FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is dyslexia?
How is a dyslexic person's mind different?
How can I tell if a child may be dyslexic?
How do I help a dyslexic student in a regular class?
What is an assessment?
What techniques can I use as a classroom assistant?
What advice can I give to parents?

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty affecting a person's ability to deal with text, and often numbers as well. Dyslexia is estimated to occur in about 5% of the population. Similar to color blindness, it is a permanent disability which needs continuous support through schooling. It is often accompanied by strengths in areas such as creative work, physical co-ordination and empathy with other people.

What is the cause of dyslexia?

Dyslexia is most often brought about by hereditary traits (developmental dyslexia) and can be made worse by early ear infections which caused temporary hearing problems. Its cause has not been fully established, but the effect is to create neurological anomalies in the brain. These anomalies bring about varying degrees of difficulty in learning when using words, and sometimes symbols. For detailed information read the article 'Dyslexia - what causes it?.'

What is 'glue ear'?

'Glue ear' is a condition which arises when a young child's inner ear become blocked through colds, 'flu or ear infections. It is also known as 'conductive hearing loss'. 'Glue ear' can make the effects of dyslexia worse, as a child is not able to hear spoken speech clearly enough to distinguish the separate sounds which make up each word. It is essential at an early age for the brain to be able to hear the separate parts of each word and to learn to recognize these sounds. If this does not happen, then lifelong difficulties with phonemic awareness will result, as well as possible delayed language development and weaker short-term memory retrieval.

What are the most common ways in which dyslexia shows itself?

Children or students who are dyslexic have phonological difficulties, that is, they find it difficult to sort out the sounds within words. This means that they have problems with reading, writing and spelling. The majority of dyslexic children have difficulty with text, memory and the sequencing processes of basic mathematics.

At what age does dyslexia become a problem?

It is when dyslexic children begin to read and write that there is a noticeable problem.

What level of intelligence does it affect?

Dyslexia can occur in children and students of all abilities, and dyslexic people are frequently of average or above average ability. It is found in all socio-economic groups and in every country in the world. If no help is given, it often results in low self-esteem.

Can dyslexia be cured?

Each dyslexic person's difficulties are different and vary from slight to very severe disruption of the learning process. There is no total cure, but the effects of dyslexia can be alleviated by skilled specialist teaching of phonics, sequencing and techniques to raise the person's self-esteem. The neurological differences also give some dyslexic people visual, spatial, physical co-ordination and lateral thinking abilities that enable them to be successful in a wide range of careers. One famous architect's practice gives preference to employing people who are dyslexic because of their spatial awareness and lateral thinking abilities.

How many dyslexic people are there?

Statistics show that around eight per cent of the population - an estimated total of some two million or more people worldwide are severely affected..

Are boys affected more than girls?

Three times as many boys as girls are affected, and the role of the hormone testosterone during the fetal stage is being investigated as a possible cause of inherited (developmental) dyslexia.

Does dyslexia affect a child's self-esteem?

As literacy skills are so strongly emphasized during the schooling process, dyslexic children experience a great deal of failure which can easily lower their self-esteem. The effect can be to make them feel that they must be stupid. This is why it is important for dyslexic children to receive as much praise, credits, certificates, gold stars, etc. as the other children. To complete a piece of written work in class is twice as hard as for a non-dyslexic child. It is also important for a dyslexic child to have art, crafts, physical education and sports during their week in school, as these are the only areas in which they may excel and experience a feeling of satisfaction in learning. Having to learn a foreign language - like French - is a virtual impossibility for a dyslexic child, and a sure route to failure: school timetables need amending to take account of this.

Does having dyslexia mean limited career prospects?

On the contrary, given proper support, dyslexic students are perfectly able to go on to achieve good degrees at university and pursue successful careers. Many websites contain lists of outstandingly successful adults who are dyslexic (e.g. click here for an example).

How is a dyslexic person's mind different?

Two types of people are listed in the following table (from 'Dyslexia and ICT' by BECTA):

People use both sides of their brains but have a bias towards one or the other. Traditional academia is very left-brained with an emphasis on words, details and categorizing. The right side of the brain focuses on non-verbal and intuitive ways of working. Being left- or right-brained has implications for the way people learn and the strategies they need to develop.

If children have difficulty learning to tell the time, following instructions which involve left and right, learning the alphabet or anything which has to be remembered in sequence, they may well be right-brained. They are likely to be artistic and creative but disorganized at times.

It is suggested that many learners with dyslexia have right-brained dominance. They find that the range of subjects and the style of teaching in school do not play to their strengths and can leave them with a sense of frustration and failure.

How can I tell if a child may be dyslexic?

In the first instance you should suspect it in any child who has difficulties with spelling, writing and math/s when the child appears to be otherwise normal in their conversation. There are other reasons for children to have difficulties with spelling, writing and math/s, of course: they may have missed out on some of their schooling, they may have hearing or vision problems, or they may have experienced poor teaching.

There is an article on our website which outlines the most common signs - Recognizing dyslexia - with links to pages that give more detailed listings. If you are concerned that dyslexia may be the problem, talk to the specialist resource, learning difficulties or special needs teacher in the school.

This teacher may confirm your concerns and be able to give you more background.

How do I help a dyslexic student in a regular class?

The most important step is to give extra consideration to a dyslexic child in any areas which involve reading, writing or math/s. The child may need to use a spell-checker or laptop computer as a spelling aid, and may need to do a piece of work in a rough format in the first instance, returning to it later to correct spellings and punctuation.

A dyslexic child has difficulty scanning along a line of text, and should never be asked to read aloud in class. Being asked to do this can cause children to experience stomach aches, headaches and extreme anxiety, resulting in loss of self-esteem and sometimes in school refusal.

Copying from the board frequently causes great difficulties, and a dyslexic child should be placed at the front of the class with an unobstructed view of the board. It can make things a lot more manageable if writing on the board is not joined but printed clearly by the teacher. Homework should be written on the board well before the end of the lesson in very clear printing, as it will take a dyslexic child twice as long to visually scan the words and copy them down. If they miss this vital information, there is nothing the parent can do to help at home, and a child may experience dreadful anxiety about going to school the next day because of fear of punishment.

Dyslexic children experience failure many times each day because their disability is not visible to teachers. Their self-esteem suffers and they come to think of themselves as stupid. It is important to recognize their efforts and praise small points about their work, even though the overall quality may be poor. Saying: "You had a good idea when you answered my question in class, Wayne. I think you deserve a credit" could make a vast difference to a dyslexic child's day - it would probably be the first thing he would tell his mom when he got home. The other pupils would not find this unfair: they know that the child has real problems with writing and reading, and deserves praise for what he is able to do.

What kind of accommodations can be given to dyslexic students studying and taking exams?

Some common accommodations for dyslexic students are:
* Oral testing
* Untimed tests
* Eliminate or reduce spelling tests
* Don't force oral reading
* Accept dictated homework
* Reduce homework load
* Grade on content, not spelling nor handwriting
* Reduce copying tasks

What is an assessment?

A comprehensive dyslexia assessment tests for achievement in reading and spelling, measures intelligence, memory skills and laterality (left-right confusions), as well as testing a whole range of skills including sight and hearing difficulties, sequencing and scanning. A full medical history is taken from birth, as well as the examination of significant areas of the genetic background.

The result is a detailed written report which will show whether the student is dyslexic - which type of dyslexia and to what degree - and what should be done to raise the child's performance to the average band of achievement.

A child or student can be assessed by

• the school psychologist
• a psychologist at a hospital
• a psychologist in private practice
• an objective distance assessment. Click here for an example.

What techniques can I use as a classroom assistant?

Learning in a small group or, if at all possible, one-on-one, is essential for a dyslexic pupil to progress.

His disability has made it hard for him to hear the individual sounds within a word, for example to hear that 'camp' is different from 'cap'. He needs to learn to hear and deal with the sounds the letters make. The need to develop phoneme awareness is vital, and there are many series of books available on our Books page.

Dyslexic children need to use structured multi-sensory methods. This means using as many senses as possible at a time to make learning easier - looking, listening, saying and doing. A new sound may be listened to, then spoken. It may be 'drawn' in the air on an imaginary screen. Then the letters representing it are looked at, written down, and possibly wooden or plastic letters are handled.

A word-processor can be a real boon to a dyslexic child. Errors can be easily corrected using the spell-checker, and the finished product looks as good as anyone else's. Excellent for raising self-esteem!

The development of cursive/linked or joined handwriting is crucial. The brain finds it much easier to remember spellings if the letters are linked: single letters can jump around like monkeys in a cage for a dyslexic child, but the links from one letter to another help him to remember the sequence.

Dyslexic children experience great difficulties with the initial stages of math/s, especially the sequencing processes. They frequently struggle due to an inability to count up to 100, to count to 100 in steps of ten, two and five, as well as being able to count backwards in all these steps. Once these sequences are mastered, the basic processes of number work can be dealt with. They just need to learn their multiplication tables: this can be helped by cutting up the tables into small pieces on card (e.g. '2 x 2 ' and '4').

What advice can I give to parents?

There are links on our Resources page to useful print-outs on many aspects of dyslexia. These are articles which have been written for a general audience, and should help parents to understand more about the nature of dyslexia and how they can best help their child. Please include the reference to the source of the article (e.g. www.dyslexia-magazine.com, British Dyslexia Association, etc.) so that parents can link to that site for further information.

A helpful website for parents is the Dyslexia Parents Resource at

It contains a wide range of information and links about areas of concern to parents whose children may be dyslexic.

Parents' main concerns are about assessment and support for their child in school. They will appreciate an explanation of the assessment procedure in your school district, and a printed hand-out would be helpful if it is available.

A parent who approaches you will have become increasingly anxious over the preceding months as they have watched their child's self-esteem drop through repeated failure in school each day. They know their child as a whole person - not just as a person with a certain level of achievement in academic areas - and they sense that something is wrong. Above all, they need re-assurance that you will look into the matter and meet with them again after a week or so. You will then be able to re-assure them that the child's difficulties will be assessed by the school, and that provision for additional help can be made.

It is unfair to speak briefly to a parent in a corridor after school about such an important matter. Conversations with parents should always be made by appointment in a private room. Parents may have unpleasant memories of their own school days when they come into school, and they should always be told that they may bring a friend, partner or relative with them to an informal meeting.

Support arrangements for children with special learning needs vary tremendously from one school district to another. The arrangements in your particular school should be made very clear to the parent. "Two 30-minute sessions in a small group each week with Mrs. Smith" is far preferable to "Mrs. Smith will be giving him some extra help." It also needs to be made clear that Mrs. Smith is a qualified resource teacher, as the parent may not know whether she is an unqualified volunteer parent helping out by hearing children read each week.

How can a parent help their dyslexic child?

The most important thing they can do is to build up the damaged confidence and self-esteem of their child. Make sure the child knows he is loved for himself, and that this love is not dependent on how well he does at school. A parent should:

• make it clear that the child's difficulties are not his fault;

• be very encouraging and find things he is good at;

• praise him for effort - remember how hard he has to try to achieve success in reading, writing and math/s;

• help with homework from school, or from any Resource teachers;

• help him to be organized;

• encourage areas in which he can experience success, such as creative areas and activities such as sports which involve physical co-ordination;

• encourage hobbies, interests and out of school activities.