In the last several decades, much research has been published regarding the neurology and educational needs of individuals learning to read. In her book "Overcoming Dyslexia" (2003), Sally Shaywitz, M.D., lays out in plain language the neurology of both typical and dyslexic readers. She identifies the telltale signs of dyslexia and how it can be treated. Her research shows that one in five individuals has dyslexia (p. 6, p. 30) as defined by the International Dyslexia Association:

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge. (p. 132)

In order to quantify the diagnosis and effects of dyslexia, Shaywitz undertook a longitudinal study of 445 children who entered kindergarten in the 1983-1984 school year and followed these individuals for 20 years. Her findings showed that dyslexia, as a diagnosis that merits reading remediation services in school systems, is determined at an arbitrarily decided point on a continuum of reading difficulties. As such, many children are near to, but fall below, the cut-off point of eligibility for special help, despite the fact that they could benefit from such services.

Scientists describe language as a system for reading and speaking with a hierarchy of components: discourse, syntax, semantics and phonology. Dyslexia typically reflects a problem with the brain's ability to process the last component, phonology, specifically "the functional part of the brain where the sounds of language are put together to form words and where words are broken down into their elemental sounds." (p. 40) In linguistic terms, these elemental sounds are known as "phonemes." Individuals with dyslexia have a hard time breaking down a word into its constituent phonemes.

In typically developing humans, the brain is wired at birth to enable speech. In contrast, writing is a code that is a human invention. Achieving mastery in learning to crack the code is a straight-forward task for most individuals. However, those whose brains do not process sound-symbol associations easily benefit from systematic and scientifically based programs that help individuals map letters into sounds. If applied early enough, these interventions can actually strengthen and repair areas of the brain to enable "struggling children to become skilled readers." (p. 86)

Dyslexia is not something that can be outgrown; that is, it is not developmental. However, Shaywitz' research shows that with early and consistent intervention, the effects of dyslexia can be lessened, often with excellent results. Dyslexia does not necessarily correlate with a weakness in intelligence. On the contrary, many dyslexic individuals are otherwise quite bright.

Shaywitz documents several scientifically tested programs that systematically remediate decoding and comprehension problems. She outlines the basic steps for teaching children to read as:

1. Develop an awareness of rhyme (p. 178).
   
   
2. Learn how to take words apart (segmenting) and how to put them together (blending). In order to do this, the student must learn how to identify the syllables in a word and then further identify the phonemes (sounds) that make up each syllable.
   
   
3. Learn to identify letters and the sounds they make. In some languages, letters can make more than one sound or may be combined with other letters to make one sound. For instance, in English the 'c' can make a 'k' sound, as in cat, or an 's' sound, as in cell. The phoneme we represent in English with 'sh', as in ship, is written with two letters, even though it is spoken as one phoneme. Learning these sound and letter combinations is called "phonics."
   
   
4. Practice, practice, practice - in order for a new reader to become proficient, she must practice reading out loud. Studies show that reading test scores correlate with time spent reading. In other words, more reading results in better reading. (p. 107) This is achieved by learning sight (irregular) words, such as 'the', 'once', 'was'; learning to write the letters of the alphabet and using them to spell simple words ('cat', 'mom', 'dad'); and expanding this further to reading and writing larger, more complicated words. (p. 191)

By learning the concrete skills of phonemic awareness and sound-symbol associations combined with lots and lots of examples and practice reading to achieve fluency and good comprehension, it has been shown that the effects of dyslexia can be reduced. It should be noted that all of Shaywitz' work was done in the United States using English as the target language for literacy.

This author sees how her recommendations are applicable to learning to read and write in any alphabetic language and will describe later in this paper how some of the principles presented in Shaywitz' book inform the development of specially formatted Hebrew texts, which can be used in a beginner level Hebrew reading curriculum.