What is Dyslexia

The word ‘dyslexia’ comes from the Greek meaning ‘difficulty with words’ and is a difference in the way the brain processes language.

Dyslexia varies in different people, but can mean difficulties with:

  • Reading
  • Spelling
  • Writing
  • Organisational skills
  • Short-term memory

Dyslexia tends to run in families and is NOT related to intelligence or to a person’s background.

However, along with the difficulties, real strengths can be identified, including:

  • Problem solving skills
  • Enhanced creativity
  • Strong visual thinking
  • Intuitive
  • Verbally articulate
  • Spatially talented

People with dyslexia do not all have the same way of thinking, but there are common patterns.

Dyslexia is sometimes diagnosed in children soon after they start school.  But quite often it is not recognised until much later in life.

There is no cure for dyslexia but with the right kind of support, dyslexics can overcome their difficulties and achieve great things.

Dyslexia is one of several specific learning difficulties which come under the umbrella term ‘Specific Learning Difficulties’ (often referred to as SpLD). It means that the difficulties are specific rather than more general learning difficulties.

It is estimated that at least 10 – 20% of the population are affected by dyslexia; with 4% being severely affected by dyslexia.

Other Specific Learning Difficulties

It is common for people with dyslexia to have other specific learning difficulties which also impact on the way information is learned and processed.  These are known as co-occurring difficulties and include:

  • Dyspraxia
  • Dyscalculia
  • Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
  • Autism
  • Asperger’s Syndrome
  • Emotional Behavioural Disorder (EBD)
  • Visual Stress

Dyslexia Cornwall can offer specialist advice and support on a wide range of Specific Difficulties.

For further information please contact our Advice Team.

A New Definition of Dyslexia

A new definition of dyslexia from The SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC) has now been finalised after a period of peer review. 

Julia Carroll, Professor of Psychology in Education at the University of Birmingham who led the study, said: “There has not been a new attempt to define dyslexia since the Rose Review in 2009. The review provided a definition and argued for specialist teachers to help identify and support dyslexia. Despite the Rose definition significantly influencing practice, it has gathered criticism over the last 15 years and has not been universally accepted…..Adopting a universal definition for dyslexia is the first step to improving support for children experiencing the challenges of dyslexia.”

The new definition of dyslexia is as follows:

  • Dyslexia is primarily a set of processing difficulties that affect the acquisition of reading and spelling.
  • In dyslexia, some or all aspects of literacy attainment are weak in relation to age, standard teaching and instruction, and level of other attainments.
  •  Across languages and age groups, difficulties in reading and spelling fluency are a key marker of dyslexia.
  • The nature and developmental trajectory of dyslexia depends on multiple genetic and environmental influences.
  •  Dyslexic difficulties exist on a continuum and can be experienced to various degrees of severity.
  • Dyslexia can affect the acquisition of other skills, such as mathematics, reading comprehension or learning another language.
  • The most commonly observed cognitive impairment in dyslexia is a difficulty in phonological processing (i.e. in phonological awareness, phonological processing speed or phonological memory). However, phonological difficulties do not fully explain the variability that is observed.
  • Working memory, orthographic skills and processing speed problems can contribute to the impact of dyslexia and therefore should be assessed.
  • Dyslexia frequently co-occurs with one or more other developmental difficulty, including developmental language disorder, dyscalculia, ADHD, and developmental coordination disorder.