What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia means 'a difficulty with words', particularly written words, and can affect the learning process with regard to reading, spelling, writing and sometimes numeracy. Dyslexic learners may also experience difficulties with short-term memory, sequencing and the speed of processing information.
Dyslexia is not linked to a person's intellectual ability and consequently the difficulty a dyslexic child may have with reading or spelling depends really on how severe their dyslexia is. Children with average intelligence and mild dyslexia are likely to be more skilled at reading and writing than children with high intelligence and more severe dyslexia.
Dyslexia is very common and affects around 1 in 10 people in the UK. It is a condition that you are born with and often runs in families. Although there is no cure as such, the right teaching and support can be highly effective in improving reading and writing skills, and research has shown that the earlier appropriate interventions are adopted, the better.
The impact of dyslexia is extensive: if you cannot learn to read, you cannot read to learn and everything we do at school and throughout life requires us to have the skills to be able to read fluently and accurately.
Children with dyslexia undoubtedly face challenges on a day-to-day basis, but even children who have severe dyslexia can go on to lead productive and extraordinary lives. You only have to look at the success of people like Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Kirsty Allsopp, Roald Dahl, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Jamie Oliver and Sir Steve Redgrave to realise that dyslexia should not prevent anyone from becoming successful and achieving their dreams.
For more information please visit the British Dyslexia Association website at www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
Dyslexia is not linked to a person's intellectual ability and consequently the difficulty a dyslexic child may have with reading or spelling depends really on how severe their dyslexia is. Children with average intelligence and mild dyslexia are likely to be more skilled at reading and writing than children with high intelligence and more severe dyslexia.
Dyslexia is very common and affects around 1 in 10 people in the UK. It is a condition that you are born with and often runs in families. Although there is no cure as such, the right teaching and support can be highly effective in improving reading and writing skills, and research has shown that the earlier appropriate interventions are adopted, the better.
The impact of dyslexia is extensive: if you cannot learn to read, you cannot read to learn and everything we do at school and throughout life requires us to have the skills to be able to read fluently and accurately.
Children with dyslexia undoubtedly face challenges on a day-to-day basis, but even children who have severe dyslexia can go on to lead productive and extraordinary lives. You only have to look at the success of people like Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Kirsty Allsopp, Roald Dahl, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Jamie Oliver and Sir Steve Redgrave to realise that dyslexia should not prevent anyone from becoming successful and achieving their dreams.
For more information please visit the British Dyslexia Association website at www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
Typical features of dyslexia
Different children have different degrees of dyslexia but all dyslexic children will have difficulty with one or more of the following:
- Learning to read and spell.
- Writing - particularly with regard to spelling, punctuation and sentence structure.
- Visual processing of words - a dyslexic child may reverse letters and numbers when reading and writing.
- Phonological processing of words - ie. breaking words down into separate syllables and sounds in order to
make them easier to read and spell. - Information processing - those with dyslexia often need a little more time to process and understand what you are saying to them.
- Memory - a dyslexic child may struggle to remember the months of the year and may also have difficulty in remembering a list of verbal instructions such as 'please fetch your book, put it in your bag and then put on your shoes'.
- Concentration.
- Confidence in the classroom.