1. There is no single type of dyslexia.
Dyslexia covers a wide range of difficulties and it is unique for each individual.
Dyslexia causes difficulty in the skills needed for learning to read, spell and write; but it is much more than that.
It can also cause issues with organisation or forgetting what someone has told you, or their name.
Even memorising a mobile number or multiplication fact can become a struggle.
2. Dyslexia is not a disease. Dyslexia is neurological.
There is no medicine that will cure dyslexia, the brain works differently.
But having dyslexia does not mean you lack intelligence.
Imagine your brain is like a computer that is being put to work on a task that it was never designed for. It will work less efficiently.
“It has nothing to do with how intelligent you are.You can be extremely bright and still have dyslexia.”
Tim Tebow
3. Early identification is important.
But make sure you get the right type of assessment!
There are lots of reasons why someone can fall behind at school, so it is really important to first get hearing and eyesight checked.
An assessment for dyslexia should analyse neurodiversity. This means identifying an individual’s learning strengths and weakness.
A weakness in specific learning skills will indicate the type of dyslexia and be used to find the most effective strategies.
WARNING – Many assessments that identify difficulties do not use the word ‘dyslexia’.
Words like ‘Auditory Processing Disorder’ and ‘Visual Memory Deficit’ are diagnosing the specific type of dyslexia.
Remember that dyslexia is neuro-diverse – it affects people in different ways.
Dyslexia Quest will assess 6 areas of working & learning ability that are affected by dyslexia.
Discovering you have dyslexia is a relief to most people. It is a positive label.
“I felt like all my childhood tragedies and dramas were explained.”
Jennifer Aniston
4. Believe in yourself, you can succeed
An impact of dyslexia is low self-confidence.
When you can’t seem to do the things other people find easy, then you start to believe it when people tell you you’re lazy or stupid.
But when you stop trying there is no hope of success.
The first step is to make a child with dyslexia understand that they can succeed with a different approach.
People with dyslexia are not lazy
People with dyslexia are not stupid
5. Develop strategies.
People with dyslexia can achieve success by using different learning methods.
People with dyslexia don’t remember by just seeing and hearing a word a few times – they forget! But a rule or strategy provides a way of working it out.
Start thinking about how you learn best and how you can adapt your learning.
What help is available?
People with dyslexia usually learn best by following a structured system that will use strategies to explain rules – making sense of English.
1. Intensive Teaching
This can be expensive but with the right teacher it is very effective.
Make sure the teacher has a qualification in Specific Learning Difficulties (Spld).
There is no quick fix. Expect many years of tuition.
2. Programs On Computer And Tablet
Nessy is an online learning program that has been created by dyslexics and specialist teachers.
Nessy will assess, provide strategies, rules and learning games.
This is an affordable and effective solution where a tutor is beyond your means.
Source: https://www.nessy.com/uk/parents/dyslexia-information/what-is-dyslexia/
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