To someone with dyslexia, writing often looks like a visual struggle, with letters mixing up (b/d, p/q), appearing jumbled or moving, and inconsistent spelling/letter formation, alongside difficulty connecting letters to sounds, slow speed, and words seeming to "shimmer" or blur, making the process tiring and frustrating. It's less about letters being physically reversed (a common myth) and more about processing challenges that affect spelling, letter shapes, and word recognition, leading to messy handwriting, skipped letters, and inconsistent capitalization.
Dyslexia makes it harder for children to spell, organize sentences, and express ideas in writing. They may reverse letters, skip words, or struggle with grammar due to differences in how they process language.
A dyslexic person might have any of the following problems:
slow writing speed. poor handwriting. problems copying written language and taking longer than normal to complete written work. poor phonological awareness and word attack skills.
Some children do make reversals (reversing direction letter faces along a vertical axis), inversions (flipping letters along a horizontal axis so that the letter is upside down), or transpositions (sequence of letters in a word is out of order). These errors are symptoms rather than causes of handwriting problems.
General signs to look for are:
in the Simple View of Writing
For example, the writing of students with dyslexia may suffer from one or more of the following issues: a high percentage of misspelled words, difficult-to-read hand- writing, poor organization, a lack of fully developed ideas, and/or a lack of diverse vocabulary.
Understanding and supporting individuals with Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Dyspraxia is essential for fostering an inclusive and effective learning environment. These disorders can also coincide with other conditions such as ADHD and Autism, requiring a comprehensive approach.
Do you:
Famous actors like Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom all have dyslexia. Pablo Picasso's teachers described him as “having difficulty differentiating the orientation of letters”.
But if a child has a low IQ and additional problem with dyslexia, that just is going to mean that they're going to have even more difficulty learning to read. But knowing that, most people with dyslexia are, at least, average or above-average IQ. So, it is not related to intelligence at all.
According to UMHS, the following conditions can present similar symptoms and difficulties to dyslexia:
Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world didn't let his dyslexia hold him back.
Each individual has their own most comfortable colours as long as it is not overly contrasted.” Dyslexia Scotland's own dyslexia-friendly written communications guidance also recommends low-contrast colours, for example use of dark blue text on cream, pastel or off-white backgrounds.
While there are various ways to classify dyslexia, four commonly discussed types focus on specific reading challenges: Phonological Dyslexia (sound-letter connection), Surface Dyslexia (whole-word recognition), Rapid Naming Dyslexia (speedy identification), and Double Deficit Dyslexia (a combination of phonological and rapid naming issues). These types highlight different core difficulties, from sounding out words to recognizing them quickly, and help guide tailored support strategies.
Characteristics of dyslexia-friendly fonts include: The heavier bottom portion of letters, helps to indicate direction. Wider letter spacing to reduce crowding. Distinct letter shapes prevent confusion between similar-looking letters such as 'b' and 'd'.
Some common dyslexia symptoms in teens and adults include:
Research by the University of Strathclyde has found that people with dyslexia are much better at being curious and exploring new ideas and more likely to be found in careers where this is an advantage, such as art, media, architecture, creativity, engineering and inventing things!
5 things not to say to your child about dyslexia
Consistent with earlier work showing that RAN, letter name knowledge, and phonological awareness are core predictors of dyslexia (Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 2001; Pennington & Lefly, 2001), these studies highlight the slow development of language, phonological awareness, and decoding-related skills, including poor ...
The BDA Level 7 Diploma in Dyslexia Assessment and Intervention (AMBDA and AMBDA FE/HE) provides training for individuals who already hold ATS/APS (or equivalent) and have a professional interest in assessment for dyslexia.
No, dyslexia is not a form of ADHD; they are separate neurodevelopmental conditions, but they often co-occur (comorbid) because they share some symptoms like attention issues and can affect similar brain functions, though their core problems differ: dyslexia is a language-based learning disorder, while ADHD involves inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Many people have both, making proper assessment crucial for targeted support, as dyslexia impacts reading/language processing, while ADHD broadly affects executive functions like focus and self-regulation.
Confusing similar looking letters and words
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.
Read to Students
While dyslexic students may struggle to read independently, they benefit greatly from someone reading to them. While they may be reading below grade level on their own, their listening comprehension is usually equal to or above that of their peers.
Dyslexia is often thought of as a problem with letter or number reversals (like mixing up b and d, or p and q) or transpositions (12 for 21). Known as motoric dyslexia, this is actually among the least severe and most uncommon of the different types of dyslexia.