About Dyslexia

The word 'dyslexia' is derived from the Greek words 'dys' and 'lexis' and means 'difficulty with words'. The old way of describing it was 'word blindness' - an inability to read letters and numbers in the right order. But that's far from the complete picture. Dyslexic people can experience difficulties with organisation and short term memory.

In addition to problems with reading, spelling and writing, dyslexic people may:

• confuse directions, muddling left and right and up and down
• find it hard to remember a list, dates or times
• have difficulties following sequence - e.g. days of the week, a map of the London underground or alphabet order.

A pre-school child may...

• have difficulty learning nursery rhymes
• enjoy being read to but show no interest in letters or words
• be accused of not paying attention.

A primary school child may...

• have particular difficulty reading and spelling
• put letters and figures the wrong way round
• leave letters out of words or put them in the wrong order
• have difficulty following and remembering instructions
• have difficulty remembering multiplication tables
• have difficulty pronouncing words.

A young person aged twelve or more may...

• still read inaccurately
• still have problems spelling
• have difficulty planning and writing essays
• have poor self confidence and self esteem.

An adult may...

• read slowly and have to re-read several times before understanding
• miss out lines and confuse words that are similar
• make spelling mistakes
• dread giving and receiving complicated instructions
• have problems with personal organisation.

Today dyslexia is viewed as a combination of abilities and difficulties. Dyslexic people often have good problem-solving skills, enhancing creativity and are capable of excelling in the arts, design, architecture and computing.

All dyslexics will have their own individual patterns of what they can do and what they find difficult.

Whilst dyslexia cannot be cured, individuals can be helped to overcome their problems while allowing their abilities to shine.

For further information about dyslexia and other learning difficulties view the following websites:

• The British Dyslexia Association BDA
• Dyslexia Action

Dyslexia overlaps with other learning difficulties. For example autism, dyspraxia, ADHD and dyscalculia. To find out more about these learning difficulties follow the links below:

• autism
• dyspraxia
• ADHD
• dyscalculia