What is Dyslexia?

It’s “Dyslexia Awareness Month!" Yay! But what is Dyslexia?

According to the International Dyslexia Association, it is “a specific learning disability characterized by difficulties in word reading and/or spelling that involve accuracy, speed, or both and vary depending on the orthography.” The difficulties noted arise from deficits with the phonological components of language that don’t align with other cognitive abilities. Dyslexia is more than just kids confusing their b’s and d’s or “flipping” letters in words. It is a systematic difficulty with understanding the sound system of the English Language and how sounds are combined to form words. There is, of course, also a visual motor/visual processing component as well which may manifest in the stereotypical “reversals” often seen in the writing of students with Dyslexia.

It isn’t all bad though, students with Dyslexia often present with a great number of strengths that typically mask deficits until they are older. There is a “Sea of Strengths” model outlined in a text by Sally Shaywitz M.D. and Johnathan Shaywitz M.D. called Overcoming Dyslexia: Second Edition, Completely Revised and Updated (2020). They list the following strengths typically found in students with Dyslexia: concept formation, comprehension, general knowledge, empathy, problem solving, vocabulary, critical thinking, and reasoning. These strengths arise as a result of students with Dyslexia struggling to understand and decode written language. But, they provide the student with the ability to understand and use direct instruction provided by a teacher, reading interventionist, or licensed SLP to comprehend the written text.

So, Dyslexia is a deficit with the written language of English and the comprehension of its rules but many students with Dyslexia still present with a great number of strengths both in and out of the classroom. Dyslexia is a complex neurobiological learning disability that has no correlation with intelligence and can be treated with direct, specific, and structured intervention through a variety of programs.

If you have a child or know a child with Dyslexia, spend some time this month reading with them and be aware of their strengths because there are MANY!