Both ADHD and dyslexia have several symptoms in common, such as information-processing speed challenges, working memory deficits, naming speed, and motor skills deficits. So it is easy for a parent or a professional to mistake dyslexic symptoms for ADHD.
Adults with dyslexia tend to mispronounce people's names, have trouble recalling places, or mix up similar words. But ADHD can make you more forgetful in everyday life. You might skip important appointments, misplace your keys, or have patchy memories of your childhood. Attention issues.
There is a common misconception that dyslexia only affects the ability to read and write. In reality, dyslexia can affect memory, organisation, time-keeping, concentration, multi-tasking and communication.
When ADHD symptoms are treated, the symptoms of dyslexia may improve, but this is only because everything that the person does, including reading, improves when they can sustain attention. While medication is an effective ADHD treatment, there is no medication that helps dyslexia.
Children with dyslexia have increased risk of attention deficit disorder and are more likely to have behavioral issues. If a child meets the Social Security Administration (SSA) listing for neurodevelopmental disorders, he or she will qualify for disability benefits.
ADHD can make it harder to commit words and spelling rules to memory. ADHD can also make it harder for the brain to organize information and retrieve it when needed.
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed. Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities.
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.
Because the dyslexic mind is wired in a slightly different way than non-dyslexic minds, we process information differently. This makes us really good at some things but it also means we may struggle with other things, especially if the learning process is not adapted to our way of thinking.
Often forget conversations or important dates. Have difficulty with personal organisation, time management and prioritising tasks. Avoid certain types of work or study. Find some tasks really easy but unexpectedly challenged by others.
People often confuse dyslexia and autism for one another or conflate them for their similarities. But they are two completely different disorders that affect the brains of people in different ways. While dyslexia is a learning difficulty, autism is a developmental disorder.
Being easily distracted and daydreaming. Confusion, forgetfulness and switching activities frequently. Difficulty focusing on one thing – becoming bored quickly. Trouble completing homework or tasks and losing things.
There's no single test that can diagnose dyslexia. A number of factors are considered, such as: Your child's development, educational issues and medical history. The health care provider will likely ask you questions about these areas.
People with dyslexia have the ability to see how things connect to form complex systems, and to identify similarities among multiple things. Such strengths are likely to be of particular significance for fields like science and mathematics, where pictures are key.
According to the Australian Dyslexia Association, around 10% of the Australian population are dyslexic – but the figure may be higher, as many dyslexic persons have not been diagnosed. Other countries such as the US, Canada and the UK estimate up to 20% of the population are dyslexic.
Some teachers and parents can mistake a dyslexic child for someone who is lacking intelligence. But the truth is dyslexia has nothing to do with a child's level of intelligence.
Common mistakes when reading and spelling are mixing up b's and d's, or similar looking words such as 'was' and 'saw', 'how' and 'who'. Letters and numbers can be written back-to-front or upside down. The most common numbers for visual dyslexics to reverse are 9, 5 and 7.
Nonetheless, as discussed above, being dyslexic may make an individual more sensitive and prone to anxious thoughts in certain situations. Personality traits and psychological profiles too play a key role in anxiety levels.
ADHD is a form of neurodivergence that can sometimes make reading more difficult. For both children and adults with ADHD, staying focused while reading can be difficult. It can also be challenging to comprehend and retain the information that was read.
Handwriting difficulties are common in children with attention deficient hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and have been associated with lower academic achievement and self-esteem [1–3]. Teachers report that the handwriting of both boys and girls with ADHD is immature, messy, and illegible.
Struggle 1: Word problems are overwhelming
For students with ADHD, the stumbling block with word problems lies in the combination of words and numbers that make it difficult to store the information in their memory as they progress through the problem.