Dyslexia as defined by The International Dyslexia Association: "Dyslexia is 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. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge" (IDA 2002).

A specific learning disability is a disorder of basic psychological processes used to understand, speak, or write language.

Basic psychological processes include sensory motor skills, attention, auditory processing, visual processing, phonological processing, and cognitive abilities (association, conceptualization, expression, etc.).

Specific learning disabilities do not include learning issues that are a result of visual, hearing, motor, or intellectual disabilities. SLDs also disclude learning problems related to emotional disturbance, or cultural, environmental, or economic disadvantages.

Dyslexia causes unexpected struggles with reading for those who have the intelligence to be a much better reader.

Screening students for dyslexia early on is necessary in order to provide students with proper supports and narrow the achievement gap.

Dyslexia affects people from all sorts of cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds pretty evenly.

Dyslexia is a heritable learning disability. This makes it important to ask about family history when screening.

Dyslexia is often paired with other disabilities such as dysgraphia, dyscalculia, oral language impairment, and ADHD.

In 2016, the US Senate passed Senate Resolution 576, which required Congress, schools, and other educational agencies to become aware of the educational implications of dyslexia and figure out how to address them.