A New Definition for Dyslexia, 2024
SASC (Delphi Study, 2024)
§ 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, phonemic decoding skill 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.
These difficulties can also be seen as strengths.
Nessy.com describes them as the following:
Seeing the bigger picture
Finding the odd one out
Improved pattern recognition
Good spatial knowledge
Picture thinkers
Sharper peripheral vision
Business entrepreneurs
Highly creative
Thinking outside the box - problem solving
What People Are Saying About Being Dyslexic:
“If anyone ever puts you down for having dyslexia, don’t believe them. Being dyslexic can actually be a big advantage, and it has certainly helped me.”
— Richard Branson, Virgin CEO
“I had to train myself to focus my attention. I became very visual and learned how to create mental images in order to comprehend what I read.”
— Tom Cruise, Actor
“The advantage of dyslexia is that my brain puts information in my head in a different way”
— Whoopee Goldberg, Actress, singer
“I didn’t succeed despite my dyslexia, but because of it. It wasn’t my deficit, but my advantage. Although there are neurological trade-offs that require that I work creatively [and] smarter in reading, writing and speaking, I would never wish to be any other way than my awesome self. I love being me, regardless of the early challenges I had faced.”
— Scott Sonnen, Professional Athlete
Associated Difficulties (other than word reading and spelling).
Although Dyslexia is called a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD), there is a lot of co-morbidity with our learners, meaning some may have more than one specific diagnosis.
Memorising some things is tough!
Short term/working memory
Dyslexia is characterised by cognitive difficulties in (1) phonological processing, (2) working memory, and (3) speed of retrieval of information from long term memory. (Dyslexia Association of Ireland)
Is it possible to focus on one thing?
Attention
There’s a lot going on in a neuro-diverse brain and all this activity can make it even harder to focus and pay attention.
There is a lot to process…
Processing
Dyslexia is often identified by weak phonological processing. Processing challenges can also be apparent in areas such as writing and auditory processing.
Sequencing
Words consist of letters in a certain sequence but so do the months of the year, days of the week, time, times tables, the list goes on…
Spoken language/speech development
Dyslexics often find it difficult to connect sounds of spoken language to letters. They may experience problems when trying to understand sentences fully. They often do not progress with reading skills at the same rate as their peer group. There is a correlation between children with Speech and Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) another SpLD but usually because of the difficulty acquiring the basic phonological skills.
Maths
Dyslexia can be seen in maths but one can also have a diagnosis of Dyscalculia, also an SpLD. A learner can show difficulty understanding concepts of place value, and quantity, number lines, positive and negative value and exchanging.
Motor skills/coordination/handwriting
Individuals with dyslexia can also have difficulties with fine motor skills (and therefore writing may be difficult), maths, memory, organisational skills, study skills, self-esteem, and activities in everyday life. There is also an SpLD known as DCD (Development Coordination Disorder or Dyspraxia), which has a different profile.
Perception/sight
It is estimated that approximately 35-40% of people with learning difficulties experience visual disorders or challenges when reading printed material.
Planning/organisation/time management
Research has shown strong correlations between dyslexia symptoms and deficits in short-term memory and executive functioning. Executive functioning governs the "slave" process of working, or short-term, memory. The executive functions help to organise and apply what is in the working memory so they can have a huge impact on every day living.