Dyslexia may not be what you think. People casually believe that Dyslexia is a disorder which causes people to see words or letters backward, but this understanding is outdated and frankly inaccurate.
“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological 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.”
Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002. Many state education codes, including New Jersey, Ohio, and Utah, have adopted this definition. Learn more about how consensus was reached on this definition: Definition Consensus Project.
Breaking Down the Definition
“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability”
- Dyslexia is one specific type of learning disability.
- Dyslexia is not the same as the term “learning disability” that qualifies a student for special education.
- Dyslexia may exist along with other conditions as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or an oral language disorder.
“…neurological in origin”
- When a person has dyslexia, their brain works differently. These differences have been shown in studies of the brain.
“characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling.”
- The student misreads common words.
- The student stumbles over words when reading.
- A student may read a word correctly once and then misread it another time.
- The student misspells common words and has problems using spelling rules.
“…difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language…”
- The “phonological component” is the sound system of our language.
- Problems with these skills lead to problems in learning to read.
- Surprisingly, intelligence does not always lead to strong reading skills.
- This explains why a child who does well in other areas can struggle with reading.