Dyslexia
On the basis of recent research, it is evident that some learning
disabilities (dyslexia) appear to be more common in families in
which someone has had hyperthyroidism or Hashimoto's disease than
in the general population.
Children with dyslexia may have a variety of problems, including
delays in physical or speech development, poor spelling or handwriting,
stuttering, right-left confusion, and reversals of numbers or letters.
They may be good at math and have better than average verbal skills,
and are often especially gifted in other ways, including athletics,
art, and music. On the other hand, they may have real difficulty
reading and paying attention in class. Therefore, though these children
are usually very bright, poor academic performance is not uncommon
and may lead to loss of self-esteem. The condition occurs more commonly
in males than females, and affected children are often left-handed
or ambidextrous.
Therefore, if you or someone in your family has thyroid dysfunction
or chronic thyroiditis and there are children in the family with
these sorts of learning and/or attention problems, you would do
well to have them checked by a specialist in learning disabilities,
who should be available through their school or your family physician.
Dyslexia is treatable anytime - the earlier the better - and the
academic improvement in special-help programs may be striking. Remember
that the learning disabilities are not caused by thyroid problems
and, in fact, are usually more evident in males, while the related
thyroid troubles tend to occur in the females in the family.
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