Dyslexia At a Glance


Dyslexia at a Glance

Having a child diagnosed with dyslexia can be a traumatic experience. While dyslexia can make reading more difficult, with the right instruction, almost all individuals with dyslexia can learn to read. Many people with dyslexia have gone on to accomplish great things. Among the many dyslexia success stories are Thomas Edison, Stephen Spielberg, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Charles Schwab.

Dyslexia is a neurological condition caused by a different wiring of the brain. There is no cure for dyslexia and individuals with this condition must learn coping strategies. Research indicates that dyslexia has no relationship to intelligence. Individuals with dyslexia are neither more nor less intelligent than the general population. But some say the way individuals with dyslexia think can actually be an asset in achieving success.

In public school settings where many teachers are not knowledgeable about this condition, students with dyslexia may be considered stupid or lazy. Parents who have children diagnosed with dyslexia should seek out reading instruction that is based upon a systematic and explicit understanding of language structure, including phonics. This reading instruction goes by many names, Structured Literacy, Orton- Gillingham, Simultaneous Multisensory, Explicit Phonics, and others (See IDA’s fact sheet Effective Reading Instructionn). If you think you or your child may be dyslexic, you can take IDA’s test which will evaluate the chance that you have this condition.

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