A language disorder like dyslexia can have physical symptoms. Here are some common ones:
Headaches – Our students say that their brains are on fire. Because they have difficulty processing language, their brains have to work harder to make sense of input. Very quickly, they face processing overload. Some report recurrent headaches or migraines. The site of pain varies by individual. Young children may not recognize these as headaches.
Restlessness – This processing or cognitive overload often manifests in other ways. Some children may tap with their fingers or feet, fidget with objects at hand, or feel the urge to run around.
Anxiety – Put yourself in the child’s shoes. Imagine being in a fast-moving river. You struggle to keep your head above water, but often you go under, fighting for air. Just when you start to make sense of what had transpired, a barrage of new input comes crashing through, loosening your grip on the old. You cannot slow the torrent because language is all around us and is vital to everyday life. Stress, anxiety, helplessness, anger, and defeatism soon set in.
Stomach pains – This constant level of anxiety and struggle often leads to a wide range of clinical symptoms. Some of our young students have gastric problems, even ulcers. A small fraction of them throw up regularly. A handful would vomit violently before migraine onset.
Individual differences – In our 30 years of fieldwork, we find that the severity of symptoms does not necessarily reflect the severity of processing difficulties. Some children with mild processing problems get migraines while others with severe processing deficits do not. That’s why Dysolve calibrates processing difficulties objectively through evaluative tests.
Regardless of severity, these symptoms usually dissipate when processing difficulties are alleviated. Symptoms often disappear before all processing deficits are corrected.
Clinical symptoms, psychosocial effects and processing difficulties—they are all interrelated in unique ways in each person affected. That’s why correcting the root problem can change the whole child.
