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One of the well known organizations under the tag line “promoting literacy through research, education and advocacy” is The International Dyslexia Association. It is a non profit organization and caters to the requirement of children as well as adults with dyslexia. Their aid and support extends to these individuals’ families and other communities that help them.

Dyslexia is a language based learning disability. Very recently, there was a Joint Policy Statement published by the American Association of Certified Orthoptists. Apparently, it is a move towards educating the people that dyslexia is not a result of vision problem. Vision therapy and other such treatments for helping a dyslexic person have no scientific backing whatsoever.

Many a time, a person is given behavioural vision therapy, special filters and lenses and common eye exercises. And these are not recommended since most experts believe that dyslexia is essentially a language based disorder.

Holding that dyslexia can anyway hamper the image of a person, particularly, children, it is very futile and painful if the child is made to undergo a hundred types of treatments and therapies, especially when they are not even scientifically correct. The policy is definitely a move towards a more progressive society from the educational point of view and will surely benefit the dyslexic.

The International Dyslexic association has come up with a Matrix of Multisensory Structured Language Programs. And these have had quite effective records of clinical success as well as classroom success. It is a structured body of instructions which is designed such that the techniques and material of application may be varied and diverse, but the basic structuring is the same.

It is explicit, systematic and cumulative and aimed basically at promoting comprehension, memory, memory recall, and the general use of language in writing and speech. Eventually, the individuals may progress to more complex language skills such as phonology, word analysis, stress marking, spellings, recognition and oral reading, fluency in language, accuracy of text comprehension, grammar, syntax and its relation with semantics. Finally, they are focussed towards writing and study skills.

Also the Florida Centre for Reading Research has very effective software programs, other than teacher-led instructional programs. There is always a research backing to all their programs. Even the reports that are generated are through proper consultation from the researchers.

Apart from the complete description and a descriptive analysis of the reports, the practical use and applicability of these programs is evaluated. The interventions, general instructions and the supplemental instructions are weighed while evaluating that.

Similarly, “What Works Clearinghouse” (WWC) provides ‘rigorous evaluations’ of the strength of research which is structured with a wide variety of educational programs. Their 24 programs are supposed to be of great use in early reading growth.

Such steps are extremely useful from the point of view of a person or of families that deal with disorders such as dyslexia. The disorder leads to a person feeling ‘dumb’, at least earlier on in life, even if he or she might possess great intellect.