J.S, via email. The terms 'dysphonetic' and 'dyseidetic' are words used to describe typical symptoms of dyslexia. The person labeled 'dysphonetic' has difficulty connecting sounds to symbols, and might have a hard time sounding out words, and spelling mistakes would show a very poor grasp of phonics. The 'dyseidetic' individual, on the other hand, generally has a good grasp of phonetic concepts, but great difficulty with whole word recognition and spelling. Typically, words are spelled in a way that you can easily decipher them phonetically, but they may be very far from being correct.
Most remedial programs tend to emphasize phonics.
This will help the 'dysphonetic' dyslexic somewhat, but does not address all underlying problems associated with dyslexia. Often, instruction in phonics will help the person learn to read, but the student will still find reading very difficult and will not read for pleasure or progress beyond reading grade-school level material. Unfortunately, the phonics-based programs will not help the 'dyseidetic' dyslexic at all. Rather, it will only increase confusion, because the student is being drilled on something he already knows, without being given a means to develop whole-word recognition skills or learn to recognize words that do not sound exactly the way they are spelled. Davis methods will help dyslexics who fit both types, because the underlying issues which give rise to dyslexia are addressed through Davis Orientation and Davis Symbol Mastery.