The word 'dyslexia' comes from the Greek meaning 'difficulty with words'.
Dyslexia is often referred to as a 'specific learning difficulty', usually with spelling, writing and reading, and sometimes with numbers. People who are dyslexic may have problems with spelling, putting things in order, following instructions, and may confuse left and right.
There is a lot of research into dyslexia at the moment, but its causes are not fully understood. It is thought to be inherited, as it usually runs in families. A good comparison in understanding dyslexia is to think of it as being like color blindness, which affects people of all abilities.
The first step is for an accurate diagnosis to be made. This may be undertaken by the school, or by an educational psychologist, and can be quite expensive. Direct Learning provides an affordable, yet highly accurate, dyslexia test which can be used by parents everywhere. In addition to giving you a detailed and thorough diagnosis, the Report provides educational recommendations for raising your child's level of achievement to the broad average for their age.
If it is found that your child is dyslexic, it is important not to feel that he or she is doomed to failure! There are well-developed learning methods which can be used to bring your child up to the average level for their age in the areas with which they find difficulty. Given appropriate help, in most cases a dyslexic child can succeed at school at a level roughly equal to his or her classmates. Moreover, dyslexic children often have talents in other areas, which can boost their self-esteem if they receive lots of praise!
Adults with dyslexia have often suffered from a difficult time at school, where their difficulties were not properly diagnosed. They frequently ended up feeling that they were stupid. The others could do the work, but why was it so difficult for them? They experienced a strong feeling of frustration.
Fear of being asked to read aloud in class may have been really disturbing, when others might laugh at their mistakes. Homework may have taken three times longer than for a non-dyslexic child, and parents may have been visibly anxious for the dyslexic child to catch up with his or her peer-group.