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You are here: Teaching Helps > Learning Challenges

Dyslexia

Dyslexia — what is it?1

Dyslexia is a condition that makes it extremely hard to read, write, and spell in one's own language even though intelligence seems quite high.

Here is the technical definition from the International Dyslexia Association: Dyslexia: Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological 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 the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.2

Basically it means that if someone is dyslexic, that person has difficulty distinguishing individual sounds and therefore has difficulty with various forms of language.

There is a lot of information available about dyslexia — too much to present here. We want to give some basic symptoms and possible things to do, but our main goal is to point you to resources that are already available. We have found information and resources for the US and the UK. As we find resources for other countries, we will post them here.

We have divided the information into three categories:

Random information about dyslexia:

  • Dyslexia is usually inherited.
  • Dyslexia deals with processing confusion, not seeing things backwards.
  • Dyslexia impacts up to 20% of people in the United States – from mild to severe. About 40% of children with dyslexia also have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, often referred to as AD/HD). Ten percent of the British population are dyslexic; 4% severely so.
  • Many adults may have a mild form of dyslexia and not realize it.

Please check back because we will add more information and resources as we find them.



1 Most of this information is taken from  http://www.dys-add.com and  http://www.interdys.org.
2 http://www.interdys.org/ewebeditpro5/upload/Definition.pdf

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