An Overview of Dyslexia

The word ‘dyslexia’ comes from Greek and means ‘difficulty with words.

It is a lifelong, usually genetic and thus inherited, condition and affects around 10% of the population.

Dyslexia occurs in people of all races, backgrounds, and abilities, and varies from person to person: no two people will have the same set of strengths and weaknesses.

Dyslexia occurs independently of intelligence.

Dyslexia is really about information processing: dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear. This can affect learning and the acquisition of literacy skills.

Dyslexia is one of a family of Specific Learning Difficulties. It often co-occurs with related conditions, such as dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and attention deficit disorder.

On the plus side, dyslexic people often have strong visual, creative, and critical thinking skills and are prominent among entrepreneurs, inventors, architects, engineers and in the arts and entertainment world. Many famous and successful people are dyslexic.

How it feels to be dyslexic

• ‘I see things from a different perspective.’
• ‘I can produce solutions no one else has thought of and I think fast on my feet.’
• ‘When I am reading, occasionally a passage will get all jumbled up, but when it happens, I have to read and re-read the passage over again.
• ‘I know what I want to say, but I can never find the right words.’
• ‘In formal situations, although I know what I want to say, I struggle, lose focus and then my mind goes blank, and I panic.’
• ‘I have the right ideas, but I can’t get them down on paper.’
• ‘It’s like my computer crashing with too much information!’
• ‘Sometimes when I am being told what to do, the words I hear get all jumbled up in my mind and I just can’t take in what is being said to me.’
• ‘In general conversation with family, friends and colleagues they usually accept that I tend to ramble, forget and repeat…because that’s part of me.’

Support organizations

Learning Disabilities Association of America – https://ldaamerica.org/

Helpful Books

Making Dyslexia Work for You, 2nd Edition, by Vicki Goodwin, Bonita Thomson, published by Routledge (2011) ISBN: 978-0-415-59756-2 http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415597562/

Dyslexia: How to Survive and Succeed at Work – by Sylvia Moody. Published by Vermilion (2006) ISBN-10: 009190708X

The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain, by Brock Eide and Fernette Eide published by Hay House UK Ltd. (2011) ISBN 9781848506398