Dyslexia is not a disease. It's a condition someone is born with, and it often runs in families. People with dyslexia are not stupid or lazy. Most have average or above-average intelligence, and they work very hard to overcome their reading problems.
Both mothers and fathers can pass dyslexia on to their children if either parent has it. There is roughly a 50% – 60% chance of a child developing dyslexia if one of their parents has it.
In summary, people with dyslexia have difficulty with spelling because reading and spelling are related abilities. The errors people with dyslexia make when spelling are similar to the errors they make when reading.
Avoid background patterns or pictures and distracting surrounds. Use sufficient contrast levels between background and text. Use dark coloured text on a light (not white) background. Avoid green and red/pink, as these colours are difficult for those who have colour vision deficiencies (colour blindness).
Dyslexia symptoms don't 'get worse' with age. That said, the longer children go without support, the more challenging it is for them to overcome their learning difficulties. A key reason for this is that a child's brain plasticity decreases as they mature. This impacts how quickly children adapt to change.
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.
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.
One of the more advantageous qualities in many dyslexic people is their ability to think outside of the box. They come up with excellent, unorthodox ideas that are not only fresh, but lucrative as well. Critical thinkers: Another trait that some dyslexics possess is their ability to use logical reasoning.
First, they tend to have negative thoughts about themselves—a negative self-image. Second, they are less likely to enjoy the positive experiences in life and may find it difficult to have fun. Finally, they may have trouble imagining anything positive about the future and may foresee a life of continuing failure.
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.
In fact, despite reading ability, people who have dyslexia can have a range of intellectual ability. Most have average to above average IQs, and just like the general population, some have superior to very superior scores.
There appears to be a genetic link, because dyslexia runs in families. Some researchers have associated changes in the DCDC2 gene with reading problems and dyslexia. While the vast majority of people with dyslexia have it from birth, it is possible to acquire it, usually due to a brain injury or stroke.
After your child's dyslexia diagnosis, the first step is to get all the information you can from the psychologist who diagnosed them. Once you learn more about your child's diagnosis, you'll be better equipped to determine a plan for their success. Each child is different, so ask as many questions as you can.
We often define dyslexia as an “unexpected difficulty in reading”; however, a dyslexic student may also have difficulty with math facts although they are often able to understand and do higher level math quite well.
Use multisensory input and activities to give learners more than one way to make connections and learn concepts. For example, use flash cards, puppets, story videos and real objects in the classroom. When learners use more than one sense at a time, their brain is stimulated in a variety of ways.
One of many types
But seeing nonexistent movement in words and seeing letters like “d”, “b”, “p”, “q” rotated is common among people with dyslexia. Some commenters on Widell's blog said his text mirrored their experience; others said theirs was slightly different or even more difficult.
Dyslexia and reading seem like contradictory concepts when put together, but the truth is that it's far from that. You can be dyslexic and develop a strong love for reading. What's more, you can teach your dyslexic child to love books, too. Here's how our readers do it.
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.
They might not understand that the numeral 5 is the same as the word five, and that both represent five separate items or groups of items. They can also struggle to remember math facts. There can be a lot of overlap between dyslexia and dyscalculia, though. Many kids have both at the same time.
Some languages may be more problematic for dyslexic learners. Languages such as French and English are less transparent than other languages. This means that the sounds of the language don't match clearly to letter combinations and there are more irregularities in pronunciation and spelling.