyslexic people - the first visible evidence of the condition. Scientists at Rutgers University, New York, discovered a disfunction in the way the brain processes speech sounds, with tests on babies showing that the brains of dyslexic babies take in sounds more slowly than those of normal babies. This is why dyslexic children have difficulty keeping up with teaching. The programme looks back over the history of a secondary school boy who is dyslexic, showing what he has to contend with. Early diagnosis gives children a better chance of developing coping strategies but unless families are aware of the condition and can afford private tests, many bright children may be wrongly dismissed as unintelligent.