Protohistory is the period between prehistory and written history , during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing , but other cultures that have developed writing have noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings.
93-419: Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of literacy in a society and the writings of the first historians . The preservation of oral traditions may complicate matters, as they can provide a secondary historical source for even earlier events. Colonial sites involving a literate group and a nonliterate group are also studied as protohistoric situations. The term can also refer to
186-550: A British physician from Seaford, East Sussex , published a description of a reading-specific learning disorder in a report to the British Medical Journal titled "Congenital Word Blindness". The distinction between phonological versus surface types of dyslexia is only descriptive, and without any etiological assumption as to the underlying brain mechanisms. However, studies have alluded to potential differences due to variation in performance. Over time, we have changed from
279-536: A comprehensive evaluation should consider these different possibilities. These tests and observations can include: Screening procedures seek to identify children who show signs of possible dyslexia. In the preschool years, a family history of dyslexia, particularly in biological parents and siblings, predicts an eventual dyslexia diagnosis better than any test. In primary school (ages 5–7), the ideal screening procedure consists of training primary school teachers to carefully observe and record their pupils' progress through
372-487: A culture may be considered prehistoric or protohistoric is sometimes difficult for anthropologists . Data varies considerably from culture to culture, region to region, and even from one system of reckoning dates to another. In its simplest form, protohistory follows the same chronology as prehistory and is based on the technological advancement of a particular people with regard to metallurgy : The best-known protohistoric civilizations and ethnic groups are those for whom
465-400: A feature sometimes called dysorthographia or dysgraphia , which depends on the skill of orthographic coding . Problems persist into adolescence and adulthood and may include difficulties with summarizing stories, memorization, reading aloud, or learning foreign languages. Adults with dyslexia can often read with good comprehension, though they tend to read more slowly than others without
558-418: A full diagnostic assessment to determine the extent and nature of the disorder. Some tests can be administered by a teacher or computer; others require specialized training and are given by psychologists. Some test results indicate how to carry out teaching strategies. Because a variety of different cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and environmental factors all could contribute to difficulty learning to read,
651-468: A learning difficulty and perform worse in spelling tests or when reading nonsense words—a measure of phonological awareness. Dyslexia often co-occurs with other learning disorders, but the reasons for this comorbidity have not been clearly identified. These associated disabilities include: Researchers have been trying to find the neurobiological basis of dyslexia since the condition was first identified in 1881. For example, some have tried to associate
744-419: A multidisciplinary team approach involving the child's parent(s) and teacher(s), school psychologist, pediatrician, and, as appropriate, speech and language pathologist (speech therapist) , and occupational therapist . Gain familiarity with typical ages children reach various general developmental milestones, and domain-specific milestones, such as phonological awareness (recognizing rhyming words; identifying
837-400: A normal desire to learn . People with dyslexia have higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental language disorders , and difficulties with numbers . Dyslexia is believed to be caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Some cases run in families. Dyslexia that develops due to a traumatic brain injury , stroke , or dementia
930-729: A particular social context (even if that context is "school"), and, after print acquisition, every instance of reading or writing will be for a specific purpose and occasion with particular readers and writers in mind. Reading and writing, therefore, are never separable from social and cultural elements. A corollary point made by David Barton and Rosalind Ivanić , among others, is that the cognitive and societal effects of acquiring literacy are not easily predictable, since, as Brian Street has argued, "the ways in which people address reading and writing are themselves rooted in conceptions of knowledge, identity, and being." Consequently, as Jack Goody has documented, historically, literacy has included
1023-640: A period in which fragmentary or external historical documents, not necessarily including a developed writing system, have been found. For instance, the Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea , the Yayoi , recorded by the Chinese , and the Mississippian groups, recorded by early European explorers, are protohistoric. In The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe , an article by Timothy Taylor stated: Because of
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#17332027208921116-698: A privileged status. Due to the various cognitive processes that dyslexia affects and the overwhelming societal stigma around the disability, individuals with dyslexia often employ behaviors of self-stigma and perfectionistic self-presentation in order to cope with their disability. The perfectionist self-presentation is when an individual attempts to present themselves as the perfect ideal image and hides any imperfections. This behavior presents serious risk as it often results in mental health issues and refusal to seek help for their disability. Most dyslexia research relates to alphabetic writing systems , and especially to European languages . However, substantial research
1209-490: A regular font such as Times New Roman and Arial just as quickly, and they show a preference for regular fonts over specially-tailored fonts. Some research has pointed to increased letter-spacing being beneficial. There is currently no evidence showing that music education significantly improves the reading skills of adolescents with dyslexia. Dyslexic children require special instruction for word analysis and spelling from an early age. The prognosis, generally speaking,
1302-621: A resurgence as a result, and by the 15th century, paper was widespread. The Reformation stressed the importance of literacy and being able to read the Bible. The Protestant countries were the first to attain full literacy. In a more secular context, inspired by the Enlightenment , Sweden implemented programs in 1723 aimed at making the population fully literate. Other countries implemented similar measures at this time. These included Denmark in 1739, Poland in 1783, and France in 1794/5. Literacy
1395-407: A static assessment of their current skills. Children with the most need are those who fail to respond to effective teaching, and they are readily identified using this approach." There is a wide range of tests that are used in clinical and educational settings to evaluate the possibility of dyslexia. If initial testing suggests that a person might have dyslexia, such tests are often followed up with
1488-783: A string of neighboring letters sound together. The dual-route system could explain the different rates of dyslexia occurrence between different languages (e.g., the consistency of phonological rules in the Spanish language could account for the fact that Spanish-speaking children show a higher level of performance in non-word reading, when compared to English-speakers). Dyslexia is a heterogeneous, dimensional learning disorder that impairs accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Typical—but not universal—features include difficulties with phonological awareness; inefficient and often inaccurate processing of sounds in oral language ( phonological processing ); and verbal working memory deficits. Dyslexia
1581-581: A wide variety of languages. Furthermore, the relationship between phonological capacity and reading appears to be influenced by orthography. Dyslexia was clinically described by Oswald Berkhan in 1881, but the term dyslexia was coined in 1883 by Rudolf Berlin , an ophthalmologist in Stuttgart . He used the term to refer to the case of a young boy who had severe difficulty learning to read and write, despite showing typical intelligence and physical abilities in all other respects. In 1896, W. Pringle Morgan,
1674-443: Is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words , "sounding out" words in the head , pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads. Often these difficulties are first noticed at school. The difficulties are involuntary, and people with this disorder have
1767-631: Is a neurodevelopmental disorder , subcategorized in diagnostic guides as a learning disorder with impairment in reading (ICD-11 prefixes "developmental" to "learning disorder"; DSM-5 uses "specific"). Dyslexia is not a problem with intelligence . Emotional problems often arise secondary to learning difficulties. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke describes dyslexia as "difficulty with phonological processing (the manipulation of sounds), spelling, and/or rapid visual-verbal responding". The British Dyslexia Association defines dyslexia as "a learning difficulty that primarily affects
1860-407: Is also available regarding people with dyslexia who speak Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, or other languages. The outward expression of individuals with reading disability, and regular poor readers, is the same in some respects. [REDACTED] This article was submitted to WikiJournal of Medicine for external academic peer review in 2018 ( reviewer reports ). The updated content was reintegrated into
1953-453: Is also gaining momentum. The traditional concept of literacy widened as a consensus emerged among researchers in composition studies , education research , and anthropological linguistics that it makes little sense to speak of reading or writing outside of a specific context, with linguist James Paul Gee describing it as "simply incoherent." For example, even the extremely early stages of acquiring mastery over symbol shapes take place in
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#17332027208922046-482: Is concentrated among younger people," along with increased rates among rural populations and women. This evidence indicates that illiteracy is a complex phenomenon with multiple factors impacting rates of illiteracy and the type of illiteracy one may experience. Literacy has rapidly spread in several regions in the last twenty-five years, and the United Nations's global initiative with Sustainable Development Goal 4
2139-433: Is contingent upon having a diagnosis of dyslexia. As a result, when Staffordshire and Warwickshire proposed in 2018 to teach reading to all children with reading difficulties, using techniques proven to be successful for most children with a diagnosis of dyslexia, without first requiring the families to obtain an official diagnosis, dyslexia advocates and parents of children with dyslexia were fearful that they were losing
2232-462: Is distinguished from primary illiteracy (i.e., the inability to read and write a short, simple statement concerning one's own everyday life) and learning difficulties (e.g., dyslexia ). These categories have been contested—as has the concept of "illiteracy" itself—for being predicated on narrow assumptions, primarily derived from school-based contexts, about what counts as reading and writing (e.g., comprehending and following instructions). Script
2325-593: Is more consistent with an early form of Canaanite that was used c. 1100 BCE . While the earliest Greek inscriptions are dated circa 8th century BCE, epigraphical comparisons to Proto-Canaanite suggest that the Greeks may have adopted the consonantal alphabet as early as 1100 BCE and later "added in five characters to represent vowels". Phoenician, which is considered to contain the first linear alphabet, rapidly spread to Mediterranean port cities in northern Canaan. Some archeologists believe that Phoenician influenced
2418-498: Is partly explained by a self-fulfilling referral bias among teachers and professionals. It has even been suggested that the condition affects men and women equally. Some believe that dyslexia is best considered as a different way of learning, with both benefits and downsides. Dyslexia is divided into developmental and acquired forms. Acquired dyslexia occurs subsequent to neurological insult, such as traumatic brain injury or stroke . People with acquired dyslexia exhibit some of
2511-470: Is positive for individuals who are identified in childhood and receive support from friends and family. The New York educational system (NYED) indicates "a daily uninterrupted 90-minute block of instruction in reading" and "instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency" so as to improve the individual's reading ability. The prevalence of dyslexia is unknown, but it has been estimated to be as low as 5% and as high as 17% of
2604-457: Is sometimes called "acquired dyslexia" or alexia . The underlying mechanisms of dyslexia result from differences within the brain's language processing . Dyslexia is diagnosed through a series of tests of memory, vision, spelling, and reading skills. Dyslexia is separate from reading difficulties caused by hearing or vision problems or by insufficient teaching or opportunity to learn. Treatment involves adjusting teaching methods to meet
2697-466: Is the lexical route, which is the process whereby skilled readers can recognize known words by sight alone, through a "dictionary" lookup procedure. The other mechanism is the nonlexical or sublexical route, which is the process whereby the reader can "sound out" a written word. This is done by identifying the word's constituent parts (letters, phonemes , graphemes ) and applying knowledge of how these parts are associated with each other, for example, how
2790-549: Is thought that they wrote from right to left and that the script is logographic . Because it has not been deciphered, linguists disagree on whether it is a complete and independent writing system; however, it is generally thought to be an independent writing system that emerged in the Harappa culture. Existing evidence suggests that most early acts of literacy were, in some areas (such as Egypt), closely tied to power and chiefly used for management practices, and probably less than 1% of
2883-502: Is thought to have developed independently at least five times in human history: in Mesopotamia , Egypt , the Indus civilization , lowland Mesoamerica , and China . Between 3500 BCE and 3000 BCE, in southern Mesopotamia, the ancient Sumerians invented writing . During this era, literacy was "a largely functional matter, propelled by the need to manage the new quantities of information and
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2976-611: The Shang dynasty in 1200 BCE. These systematic notations, inscribed on bones, recorded sacrifices made, tributes received, and animals hunted, which were activities of the elite. These oracle-bone inscriptions were the early ancestors of modern Chinese script and contained logosyllabic script and numerals. By the time of the consolidation of the Chinese Empire during the Qin and Han dynasties ( c. 200 BCE ), written documents were central to
3069-565: The 4th and 5th centuries, the Church made efforts to ensure a better clergy, especially the bishops, who were expected to have a classical education—the hallmark of a socially acceptable person in higher society. Even after the remnants of the Western Roman Empire fell in the 470s, literacy continued to be a distinguishing mark of the elite, as communication skills were still important in political and church life (bishops were largely drawn from
3162-463: The Apostles' epistles or some other part of Scripture. And if he is illiterate he shall go at the first, third and sixth hours to someone who can teach and has been appointed for him. He shall stand before him and learn very studiously and with all gratitude. The fundamentals of a syllable, the verbs and nouns shall all be written for him and even if he does not want to he shall be compelled to read. During
3255-462: The Canaanite goddess Asherah . In 1948, William F. Albright deciphered the text using new evidence, including a series of inscriptions from Ugarit . Discovered in 1929 by French archaeologist Claude F. A. Schaeffer , some of these inscriptions were mythological texts (written in an early Canaanite dialect) that consisted of a 30-letter cuneiform consonantal alphabet. Another significant discovery
3348-587: The Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets, as these languages evolved during the same time period, share similar features, and are commonly categorized into the same language group. When the Israelites migrated to Canaan between 1200 and 1000 BCE, they adopted a variation of the Canaanite alphabet. Baruch ben Neriah , Jeremiah's scribe, used this alphabet to create the later scripts of the Old Testament . The early Hebrew alphabet
3441-737: The Kingdom of Nabataea, then to the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas, eventually making its way to Africa; and east, where it later influenced the development of the Brahmi script in India. Over the next few centuries, Imperial Aramaic script in Persia evolved into Pahlavi , "as well as for a range of alphabets used by early Turkish and Mongol tribes in Siberia , Mongolia and Turkestan ". During this period, literacy spread among
3534-701: The Late Bronze Age , successor alphabets appeared throughout the Mediterranean region and were used in Phoenician , Hebrew , and Aramaic . According to Goody, these cuneiform scripts may have influenced the development of the Greek alphabet several centuries later. Historically, the Greeks contended that their writing system was modeled after the Phoenicians. However, many Semitic scholars now believe that Ancient Greek
3627-758: The Pacific , as well as Latin America and the Caribbean , have adult literacy rates over 90%. In other regions, illiteracy persists at higher rates; as of 2013, the adult literacy rate in South Asia and North Africa was 67.55% and 59.76% in Sub-Saharan Africa . In much of the world, high youth literacy rates suggest that illiteracy will become less common as more educated younger generations replace less educated older ones. However, in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where
3720-648: The benefits of literacy, some recent literature in economics, starting with the work of Kaushik Basu and James Foster, distinguishes between a "proximate illiterate" and an "isolated illiterate". A "proximate illiterate" lives in a household with literate members, while an "isolated illiterate" lives in a household where everyone is illiterate. Isolated illiteracy is more common among older populations in wealthier nations, where people are less likely to live in multigenerational households with potentially literate relatives. A 2018/2019 UNESCO report noted that "conversely, in low and lower middle income countries, isolated illiteracy
3813-508: The book and the register" and that "no one, either free or slave, could afford to be illiterate". Similarly, Dupont points out, "The written word was all around them, in both public and private life: laws, calendars, regulations at shrines, and funeral epitaphs were engraved in stone or bronze. The Republic amassed huge archives of reports on every aspect of public life." The imperial civilian administration produced masses of documentation used in judicial, fiscal, and administrative matters, as did
Protohistory - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-403: The brains of people with dyslexia. Observed anatomical differences in the language centers of such brains include microscopic cortical malformations known as ectopias , and more rarely, vascular micro-malformations, and microgyrus —a smaller than usual size for the gyrus. The previously cited studies and others suggest that abnormal cortical development, presumed to occur before or during
3999-705: The common people, both in town and country, are equally intense in their admiration. Frequently, have we seen the butcher-boy, with his tray on his shoulder, reading with the greatest avidity the last "Pickwick"; the footman (whose fopperies are so inimitably laid bare), the maidservant, the chimney sweep, all classes, in fact, read "Boz". From the mid-19th century onward, the Second Industrial Revolution saw technological improvements in paper production. The new distribution networks, enabled by improved roads and rail, resulted in an increased capacity to supply printed material. Social and educational changes increased
4092-457: The common problem among people with dyslexia of not being able to see letters clearly to abnormal development of their visual nerve cells. Neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI ) and positron emission tomography (PET), have shown a correlation between both functional and structural differences in the brains of children with reading difficulties. Some people with dyslexia show less activation in parts of
4185-466: The competition of the world. In the late 19th century, gas and electric lighting were becoming more common in private homes, replacing candlelight and oil lamps, enabling reading after dark and increasing the appeal of literacy. Data published by UNESCO shows that the worldwide literacy rate among adults has increased, on average, by 5 percentage points every decade since 1950, from 55.7% in 1950 to 86.2% in 2015. Due to rapid population growth , while
4278-525: The demand for reading matter, as rising literacy rates, particularly among the middle and working classes, created a new mass market for printed material. Wider schooling helped increase literacy rates, which in turn helped lower the cost of publication. Unskilled labor forces were common in Western Europe, and, as British industry improved, more engineers and skilled workers who could handle technical instructions and complex situations were needed. Literacy
4371-720: The disorder. Reducing stress and anxiety can sometimes improve written comprehension. For dyslexia intervention with alphabet-writing systems, the fundamental aim is to increase a child's awareness of correspondences between graphemes (letters) and phonemes (sounds), and to relate these to reading and spelling by teaching how sounds blend into words. Reinforced collateral training focused on reading and spelling may yield longer-lasting gains than oral phonological training alone. Early intervention can be successful in reducing reading failure. Research does not suggest that specially-tailored fonts (such as Dyslexie and OpenDyslexic ) help with reading. Children with dyslexia read text set in
4464-424: The existence in some but not all societies of historical writing during the first millennium BC, the period has often been termed 'protohistoric' instead of prehistoric. Of course, the understanding of the past gained through archaeology is broadly different in nature to understanding derived from historical texts. Having both sorts of evidence is a boon and a challenge. In the abstract of a later paper on "slavery in
4557-840: The extrapolation of results for application to the human brain. The orthographic complexity of a language directly affects how difficult it is to learn to read it. English and French have comparatively "deep" phonemic orthographies within the Latin alphabet writing system , with complex structures employing spelling patterns on several levels: letter-sound correspondence, syllables, and morphemes . Languages such as Spanish, Italian and Finnish primarily employ letter-sound correspondence—so-called "shallow" orthographies—which makes them easier to learn for people with dyslexia. Logographic writing systems, such as Chinese characters , have extensive symbol use; and these also pose problems for dyslexic learners. For most people who are right-hand dominant,
4650-482: The first millennium Aegean, Carpatho-Balkan and Pontic regions", Taylor, primarily an archaeologist, stated, I have taken the rather unusual step of trusting what the classical authors tell us they knew. For other examples, see also the writings of Brian M. Fagan on the protohistory of North America and the work of Muhammed Abdul Nayeem on that of the Arabian Peninsula. As with prehistory, determining when
4743-420: The formation and policing of a hierarchical bureaucratic governance structure reinforced through law. Within this legal order, written records kept track of and controlled citizen movements, created records of misdeeds, and documented the actions and judgments of government officials. Indus script is largely pictorial and has not yet been deciphered; as such, it is unknown whether it includes abstract signs. It
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#17332027208924836-609: The iconography emphasized power among royals and other elites. The Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system was the first notation system to have phonetic values; these symbols are called phonograms . Writing in lowland Mesoamerica was first used by the Olmec and Zapotec civilizations in 900–400 BCE. These civilizations used glyphic writing and bar-and-dot numerical notation systems for purposes related to royal iconography and calendar systems. The earliest written notations in China date back to
4929-522: The importance of reading instruction that focuses on "alphabetic representations". However, these are not mutually exclusive , as children can become proficient in word-reading while engaging with multiliteracies. Word reading is fundamental for multiple forms of communication. Beginning in the 1940s, the term literacy has often been used to mean having knowledge or skill in a particular field, such as: Functional illiteracy relates to adults and has been defined in different ways: Functional illiteracy
5022-426: The initial sounds in words). Do not rely on tests exclusively. Careful observation of the child in the school and home environments, and sensitive, comprehensive parental interviews are just as important as tests. Look at the empirically supported response to intervention (RTI) approach, which "... involves monitoring the progress of a group of children through a programme of intervention rather than undertaking
5115-549: The instructors of a person with dyslexia lack the necessary training to support a child with the condition, there is often a negative effect on the student's learning participation. Since at least the 1960s in the UK, the children diagnosed with developmental dyslexia have consistently been from privileged families. Although half of prisoners in the UK have significant reading difficulties, very few have ever been evaluated for dyslexia. Access to some special educational resources and funding
5208-463: The intelligence-based model to the age-based model, in terms of those with Dyslexia. As is the case with any disorder, society often makes an assessment based on incomplete information. Before the 1980s, dyslexia was thought to be a consequence of education, rather than a neurological disability. As a result, society often misjudges those with the disorder. There is also sometimes a workplace stigma and negative attitude towards those with dyslexia. If
5301-497: The lack of a suitable writing medium, as when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, the import of papyrus to Europe ceased. Since papyrus perishes easily and does not last well in the wetter European climate, parchment was used, which was expensive and accessible only by the church and the wealthy. Paper was introduced into Europe via Spain in the 11th century and spread north slowly over the next four centuries. Literacy saw
5394-496: The left inferior frontal gyrus has shown differences in phonological processing in people with dyslexia. Neurophysiological and imaging procedures are being used to ascertain phenotypic characteristics in people with dyslexia, thus identifying the effects of dyslexia-related genes. The dual-route theory of reading aloud was first described in the early 1970s. This theory suggests that two separate mental mechanisms, or cognitive routes, are involved in reading aloud. One mechanism
5487-467: The left hemisphere of the brain involved with reading, such as the inferior frontal gyrus , inferior parietal lobule , and the middle and ventral temporal cortex . Over the past decade, brain activation studies using PET to study language have produced a breakthrough in the understanding of the neural basis of language. Neural bases for the visual lexicon and for auditory verbal short-term memory components have been proposed, with some implication that
5580-534: The left hemisphere of their brain is more specialized for language processing . With regard to the mechanism of dyslexia, fMRI studies suggest that this specialization is less pronounced or absent in people with dyslexia. In other studies, dyslexia is correlated with anatomical differences in the corpus callosum , the bundle of nerve fibers that connects the left and right hemispheres. Data via diffusion tensor MRI indicate changes in connectivity or in gray matter density in areas related to reading and language. Finally,
5673-420: The merchant classes, and 15-20% of the total population may have been literate. The Aramaic language declined with the spread of Islam , which was accompanied by the spread of Arabic . Until recently, it was thought that the majority of people were illiterate in the classical world, though recent work challenges this perception. Anthony DiRenzo asserts that Roman society was "a civilization based on
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#17332027208925766-488: The municipalities. The army kept extensive records relating to supply and duty rosters and submitted reports. Merchants, shippers, and landowners (and their personal staffs), especially of the larger enterprises, must have been literate. In the late fourth century, the Desert Father Pachomius would expect the literacy of a candidate for admission to his monasteries: They shall give him twenty Psalms or two of
5859-473: The new type of governance created by trade and large scale production". Early writing systems first emerged as a recording system in which people used tokens with impressed markings to manage trade and agricultural production. The token system served as a precursor to early cuneiform writing once people began recording information on clay tablets. Proto-Cuneiform texts exhibit not only numerical signs but also ideograms depicting objects being counted. Though
5952-440: The number of syllables in words—both of which depend on phonological awareness. They may also show difficulty in segmenting words into individual sounds (such as sounding out the three sounds of k , a , and t in cat ) or may struggle to blend sounds, indicating reduced phonemic awareness . Difficulties with word retrieval or naming things is also associated with dyslexia. People with dyslexia are commonly poor spellers ,
6045-402: The observed neural manifestation of developmental dyslexia is task-specific (i.e., functional rather than structural). fMRIs of people with dyslexia indicate an interactive role of the cerebellum and cerebral cortex as well as other brain structures in reading. The cerebellar theory of dyslexia proposes that impairment of cerebellum-controlled muscle movement affects the formation of words by
6138-482: The origin of the alphabet. Many classical scholars, such as historian Ignace Gelb , credit the Ancient Greeks for creating the first alphabetic system ( c. 750 BCE ) that used distinctive signs for consonants and vowels. Goody contests: The importance of Greek culture of the subsequent history of Western Europe has led to an over-emphasis, by classicists and others, on the addition of specific vowel signs to
6231-747: The percentage of adults who were illiterate decreased, the actual number of illiterate adults increased from 700 million in 1950 to 878 million in 1990, before starting to decrease and falling to 745 million by 2015. The number of illiterate adults remains higher than in 1950, "despite decades of universal education policies, literacy interventions and the spread of print material and information and communications technology (ICT)". Available global data indicates significant variations in literacy rates between world regions. North America, Europe, West Asia , and Central Asia have almost achieved full literacy for men and women aged 15 or older. Most countries in East Asia and
6324-466: The period after 1950, when literacy slowly began to be considered as a wider concept and process, including the social and cultural aspects of reading and writing and functional literacy . The range of definitions of literacy used by NGOs , think tanks , and advocacy groups since the 1990s suggests that this shift in understanding from "discrete skill" to "social practice" is both ongoing and uneven. Some definitions remain fairly closely aligned with
6417-420: The person's needs. While not curing the underlying problem, it may decrease the degree or impact of symptoms. Treatments targeting vision are not effective. Dyslexia is the most common learning disability and occurs in all areas of the world. It affects 3–7% of the population; however, up to 20% of the general population may have some degree of symptoms. While dyslexia is more often diagnosed in boys, this
6510-592: The phonics curriculum, and thereby identify children progressing slowly. When teachers identify such students they can supplement their observations with screening tests such as the Phonics screening check used by United Kingdom schools during Year one . In the medical setting, child and adolescent psychiatrist M. S. Thambirajah emphasizes that "[g]iven the high prevalence of developmental disorders in school-aged children, all children seen in clinics should be systematically screened for developmental disorders irrespective of
6603-635: The population was literate, as it was confined to a very small group. Scholarship by others, such as Dominique Charpin and a project from the European Union , however, suggest that this was not the case in all ancient societies: both Charpin and the EU's emerging scholarship suggest that writing and literacy were far more widespread in Mesopotamia than scholars previously thought. According to social anthropologist Jack Goody , there are two interpretations regarding
6696-700: The population. Dyslexia is diagnosed more often in males. There are different definitions of dyslexia used throughout the world. Further, differences in writing systems may affect development of written language ability due to the interplay between auditory and written representations of phonemes. Dyslexia is not limited to difficulty in converting letters to sounds, and Chinese people with dyslexia may have difficulty converting Chinese characters into their meanings. The Chinese vocabulary uses logographic, monographic, non-alphabet writing where one character can represent an individual phoneme. The phonological-processing hypothesis attempts to explain why dyslexia occurs in
6789-499: The presenting problem/s." Thambirajah recommends screening for developmental disorders, including dyslexia, by conducting a brief developmental history, a preliminary psychosocial developmental examination, and obtaining a school report regarding academic and social functioning. Through the use of compensation strategies, therapy and educational support, individuals with dyslexia can learn to read and write. There are techniques and technical aids that help to manage or conceal symptoms of
6882-511: The proportion of variance associated with a person's environment and the proportion associated with their genes. Both environmental and genetic factors appear to contribute to reading development. Studies examining the influence of environmental factors such as parental education and teaching quality have determined that genetics have greater influence in supportive, rather than less optimal, environments. However, more optimal conditions may just allow those genetic risk factors to account for more of
6975-526: The senatorial class) in a new cultural synthesis that made "Christianity the Roman religion". However, these skills were less needed in the absence of a large imperial administrative apparatus whose middle and top echelons were dominated by the elite. Even so, in pre-modern times, it is unlikely that literacy was found in more than about 30–40% of the population. During the Dark Ages , the highest percentage of literacy
7068-602: The set of consonantal ones that had been developed earlier in Western Asia. Many scholars argue that the ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of northern Canaan invented the consonantal alphabet as early as 1500 BCE. Much of this theory's development is credited to English archeologist Flinders Petrie , who, in 1905, came across a series of Canaanite inscriptions in the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadem . Ten years later, English Egyptologist Alan Gardiner reasoned that these letters contain an alphabet as well as references to
7161-737: The seventh century BCE. In the Near East , it was common to record events on clay using the cuneiform script; however, writing Aramaic on leather parchments became common during the Neo-Assyrian empire. With the rise of the Persians in the 5th century BCE, Achaemenid rulers adopted Aramaic as the "diplomatic language". Darius the Great standardized Aramaic, which became the Imperial Aramaic script. This Imperial Aramaic alphabet rapidly spread: west, to
7254-800: The signs or symptoms of the developmental disorder, but require different assessment strategies and treatment approaches. Pure alexia , also known as agnosic alexia or pure word blindness , is one form of alexia which makes up "the peripheral dyslexia" group. In early childhood, symptoms that correlate with a later diagnosis of dyslexia include delayed onset of speech and a lack of phonological awareness . A common myth closely associates dyslexia with mirror writing and reading letters or words backwards. These behaviors are seen in many children as they learn to read and write, and are not considered to be defining characteristics of dyslexia. School-age children with dyslexia may exhibit signs of difficulty in identifying or generating rhyming words , or counting
7347-488: The sixth month of fetal brain development, may have caused the abnormalities. Abnormal cell formations in people with dyslexia have also been reported in non-language cerebral and subcortical brain structures. Several genes have been associated with dyslexia, including DCDC2 and KIAA0319 on chromosome 6 , and DYX1C1 on chromosome 15 . The contribution of gene–environment interaction to reading disability has been intensely studied using twin studies , which estimate
7440-447: The skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling" and is characterized by "difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed". Phonological awareness enables one to identify, discriminate, remember ( working memory ), and mentally manipulate the sound structures of language— phonemes , onsite-rime segments, syllables, and words. The following can be done to assess for dyslexia: Apply
7533-454: The term was originally coined: the barbarian tribes mentioned by European and Asian writers. Many protohistoric peoples also feature in prehistory and in history: Literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was understood solely as alphabetical literacy (word and letter recognition); and
7626-539: The tongue and facial muscles, resulting in the fluency problems that some people with dyslexia experience. The cerebellum is also involved in the automatization of some tasks, such as reading. The fact that some children with dyslexia have motor task and balance impairments could be consistent with a cerebellar role in their reading difficulties. However, the cerebellar theory has not been supported by controlled research studies. Research into potential genetic causes of dyslexia has its roots in post-autopsy examination of
7719-532: The traditional "ability to read and write" connotation, whereas others take a broader view: The concept of multiliteracies has gained currency, particularly in English Language Arts curricula, on the grounds that reading "is interactive and informative, and occurs in ever-increasingly technological settings where information is part of spatial, audio, and visual patterns (Rhodes & Robnolt, 2009)". Objections have been raised that this concept downplays
7812-530: The traditional view had been that cuneiform literacy was restricted to a class of scribes, assyriologists including Claus Wilcke and Dominique Charpin have argued that functional literacy was somewhat widespread by the Old Babylonian period. Nonetheless, professional scribes became central to law, finances, accounting, government, administration, medicine, magic, divination, literature, and prayers. Egyptian hieroglyphs emerged between 3300 BCE and 3100 BCE;
7905-471: The transformation of social systems that rely on literacy and the changing uses of literacy within those evolving systems. According to 2015 data collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics , about two-thirds (63%) of the world's illiterate adults are women. This disparity was even starker in previous decades, and from 1970 to 2000, the global gender gap in literacy decreased significantly. Around
7998-411: The variance in outcome because the environmental risk factors have been minimized. As environment plays a large role in learning and memory, it is likely that epigenetic modifications play an important role in reading ability. Measures of gene expression , histone modifications , and methylation in the human periphery are used to study epigenetic processes; however, all of these have limitations in
8091-471: The vast majority of the world's illiterate youth live, lower school enrollment implies that illiteracy will persist to a greater degree. According to 2013 data, the youth literacy rate (ages 15 to 24) is 84% in South Asia and North Africa and 70% in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the distinction between literacy and illiteracy is not clear-cut. Given that having a literate person in the household confers many of
8184-756: The year 2013, however, this progress stagnated, with the gender gap holding almost constant over the last two decades. In general, the gender gap in literacy was not as pronounced as the regional gap; that is, differences between countries were often larger than gender differences within countries. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest overall literacy rate and the widest gender gap: 52% of adult women and 68% of adult men are literate. A similar gender disparity exists in North Africa , where 70% of adult women are literate versus 86% of adult men. In South Asia, 58% of adult women and 77% of adult men are literate. Dyslexia Dyslexia , previously known as word blindness ,
8277-522: Was essential to be hired. A senior government official told Parliament in 1870: Upon the speedy provision of elementary education depends our industrial prosperity. It is of no use trying to give technical teaching to our citizens without elementary education; uneducated labourers—and many of our labourers are utterly uneducated—are, for the most part, unskilled labourers, and if we leave our work–folk any longer unskilled, notwithstanding their strong sinews and determined energy, they will become overmatched in
8370-466: Was found among the clergy and monks, as they made up much of the staff needed to administer the states of western Europe. An abundance of graffiti written in the Nabataean script dating back to the beginning of the first millennium CE has been taken to imply a relatively high degree of literacy among the general population in the ancient Arabic-speaking world. Post-Antiquity illiteracy was made worse by
8463-542: Was made in 1953 when three arrowheads were uncovered, each containing identical Canaanite inscriptions from 12th century BCE. According to Frank Moore Cross , these inscriptions consisted of alphabetic signs that originated during the transitional development from pictographic script to a linear alphabet. Moreover, he asserts, "These inscriptions also provided clues to extend the decipherment of earlier and later alphabetic texts". The Canaanite script's consonantal system inspired alphabetical developments in later systems. During
8556-519: Was prominent in the Mediterranean region until Neo-Babylonian rulers exiled the Jews to Babylon in the 6th century BCE. It was then that the new script ( Square Hebrew ) emerged, and the older one rapidly died out. The Aramaic alphabet also emerged sometime between 1200 and 1000 BCE. Although early examples are scarce, archeologists have uncovered a wide range of later Aramaic texts, written as early as
8649-669: Was well established in early 18th century England, when books geared towards children became far more common. Near the end of the century, as many as 50 were printed every year in major cities around England. In the 19th century, reading would become even more common in the United Kingdom. Public notes, broadsides, handbills, catchpennies and printed songs would have been usual street literature before newspapers became common. Other forms of popular reading material included advertising for events, theaters, and goods for sale. In his 1836/1837 Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens's said that: even
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