Secondary conditions may develop if the dyslexia is left untreated or if the dyslexia is more severe. Some of these problems include difficulty with reading comprehension, vocabulary, and written expression. Many of these issues can be avoided or minimized if a child gets the right type of instruction at an early age. The brain has plasticity and can “rewire” with consistent, intense, and research based interventions in place. Accommodations are usually necessary to support student learning.

Other secondary conditions may be unavoidable. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or speech and language impairments are often coexisting. These are often conditions that children are born with.

For ideas on accommodations and strategies to level the playing field in school or at home, contact Kelly and request for more information.

1. Dyslexia is hereditary. Children with a dyslexic parent have a 50% chance of inheriting the disability.

2. Dyslexia affects on 1 in every 5 people in America.

3. Reading disabilities are estimated to comprise 80% of all learning disabilities.

4. 40% of individuals with dyslexia have the coexisting condition, ADD or ADHD.

5. Children are usually not identified as having a reading disability until the 3rd or 4th grade.

6. Children with dyslexia can be diagnosed as early as 5 years old.

7. Phonemic awareness is different from phonics and is the core and causal reason for reading problems.

8. Poor spelling ability is a symptom of dyslexia. Spelling has nothing to do with intelligence. Agatha Christie, Albert Einstein, and Ernest Hemingway were all horrible spellers!

9. Dyslexia is not a vision problem.

10. Individuals with dyslexia often have superior strengths in people skills, music, art, sports, creativity, visual perceptual skills, and critical thinking skills.

Please request my free resource, “Characteristics of Dyslexia” to receive a comprehensive list of symptoms.

I think my daughter and/or son might have dyslexia. But what exactly is dyslexia? How do I know for sure? What symptoms would I see? Isn’t dyslexia when you see words backwards?

When parents initially contact me for information, these are generally the types of questions they first ask. In this article, I will take some time to answer these questions. It is my hope that this information will offer more clarity on the subject and demystify some of the common myths that continue to be prevalent about dyslexia. First, let’s take a look at how dyslexia is defined.

Dyslexia Defined
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) defines dyslexia in the following way:

“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”

Put simply, dyslexia is an inherited learning disability that runs in families. Dyslexia literally means "difficulty with language." Dyslexia varies in severity and symptom from one person to the next and can affect reading, spelling, writing, handwriting, word retrieval, articulation, directionality, and the ability to remember rote facts.