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Overview

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called a reading disability, dyslexia is a result of individual differences in areas of the brain that process language.

Dyslexia is not due to problems with intelligence, hearing or vision. Most children with dyslexia can succeed in school with tutoring or a specialized education program. Emotional support also plays an important role.

Though there's no cure for dyslexia, early assessment and intervention result in the best outcome. Sometimes dyslexia goes undiagnosed for years and isn't recognized until adulthood, but it's never too late to seek help.

Symptoms

Signs of dyslexia can be difficult to recognize before your child enters school, but some early clues may indicate a problem. Once your child reaches school age, your child's teacher may be the first to notice a problem. Severity varies, but the condition often becomes apparent as a child starts learning to read.

Before school

Signs that a young child may be at risk of dyslexia include:

Late talking

Learning new words slowly

Problems forming words correctly, such as reversing sounds in words or confusing words that sound alike

Problems remembering or naming letters, numbers and colors

Difficulty learning nursery rhymes or playing rhyming games

School age

Once your child is in school, dyslexia symptoms may become more apparent, including:

Reading well below the expected level for age

Problems processing and understanding what is heard

Difficulty finding the right word or forming answers to questions

Problems remembering the sequence of things

Difficulty seeing (and occasionally hearing) similarities and differences in letters and words

Inability to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word

Difficulty spelling

Spending an unusually long time completing tasks that involve reading or writing

Avoiding activities that involve reading

Teens and adults

Dyslexia signs in teens and adults are a lot like those in children. Some common dyslexia symptoms in teens and adults include:

Difficulty reading, including reading aloud

Slow and labor-intensive reading and writing

Problems spelling

Avoiding activities that involve reading

Mispronouncing names or words, or problems retrieving words

Spending an unusually long time completing tasks that involve reading or writing

Difficulty summarizing a story

Trouble learning a foreign language

Difficulty doing math word problems

When to see a doctor

Though most children are ready to learn reading by kindergarten or first grade, children with dyslexia often have trouble learning to read by that time. Talk with your health care provider if your child's reading level is below what's expected for your child's age or if you notice other signs of dyslexia.

When dyslexia goes undiagnosed and untreated, childhood reading difficulties continue into adulthood.

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Causes

Dyslexia results from individual differences in the parts of the brain that enable reading. It tends to run in families. Dyslexia appears to be linked to certain genes that affect how the brain processes reading and language.

Risk factors

A family history of dyslexia or other reading or learning disabilities increases the risk of having dyslexia.

Complications

Dyslexia can lead to several problems, including:

Trouble learning. Because reading is a skill basic to most other school subjects, a child with dyslexia is at a disadvantage in most classes and may have trouble keeping up with peers.

Social problems. Left untreated, dyslexia may lead to low self-esteem, behavior problems, anxiety, aggression, and withdrawal from friends, parents and teachers.

Problems as adults. The inability to read and comprehend can prevent children from reaching their potential as they grow up. This can have negative long-term educational, social and economic impacts.

Children who have dyslexia are at increased risk of having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and vice versa. ADHD can cause difficulty keeping attention. It can also cause hyperactivity and impulsive behavior, which can make dyslexia harder to treat.

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This learning disorder involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.

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Dyslexia is a learning disability in reading. People with dyslexia have trouble reading at a good pace and without mistakes. They may also have a hard time with reading comprehension, spelling, and writing. But these challenges aren't a problem with intelligence.

Snapshot: What dyslexia is

Dyslexia is a common condition that makes it hard to work with language. Some experts believe that between 5 and 10 percent of people have it. Others say as many as 17 percent of people show signs of reading challenges.

People with dyslexia don't outgrow it. But there are teaching approaches and strategies that can help them improve their reading skills and manage the challenges. People of any age can be tested for dyslexia, although the tests are different for adults than for kids.

People with dyslexia typically have trouble reading fluently. They often read slowly and make mistakes. That can impact how well they comprehend what they read. But when other people read to them, they often have no problem understanding the text.

Dyslexia can create difficulty with other skills, too. These include:

It's important to know that while dyslexia impacts learning, it's not a problem of intelligence. People with dyslexia are just as smart as their peers. There are countless stories about people thriving with dyslexia, including actors, entrepreneurs, and elected officials.

Dyslexia signs and symptoms

Dyslexia impacts people in different ways. So, symptoms might not look the same from one person to another.

A key sign of dyslexia is trouble decoding words. This is the ability to match letters to sounds. Kids can also struggle with a more basic skill called phonemic awareness. This is the ability to recognize the sounds in words. Trouble with phonemic awareness can show up as early as preschool.

In some people, dyslexia isn't picked up until later on, when they have trouble with more complex skills. These can include grammar, reading comprehension, reading fluency, sentence structure, and more in-depth writing.

Some of the signs of dyslexia have to do with emotions and behavior. People with dyslexia might avoid reading, both out loud and to themselves. They may even get anxious or frustrated when reading. This can happen even after they've mastered the basics of reading.

Dyslexia doesn't just affect learning. It can also impact everyday skills and activities. These include social interaction, memory, and dealing with stress.

Possible causes of dyslexia

Researchers haven't yet pinpointed exactly what causes dyslexia. But they do know that genes and brain differences play a role. Here are some of the possible causes of dyslexia:

Genes and heredity: Dyslexia often runs in families. About 40 percent of siblings of people with dyslexia also struggle with reading. As many as 49 percent of parents of kids with dyslexia have it, too. Scientists have also found genes linked to problems with reading and processing language.

Brain anatomy and activity: Brain imaging studies have shown brain differences between people with and without dyslexia. These differences happen in areas of the brain involved with key reading skills. Those skills are knowing how sounds are represented in words, and recognizing what written words look like.

But the brain can change. Studies show that brain activity in people with dyslexia changes after they get proper instruction or tutoring. And scientists are learning more all the time.

How dyslexia is diagnosed

Having a diagnosis (schools call it an identification) can lead to supports and services at school, and accommodations at college and work.

There are a few types of professionals who can assess people for dyslexia. These include school psychologists, clinical psychologists, and neuropsychologists. An evaluator will give a series of tests for dyslexia. They'll test in other areas as well to see exactly where any weaknesses and strengths lie.

School evaluations are free. But private ones can be very expensive. In some cases, there are ways to get them for free or at a low cost. Local universities often have programs in psychology that have clinics where students do their training.

Teaching hospitals may have research projects where people can get evaluations for free. Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) has local chapters in every state. They may be able to help with finding free or low-cost options.

About the author

About the author

The Understood Team is made up of passionate writers and editors. Many of them have kids who learn and think differently.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Guinevere Eden, PhD is a professor at Georgetown University and director of its Center for the Study of Learning.

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Understood.org is the resource that helps the 70 million people with learning and thinking differences anticipate the challenges, barriers, or opportunities in life and confidently reach their potential.

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Accommodations for Students with Dyslexia

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Accommodations for Students with Dyslexia

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Please click here if you are not redirected within a few seconds.

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WHAT ARE ACCOMMODATIONS? - International Dyslexia Association | Oregon

or.dyslexiaida.org

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Please click here if you are not redirected within a few seconds. Images WHAT ARE ACCOMMODATIONS? - International Dyslexia Association | Oregon or.dyslexiaida.org Images may be subject to copyright.

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Accommodations work best when they target a specific barrier or challenge. For instance, for the child who can't sit still to do math, an accommodation may be frequent breaks. For the child who struggles to write out answers on tests, an accommodation may be to have her give answers orally.

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In this episode, we talk about common adjustments teachers can make in the classroom to support students with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a neurological condition that causes a specific learning disability, characterised by difficulties with language and words. Students with dyslexia have difficulty learning to read and interpreting words and letters, as well as other symbols. Students can process information more slowly or exhibit slow reading or writing speed. Dyslexia may mask the level of ability of a student so it is important for teachers to have both good understanding of the personal adjustments required and high expectations of achievement.

Year 6 student Danielle talks about her increased confidence in learning as a result of classroom adjustments. Learning Support Coordinator Lynne Ivicevic talks about the importance of early intervention and how with the right adjustments students can go on to achieve great things. Primary school teacher Michael Davies explains the benefits of new technologies and how inclusive adjustments can assist all students. CEO of the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation and President of AUSPELD, Mandy Nayton, talks about how adjustments such as time allowances can help students with dyslexia to learn.

The vast majority of students who have learning difficulties including dyslexia can become good readers. Students with more acute difficulties will require adjustments and accommodations in the classroom.

How can I incorporate assistive technology to effectively support students with dyslexia in the classroom?

Search "Classroom adjustments" in Apple podcasts This link will open in a new window , Spotify This link will open in a new window , Google podcasts This link will open in a new window or wherever you get your podcasts to listen via your mobile device.

22 minute run time.

Lynne Ivicevic, Learning Support Coordinator, John Curtin College of the Arts

Michael Davies, Primary School Teacher, Berwick Primary School

Mandy Nayton, CEO of the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation and President of AUSPELD

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Classroom adjustments: Specific learning needs (Dyslexia)

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In this episode, we talk about common adjustments teachers can make in the classroom to support students with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a neurological condition that causes a specific learning disability, characterised by difficulties with language and words. Students with dyslexia have difficulty learning to read and interpreting words and letters, as well as other symbols.

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There are Treatments to Help with Dyslexia

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There are Treatments to Help with Dyslexia

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If your child has dyslexia, a few different treatments can improve his ability to read and write. These programs also help kids catch up to their peers in school.

The younger children are when they start treatment, the better their odds of success. But even adults with dyslexia can continue to improve their skills with the right help.

Dyslexia treatments are targeted to each person. Your child will work with one or more specialists to develop a program that meets his unique needs.

Tests for Dyslexia

To match your child with the right dyslexia program, a doctor or educational specialist will do tests to see how well he reads and writes. An educational psychologist can also do tests to find out if his learning issues are due to problems like depression or ADHD. Once you have a firm diagnosis, you can work with your child's doctor, teacher, and educational specialists to create a learning plan.

Reading Programs

Kids with dyslexia have trouble matching letters with the sounds they make, and matching words with their meanings. They need extra help learning to read and write.

Your child can work with a reading specialist to learn how to:

Sound out letters and words ("phonics")

Read faster

Understand more of what he reads

Write more clearly

A couple of reading programs are geared toward kids with dyslexia. They are:

Orton-Gillingham. This is a step-by-step technique that teaches kids how to match letters with sounds, and recognize letter sounds in words.

Multisensory instruction teaches kids how to use all of their senses - touch, sight, hearing, smell, and movement - to learn new skills. For example, your child might run his finger over letters made out of sandpaper to learn how to spell.

Extra Help

Talk to your child's school about getting help to address his unique learning needs. The law requires schools to set up special learning plans, called Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), for kids with learning disorders like dyslexia. An IEP describes your child's needs and how the school will help meet them. You and the school will update the plan each year based on your child's progress.

Continued

Extra help for kids with dyslexia can include:

Special education. A learning specialist or reading specialist can do one-on-one or group sessions, either in the classroom or in a separate room in the school.

Accommodations. An IEP outlines special services your child needs to make school easier. These might include audio books, extra time to finish tests, or text-to-speech-a technology that reads words out loud from a computer or book.

School isn't the only place where your child can learn. You can also help foster reading and writing skills at home. Read with your child whenever you can. Help him sound out words he has trouble with.

Learning Strategies

These tips can help both kids and adults with dyslexia:

Read in a quiet place with no distractions.

Listen to books on CD or computer, and read along with the recording.

Break up reading and other tasks into small pieces that are more manageable.

Ask for extra help from your teacher or manager when you need it.

Join a support group for kids or adults with dyslexia.

Get plenty of rest and eat healthy foods.

As your child gets older, he'll learn how to manage his dyslexia. A learning disorder shouldn't stop him from excelling in school, going to college, or later having a successful career.

Sources

SOURCES:

Mayo Clinic: "Dyslexia: Coping and support," "Dyslexia: Tests and Diagnosis," "Dyslexia: Treatments and Drugs."

National Health Service (U.K.): "Dyslexia - Management."

The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity: "Tips from dyslexic students for dyslexic students."

Understood: "Multisensory Instruction: What You Need to Know." "Orton-Gillingham: What You Need to Know." "Reading Specialists: What You Need to Know." "Treatment for Kids With Dyslexia."

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If your child has dyslexia, a few different treatments can improve his ability to read and write. These programs also help kids catch up to their peers in school. The younger children are when they start treatment, the better their odds of success.

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Quick Facts

Students with dyslexia require specific kinds of reading instruction

Many reading programs are ineffective for dyslexic students

The Orton Gillingham approach is the oldest and best researched for teaching those with dyslexia

Explicit, intensive and multisensory methods work best

Content should include phonemic awareness, fluency and explicit instruction of spelling rules

Assistive technology is opening the door to more efficient and effective methods for teaching reading

Software based reading programs hold many advantages over traditional programs but have not been widely adopted-yet

How do you Teach a Child with Dysleixa to Read?

The research on dyslexia treatment clearly shows that children with dyslexia need special kinds of instruction in terms of both content and method. Below is a summary of what we know works.

Dyslexia Treatment: Content

According to the prominent dyslexia researcher Dr. Sally Shaywitz, in her book Overcoming Dyslexia, the key ingredients of effective early intervention programs are:

1) Systematic and direct instruction in:

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Sounding out words

Spelling

Reading sight words

Vocabulary and concepts

Reading comprehension strategies

Practice means using them everyday from reading 2) Practice applying these skills in reading and writing: comic strips to writing e-mail.

3) Fluency training: Fluency is the ability to read quickly, smoothly, accurately and with good comprehension. When reading is slow and tough, kids spend all their energy to just sound out the words, often missing the meaning entirely.

4) Enriched language experiences: Interactive dialogue involving listening, speaking and story telling.

Dyslexia Treatment: Method

In terms of a successful method, the Orton Gillingham (OG) approach to reading that was developed in the 1930s by Samuel Torrey Orton and Anna Gillingham is still believed to be the most effective dyslexia treatment. It is based on the following process elements:

Personalized: Teaching begins with recognizing the differing needs of learners.

Multisensory: The simultaneous use of multiple senses including auditory, visual, and kinesthetic (touch). For example, a dyslexic learner is taught to see the letter A, say its name and sound and write it in the air-all at the same time. The use of multisensory input is thought to enhance memory storage and retrieval. Multisensory approaches can even be used for math.

Does Font Matter?

Much has been written in the media about special fonts for dyslexia. Discover if fonts can really make a difference in our Dyslexia Font and Style Guide.

Structured, Systematic, Sequential, and Cumulative: Language elements and rules are introduced in a linguistically logical, understandable order. Students go back to the very beginning of their language learning, to lay a proper foundation.

Beginning by reading and writing sounds in isolation ( phonemes), then blending sounds into syllables and words. Elements of language-consonants, vowels, digraph blends, and diphthongs are introduced in an orderly fashion. Only later, learners proceed to advanced structural elements such as syllable types, roots, prefixes and suffixes.

Cognitive: Students study the many generalizations and rules that govern the structure of language.

Flexible: Instructors ensure the learner is not simply recognizing a pattern and applying it without understanding. When confusion of a previously taught rule is discovered, it is re-taught from the beginning.

Personal and Direct: Building a close teacher-student relationship with continuous feedback and positive reinforcement leading to success and self confidence.

5 Things You Can Start doing Today!

Practice reading a very short story or poem out loud together until mastered, building fluency and confidence - research shows achieving fluency is crucial for becoming a successful reader.

Read aloud to your child/student for as little as 15 minutes a day.

Introduce audio books and magazines-available free from your local library.

Motivate by recognizing good work-often!

Read books yourself to model good reading habits.

Another Approach

There are other approaches that are not considered OG but offer comparable benefit through somewhat different methods. The Lindamood-Bell learning centers are one of the best examples.

Where to Begin

If your child is in a special education program and/or has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), you will be part of the planning for that program. Be sure to attend the meeting where your child's plan is discussed. Ask if the school is using a reading program that has been shown to work for students with dyslexia, one that meets the content and method criteria above. For more detailed information and advice on the IEP process (U.S. perspective), try this site on Special Education.

Unfortunately, sadly, and remarkably, most public schools will fail you at this point. They either don't have the right tools for dyslexia treatment, resource teachers, time or money to provide the kind of support your child may need. I hope your school is an exception.

What are the Actual Reading Programs?

Below is a list of reading programs that incorporate Orton Gillingham or equivalent approaches and which include emphasis on phonemic awareness, fluency, and strategies for spelling and comprehension. Your school and tutor should be using one of them or an equivalent. Updated August, 2018.

Programs Continued....

Software Based Systems Rising

Change is hard

The education establishment has been slow to warm to the idea that reading instruction should take place on a computer, be self directed and fun. Especially those organizations that make most of their money from training and certifying instructors.

We believe that computer based reading instruction programs will displace many of the current paper book, flashcard and tile systems listed above-and soon!.

The migration of reading programs into the digital realm has been strikingly slow. While you can find countless apps to help with spelling or vocabulary, there are relatively few comprehensive software based reading programs suitable for dyslexic students. But consider the inherent advantages that software has over paper book, flashcard and tile type reading systems:

Much lower cost for tutoring (very good for parents on a budget)

Easy to incorporate almost all Orton Gillingham elements right into the software itself

Immediate and continuous feedback

Automatic adjustment of difficulty based on progress

Infinite patience and the ability for students to work more independently

Effortless and detailed progress tracking built right into the software

Dramatically lowers the bar for the amount of training required to deliver a program

Develops keyboarding skills and computer literacy

Fun! Software is often game based, making reading fun-exactly what it should be.

Because of these advantages we believe that software based systems are the future of reading instruction for both home and the classroom.

Dyslexia Treatment: What Won't Work??

Any reading program that doesn't incorporate the Orton Gillingham approach and the type of content noted earlier is less likely to work. The programs and interventions listed below may offer benefits to your child, but they will not likely help them make the kind of progress necessary to close the reading gap with their peers.

Don't be afraid to experiment, but stick to proven programs for the core of your interventions

Where can I find a good reading program?

Explore links to local schools and tutoring centers that offer these kinds of dyslexia treatment programs.

Return to the top of Dyslexia Treatment

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Students with dyslexia require specific kinds of reading instruction Many reading programs are ineffective for dyslexic students The Orton Gillingham approach is the oldest and best researched for teaching those with dyslexia Explicit, intensive and multisensory methods work best Content should include phonemic awareness, fluency and explicit instruction of spelling

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Parent Advocacy Resources

Pushing Back: What to Say When Your School Gets It Wrong

Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Should Know

IDA Dyslexia Handbook: What Every Family Should Know

Additional Resources

The Matrix of Multisensory Structured Language Programs

Dispute Resolution Resource at the US Department of Education

The Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE) works to increase the nation's capacity to effectively resolve special education disputes, reducing the use of expensive adversarial processes. CADRE works with state and local education and early intervention systems, parent centers, families and educators to improve programs and results for children with disabilities. CADRE is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs at the US Department of Education to serve as the National Center on Dispute Resolution in Special Education.

Click here to view their informative packet. This document is shared with permission.

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Additional Resources - International Dyslexia Association

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Appropriate Reading Instruction for a Child with Dyslexia

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Dyslexia Help at the University of Michigan

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Our goal is to help individuals with dyslexia, as well as parents, employers, and professionals of all kinds who have the privilege to work with dyslexics gain new understandings about dyslexia and language disability, including current research findings and how to design intervention contexts based…

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Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium - ERLC

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Using Technologies to Support Diverse Learning Needs

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Information on Dyslexia and Structured Literacy

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Information on Dyslexia and Structured Literacy

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On this page, we provide 6 short video lessons about:

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA,

Exceptional Student Education or ESE in Florida,

Developing an appropriate Individual Education Plan or IEP for your child, and

Strategies for successful IEP meeting advocacy.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is our nation's primary special education law. IDEA guides how states, school districts, and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. IDEA was first enacted by Congress in 1975 to ensure that children with disabilities have the opportunity to receive a free appropriate public education, just like other children. IDEA has been revised several times over the years. The most recent revisions were enacted in December 2004, with final regulations published in August 2006.

In Florida special education is called Exceptional Student Education or ESE.

Every child with a disability who is eligible under IDEA and ESE has an Individual Education Plan or IEP. The IEP is an individualized written plan that supports the need for specialized supports and services. Parents and teachers consider the IEP to be their child's educational road map.

Watch all six videos and then visit the Links tab for additional online resources.

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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

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On this page, we provide 6 short video lessons about: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA...

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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.

The IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to more than 8 million (as of school year 2022-23) eligible infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities.

Infants and toddlers, birth through age 2, with disabilities and their families receive early intervention services under IDEA Part C. Children and youth ages 3 through 21 receive special education and related services under IDEA Part B.

Additionally, the IDEA authorizes:

Formula grants to states to support special education and related services and early intervention services.

Discretionary grants to state educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and other nonprofit organizations to support research, demonstrations, technical assistance and dissemination, technology development, personnel preparation and development, and parent-training and -information centers.

Congress reauthorized the IDEA in 2004 and most recently amended the IDEA through Public Law 114-95, the Every Student Succeeds Act, in December 2015.

In the law, Congress states:

Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.

Other Laws for Children with Disabilities

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) provides additional resources of interest for individuals with disabilities and their families.

OCR does not enforce the IDEA; however, OCR does enforce the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 and Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Title II rights of IDEA-eligible students with disabilities.

To learn more, visit the OCR's Frequently Asked Questions About Section 504 and the Education of Children with Disabilities.

Visit OCR's website for additional resources.

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About IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

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The IDEA is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.

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Dyslexia Support Groups - Learning Differentiated

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Discover inclusive dyslexia support groups offering guidance, community, and resources. Find empowerment for you or your loved one today.

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UK Therapy Guide - Your Trusted Online Therapy & Counselling

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Dyslexia, a neurological condition that affects reading, writing, and spelling, can pose significant challenges in an individual's academic and professional life. However, with the right support and interventions, individuals with dyslexia can overcome these challenges and thrive. Therapy, in various forms, plays a crucial role in empowering individuals with dyslexia to reach their full potential.

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When I was growing up, I thought dyslexia meant seeing or writing letters backwards. I've learned that it is SO much more. Thanks to our guest blogger, Renee O'Brien, for sharing her knowledge with us!
Melissa doesn't know what to do.

Her son, Matthew, is struggling in school. Melissa has asked his teachers about his reading. They have told her he will be fine, she just needs to read to him more, that he's still young and will catch up, and that they don't test for dyslexia until third grade. However, Matthew falls apart when he gets home from school. He cries while doing his homework and refuses to read because he is struggling with reading, except for the picture books he knows by heart. He's also been acting out at school and has been labeled as lazy and a behavioral problem.

Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, this is the situation for many families. Dyslexia, while it is the most common learning disability, often goes undiagnosed. It is estimated that one in five people have dyslexia, yet teachers, even reading specialists, are not all taught how to identify and teach children with dyslexia.

Let's start by talking about what dyslexia is.

The International Dyslexia Association defines dyslexia as "a specific learning disability that is neurobiological 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." In other words, dyslexia is a language based learning difference that affects a person's ability to connect letters to sounds, making it hard to read and spell. A person with dyslexia will read below what would be expected despite having normal or even above average intelligence. Dyslexia can also look different in each individual and can range from mild to moderate in severity.

What are the warning signs?

So, that leave us with what dyslexia is NOT.

The only way to support children with dyslexia is to first identify them.

If you feel your child is exhibiting some of the symptoms, talk to their teacher and consider having them evaluated. You can request a comprehensive evaluation through the public school system. You start the process by writing a letter requesting an IEP evaluation in every area of suspected disability. Make sure to do this in writing! I can't stress this enough. If it's not in writing, it didn't happen.

While all of this may sound overwhelming, it is important to note that your child can still succeed in school with the right interventions in place.

There are trained professionals, often special education teachers, reading specialists or speech and language pathologists, who use specific, systematic, evidence-based instruction that is proven through research to help your child learn to read. Ask your school what methodology or program they plan to use and the qualifications of the provider.

As is the case with any child with a disability, knowledge is the key. Being an informed advocate for your child, continually asking questions and seeking out additional resources are some of the best ways to help get your child what they need to be successful.

For more information on what to do if you have concerns about your child's learning be sure to check out this page of our website on How to identify your concerns and talk to a teacher.
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My Child is Struggling with Reading...Could it be DYSLEXIA?

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Dyslexia is the most common learning disability but it often goes undiagnosed. In this blog we talk about the warning signs and how to get a diagnosis.

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Children each learn and develop at their own pace, and reading is no different from other skill building. It's common for kids to find reading challenging at one point or another. But if learning to read becomes an ongoing struggle that leaves a child falling behind their peers, it's possible that they have a learning disorder known as dyslexia.

Dyslexia is most commonly associated with trouble learning to read. It affects a child's ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in language. Kids with dyslexia have a hard time decoding new words, or breaking them down into manageable chunks they can then sound out. This causes difficulty with reading, writing and spelling. They may compensate by memorizing words, but they'll have trouble recognizing new words and may be slow in retrieving even familiar ones.

Dyslexia is not a reflection of a child's intelligence - in fact it's defined as a gap between a student's ability and achievement. Some youngsters with dyslexia are able to keep up with their peers with extra effort at least for the first few grades. But by the third grade or so, when they need to be able to read quickly and fluently in order to keep up with their work, they run into trouble.

With help and strategies for compensating for their weakness in decoding, students with dyslexia can learn to read and thrive academically. But dyslexia is not something one grows out of.

How common is dyslexia?

It is estimated that as many as one in five kids has dyslexia, and that 80 to 90 percent of kids with learning disorders have it. Sally Shaywitz, MD, co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, notes that many children go undiagnosed as struggles in school are incorrectly attributed to intelligence, level of effort or environmental factors.

Although experts used to say that dyslexia occurred more often in boys than in girls, current research indicates that it affects boys and girls equally.

A young person with dyslexia may:

Struggle with learning even simple rhymes

Have a speech delay

Have trouble following directions

Repeat or omit short words such as and, the, but

Find it difficult to tell left from right

In school, children with dyslexia are likely to:

Have difficulty sounding out new words

Lack fluency compared to other children their age

Reverse letters and numbers when reading (read saw as was, for example)

Find it difficult to take notes and copy down words from the board

Struggle with rhyming, associating sounds with letters, and sequencing and ordering sounds

Stumble and have difficulty spelling even common words; frequently they will spell them phonetically (hrbr instead of harbor)

Avoid being called on to read out loud in front of classmates

Become tired or frustrated from reading

Dyslexia affects children outside of school as well. Kids with dyslexia may also:

Find it difficult to decode logos and signs

Struggle when trying to learn the rules to games

Have difficulty keeping track of multi-step directions

Struggle with getting the hang of telling time

Find it especially challenging to learn another language

Become incredibly frustrated, which can effect their mood and emotional stability

Social and emotional impacts of dyslexia

Dyslexia affects a lot more than reading - it can also impact a child socially. "A dyslexic person who has word-finding difficulties can have trouble with their expressive language," says Scott Bezsylko, the executive director of Winston Preparatory School, which specializes in teaching kids with learning disorders. "That has a social impact, in addition to your difficulties with reading and writing, that make you feel not so good about yourself."

Kids with dyslexia - particularly those who have yet to be diagnosed - often suffer from low self-esteem because they worry that there is something wrong with them, and are often accused of not trying hard enough to learn to read. "A lot of our work with dyslexic kids is to help them rediscover that they are smart and capable," notes Beszylko, "because they've stopped believing in themselves."

How is dyslexia diagnosed?

If your child isn't meeting expectations for reading, as parents you can ask the school district to perform an evaluation and share the results with you. The evaluation will test your child's intellectual capacity and reading skills, to see if there is an achievement gap. It should also rule out other potential causes like environmental factors or hearing impairment.

The school should then make recommendations on how they can support your child and maximize her learning.

If you are unhappy with the quality of the evaluation, you can also secure a private evaluation by a psychologist, a neuropsychologist, a reading specialist, a speech and language therapist, an educational evaluator or a school psychologist. This external evaluation can also be used to advocate for your child and get the accommodations and services she might need.

When should a child be evaluated?

Dyslexia can begin to reveal itself at a young age, and there are preschool evaluations that look at the child's awareness of the sounds that make up words, and ability at word retrieval. However, Matthew Cruger, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Child Mind Institute, suggests waiting until kids are at least six years old and have had some formal instruction in reading to seek out a formal evaluation.

But Dr. Shaywitz notes that as soon as a gap between intelligence and reading skills is apparent - and evidence shows it can be seen in first grade - it's a good idea to get help. Schools sometimes encourage parents to wait until the third grade to see if their child truly needs an intervention, but Dr. Shaywitz argues that the earlier intervention is important not only to help kids catch up but to boost their fragile self-image, which is damaged by continuing struggle in school and comparisons with peers.

How to help kids with dyslexia

A dyslexia diagnosis does not mean your child will never learn to read. Dr. Cruger says there are a number of programs that can help, which might include these features:

Multi-sensory instruction in decoding skills

Repetition and review of skills

Intensity of intervention - that is, more than being pulled out of class once a week for extra help

Small group or individual instruction

Teaching decoding skills

Drilling sight words

Teaching comprehension strategies, to help kids derive meaning from what they're reading

Reading programs that been shown to help kids with dyslexia include:

Dr. Cruger points out that traditional tutoring may actually be counter-productive for a child with dyslexia, particularly if it is not a positive experience. "If the child hates the experience of reading help, it's not helpful," Dr. Cruger notes. "And it's not treating the source of the problem, the decoding weakness."

Instead, Dr. Cruger emphasizes that one of the most important ways to help kids with dyslexia is to make them more comfortable reading. This can be done in part by celebrating even small victories and accomplishments, while focusing less on correcting their errors.

Accommodations for kids with dyslexia

Kids with demonstrated dyslexia are eligible for accommodations in school. "Dyslexia robs a person of time," Dr. Shaywitz explains, "and accommodations give the time back to her." Accommodations may include:

Extra time on tests

A quiet space to work

The option to record lectures

The option to give verbal, rather than written, answers (when appropriate)

Elimination of oral reading in class

Exemption from foreign language learning

Other ways to support a child with dyslexia

One of the best ways to support a child with dyslexia - or any child who is struggling - is to encourage those activities that they like and feel good at, whether it is music, joining a sports team or anything else that helps build her confidence.

To help reinforce that dyslexia is not a marker of intelligence, it can also be helpful to talk about successful people - like Whoopi Goldberg and Steven Spielberg - who have also been diagnosed with dyslexia.

Other things that may help your child with dyslexia include:

Listening to audio books as an alternative to reading

Typing on a computer or tablet instead of writing

Apps that can make learning fun by turning decoding into a game

Using a ruler to help kids read in a straight line, which can help keep them focused

Emotional support

Dyslexia can result in frustration, embarrassment, avoidance and low self-esteem as a result of difficulties performing tasks that seem to come naturally to others. Demystifying the learning disorder with your child can help him develop the tools - and resilience - necessary to manage it, both in school and in social circumstances. Some things you can do to help include:

Discuss the specific challenges that result from dyslexia: "You know how you have a hard time reading signs or copying notes from the board? That's dyslexia."

Acknowledge their effort and celebrate hard work, even if there are still mistakes: "I know how difficult that reading homework was. I am so proud of how hard you tried."

Help them recognize their strengths: "You showed such great sportsmanship and teamwork in the soccer game the other night, and that was a great goal you scored!"

Combat negative self-talk: If your child starts saying things like, "I'm just stupid," don't ignore it. Instead, check out these ideas for helping kids who are too hard on themselves.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does dyslexia work?

How common is dyslexia?

What helps students with dyslexia?

What are the signs of dyslexia?

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Understanding Dyslexia - Child Mind Institute

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Find out how to recognize dyslexia, the most common learning disability. The Child Mind Institute on how to help kids who have trouble learning to read.

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How This Public School Meets the Needs of Students With Dyslexia

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How This Public School Meets the Needs of Students With Dyslexia

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How This Public School Meets the Needs of Students With Dyslexia

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Accommodating Students With Dyslexia Article 

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Accommodating Students With Dyslexia Article 

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These five easy-to-implement accommodations can make class less stressful and more manageable for students with dyslexia.

©Shutterstock/Ursula Ferrara

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For many of us, reading is as automatic as breathing. But for the millions of students with dyslexia, reading is a difficult task that poses constant academic and emotional challenges. To simulate the experience of reading with dyslexia, try using this key to decipher the coded statement below.

What you have just done is relearn to read. You've taken symbols and connected them with new speech sounds. Until those connections are automatic, the reading process will be laborious and draining. Now imagine reading like this-every word you encounter all day long. This is how it can feel for students with dyslexia.

Although awareness of dyslexia is steadily growing due to campaigns by grassroots movements like Decoding Dyslexia and national organizations like the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and the National Center on Learning Disabilities (NCLD), many educators are still unfamiliar with what dyslexia is and how to accommodate it in the classroom.

Here's what we know: Dyslexia is common, affecting 5 to 17 percent of students. It is the result of one or more brain-based language processing challenges in the area of rapid automatized naming (RAN), working memory, and phonological and/or auditory processing. Dyslexia is hereditary, often passed down from a parent or grandparent who has struggled with it. Dyslexia occurs on a spectrum, so some students may fly under the radar with a mild case while others are profoundly impacted.

Dyslexia can occur comorbidly with other learning difficulties like dysgraphia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, dyspraxia, and/or dyscalculia.

Dyslexia is not linked to intelligence, a finding supported by research from Yale University and demonstrated by the long list of successful innovators with dyslexia-including Richard Branson, Steven Spielberg, Steve Jobs, and Albert Einstein-proving that the dyslexic mind can indeed be highly intelligent.

Students with dyslexia can be remediated with evidence-based, Structured Literacy programs delivered by teachers trained in reading instruction to increase accuracy, reading fluency, and text comprehension.

In addition to quality intervention, students with dyslexia benefit from classroom accommodations that take into account their unique processing challenges and allow them to demonstrate their content understanding and access the curriculum with more ease.

Easy-to-Implement Accommodations

Here are five easy-to-implement accommodations to support students with dyslexia in the classroom:

1. Provide access to audiobooks: Students with dyslexia often have an intellectual ability that is well above their academic reading level. Strengthen critical thinking, vocabulary skills, and background knowledge by allowing students to listen to audiobooks during classroom reading time.

Some great options for classroom audiobook access can be found at Learning Ally, a nonprofit provider of human-read audiobooks; OverDrive Education, another provider of human-read audiobooks; and Bookshare, a provider of computerized audiobooks (free for qualified U.S. students and schools). Another free option is to upload an e-book on a Kindle app and ask Amazon's Alexa to "read my latest Kindle book."

You can take away the stigma of "ear reading" by offering audiobooks as a reading option for the whole class.

2. Allow students to use note-taking apps: Students with dyslexia can struggle with everyday tasks like note taking, transcribing from lectures, and writing down spoken directions. Allow students to skip the arduous task of transcribing notes from the board by using assistive-technology apps like Notability or Evernote to take pictures of lecture notes to review and study later.

3. Permit students to record assignment instructions and lectures for playback: At the root of dyslexia is a language processing issue, so students with dyslexia sometimes struggle with multistep verbal instructions and paying attention through long lectures. Allow students to record important assignment instructions and lectures for playback with voice notes using Siri from Apple or Read&Write, a free Google Chrome extension from TextHelp.

4. Offer reduced homework problems: Students with dyslexia need the practice that comes with homework, but because of their processing difficulties, homework can take three to five times longer for these students than it does for their peers. Allow students with dyslexia to do every other problem or only half the problems to keep the focus of homework on demonstrating and practicing content knowledge as opposed to making it an exercise in endurance.

5. Encourage use of text-to-speech: In later grades, students with dyslexia will need to access text that is above their academic ability in order to complete class assignments, and text-to-speech can be a real game changer. Students can look for the BrowseAloud logo to find websites that are speech-to-text enabled or download the Read&Write Google Chrome extension to translate all web text into spoken words.

Dealing with dyslexia is difficult in today's text-heavy education system. These accommodations are just the tip of the iceberg for making students feel supported and accepted in the classroom.

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These five easy-to-implement accommodations can make class less stressful and more manageable for students with dyslexia. ©Shutterstock/Ursula Ferrara ivzwrmt drgs wbhocrz rh vcszfhgrmt For many of us, reading is as automatic as breathing. But for the millions of students with dyslexia, reading is a difficult task that poses constant academic and emotional challenges.

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Don M. Winn is an award-winning author, speaker, and dyslexia advocate. As a dyslexic, who well knows the challenge of learning to love to read, Don's goal is to write books for children that are so engaging they will entice even the most reluctant or struggling reader. Don's articles on dyslexia have been featured in TODAY Parenting, Costco Connection Magazine, MD Monthly, Latin Times, and many others. Don's award-winning books include the Sir Kaye the Boy Knight series of children's chapter books and 13 Cardboard Box Adventures picture books.

Parents and educators know that when stories are fun and engaging, kids spend more time reading. But what if the books you choose for your children or students not only entertain but also teach? Imagine finding stories that combine the life lessons of Aesop's Fables with the appealing characters and compelling adventures of beloved classics. Don Winn's award-winning picture books are just such a find.

Don Winn's Sir Kaye the Boy Knight series, starring the young knight Sir Kaye Balfour, is full of fun, exciting adventures that appeal to even the most reluctant reader. Kaye's beloved but absent father is his inspiration, and he strives to meet challenges with the values his chivalrous father taught him. His best pal, Reggie, who is dyslexic and also struggles with low self-esteem, often surprises himself by his ability to make meaningful contributions to those around him. The Sir Kaye series is unique because it features characters learning to meet life's challenges without magic or superpowers. These young heroes deal with internal questions and uncertainty as they work through the events they face, and each one finds his own way. The books are fun and enjoyed by any reader, but they are particular favorites of kids who need heroes dealing with difficulties like their own: dyslexia, learning challenges, absentee parents, being targets of bullying, or struggling with low self-esteem.

Don has been writing for over 20 years. A dyslexic reader and writer himself, Don works tirelessly to encourage struggling young readers to embrace their love of stories and to keep on reading!

Don Winn lives in Round Rock, Texas with his wife.

Find out more at www.donwinn.com

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Raising a Child with Dyslexia: What Every Parent Needs to Know

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Raising a Child with Dyslexia: What Every Parent Needs to Know [Winn, Don M] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Raising a Child with Dyslexia: What Every Parent Needs to Know

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Find Expert Panama City FL Dyslexia Tutors Available Now

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View profiles of the best Panama City FL tutors, teachers, or instructors for your Dyslexia tutoring, lessons, or instructional needs. Select a low-cost available tutor right now.