Like many (most?!) neurodivergencies, dyslexia comes with all kinds of incorrect stereotypes and assumptions. It wasn’t that long ago that the belief was that dyslexic people simply experienced letters jumping around the page, or the occasional letter presented in mirror image. What is now known about dyslexia is far more detailed, provides far greater understanding of the disability, and gives better direction for support and potential improvement.
Is Dyslexia a Disability?
In Australia, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Dyslexia is classified as a disability. Also known as “Specific Learning Disorder with impairment in reading” dyslexia’s recognition as a disability prevents people with dyslexia from being discriminated against due to their disability. It is not, however, included in the list of disabilities covered by the NDIS, and therefore does not qualify people with dyslexia for financial support.
As dyslexia is formally a disability, it means that teachers must accommodate needs and differences in terms of how dyslexic students access curriculum-based lessons, how it is taught, and how they are assessed; provided making these accommodations does not cause “unjustifiable hardship”.
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disability, specific to the field of reading. Similar difficulties, such as impairments in writing or mathematics, have their own diagnosis, and are not the same as dyslexia. They may, however, co-exist.
While dyslexia is confirmed by a psychologist using the DSM-V, its listing within the manual is simply as a subgroup of Specific Learning Disorder. As such there is not a specific and consistent definition of dyslexia internationally.
Dyslexia is best understood as a persistent difficulty with reading and spelling.
https://dyslexiaassociation.org.au/dyslexia-in-australia/
Specifically, dyslexia interferes with the ability to decode written words in read or spoken words, and vice versa.
You, or your child’s teacher, may suspect your child is dyslexic because your child:
- Has delayed speech or difficult pronouncing words
- Finds rhyming difficult
- Mixes up left and right, the correct direction for letters, or even mirror-writes
- Confused letters with each other
- Is a slow reader and/or has poor comprehension of what they’ve read
- Has poor, inconsistent, and/or phonetic spelling
- Is confused by letters, words, sequences, or verbal directions or explanations
- Reads or writes with omissions, repetitions, substitutions, transpositions, etc
- Reports feeling or seeing movement in static text
- Struggles learning “sight words”, or even letters and their associated sounds
Estimates suggest that around 1 in 5 people have some degree of dyslexia, though current statistics in Australia are currently at about 10%.
Dyslexia is not caused by poor eyesight or how the eyes communicate with the brain, or how intelligent a person is.
Types of Dyslexia
Much as Dyslexia is a form of having Specific Learning Disorder, Dyslexia itself can be divided into subtypes. The number of subtypes, their criteria, and how they present, is not consistent across different fields and professionals, unfortunately.
Phonological and Surface Dyslexia are generally accepted as the two primary forms, however some people have defined as many as 12 separate types.
We will look into the definition of both of these, as well as Rapid Naming Dyslexia.
Phonological
People with Phonological Dyslexia have difficulty breaking words into their individual phonemes, or sounds. This makes sounding out words, blending sounds into complete words, and creating words using sounds, difficult.
Phonological Dyslexia may also present as trouble remembering individual sounds (for example, what sound the grapheme/letter/shape “b” makes).
Standard classroom activities that can be difficult include substituting letters (“If we know that B-A-T says ‘bat’, what would happen if we replace the /b/ with a /c/?”), decoding new or unknown words,
Children with Phonological Dyslexia are more likely to guess at unknown words using context, or possibly the first phoneme of the word, rather than applying known strategies to sound out the word in full.
Their spelling ability is usually lower than their reading level, and successful spelling is often phonetic words, or visually memorised / rote learned words. Unusual, non-phonetic words, are not commonly spelled correctly. Syllables may be omitted, or extraneous letters included, when attempting spelling of unmemorised words.
Surface
Surface Dyslexia impacts on the processing of whole words. This occurs more often when words aren’t phonetic, such as “subtle” or “yacht”.
Some children with Surface Dyslexia will struggle to memorise sight words, and often have reduced reading ability in terms of speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Each time they read these words they may need to decode them as if reading them for the first time.
People with Surface Dyslexia may confuse letters that are visually similar (b and d, p and q) or words that can be reversed (par and rap), and skip letters or words when reading.
They may find it difficult to read without using a ruler, Reading Ruler, or their finger to follow where they’re up to, particularly when finishing one line and moving to the next, as they aren’t able to process their position based on word recognition, as people subconsciously do when reading.
Many people with Surface Dyslexia spell phonetically until very familiar with a word, meaning they can often read and spell long or difficult phonetic words but get simple or short irregular words incorrect. For example, being able to read or spell “maladapted” but not “walk”.
Misapplication of memorised phonetic rules may also lead to poor spelling, such as spelling “quite” as “kwight”.
Rapid Naming
RAD (Rapid Automated Naming) Dyslexia means a person has difficulty naming letters quickly. This leads to difficulty recalling the correct sounds for words and letters rapidly, dramatically slowing their ability to read.
Often the knowledge is there, and is accurate, but recall and processing is delayed. Reading pace is slowed, and language processing can be impacted.
Teaching Dyslexic Children
Dyslexia is a lifelong condition that cannot be cured. It is not simply a delay in learning to read or spell.
However, this does not mean that dyslexic children don’t have the ability to learn or improve their reading or spelling.
The fortunate thing in many systems, including the NSW Education Department’s new curriculum, is that the best practices for all students learning to read are the same best practices for assisting dyslexic children. Where this sometimes falls down is the speed at which it is delivered, how far “behind” a child is compared to their class, and the resourcing available to a teacher.
Key “best practices” that will benefit your dyslexic child (and non-dyslexic children!) include:
- Explicit instruction of phonics, with repeated approaches
- Frequent reviews and practice of already learned phonemic awareness
- Repeat exposure to high frequency words, particularly non-phonetic ones such as “talk”, “the”, “some”, and “one”.
- Pre-teaching vocabulary at the beginning of new topics in all subject areas
- Scaffolded and structured approaches to learning reading and spelling (the “new curriculum” – as in 2024 – is a highly scaffolded approach to education, and allows teachers to work with the majority, as well as children needing extra assistance or even remedial approaches, and children needing extension work, within the same lesson)
- Breaking down curriculum-based tasks into smaller subtasks, such as providing two-syllable words broken into their component syllables, and asking students to pair these like puzzles. Or, if this is too hard, providing the two syllables and asking the student to put them together to make a word. And a step easier, providing a picture as a clue. For example, an image of a tent, campfire, and backpack, with the syllables “ing” and “camp”. This could be simplified by focusing on CVC words, and providing first letters on one card, and the other two letters on the second card. For example, a card that says “og”, an image of a dog, and the letter cards “l”, “j” and “d”.
- Promoting a safe environment in the classroom, with a culture of being able to discuss reading and spelling errors without judgement or even identification.
- Using learning-age-appropriate decodable books for reading instruction. Your average 12 year old with dyslexia does not want to be reading Kindergarten-friendly texts, nor does your regular Kindergartener want to be attempting to read about chemistry.
Supporting Dyslexic Children
While it is important to assist dyslexic children to reach their potential (within reason), it is crucial to continue to support them outside of this with accommodations and adaptions.
These can include:
- Presenting worksheets with less required reading, allowing the children to do the same work whilst reading less
- Increasing the use of video or visual content rather than written content
- Allowing for digital technology assistance, such as typing work with spellcheck turned on, or online dictionaries for definitions rather than dictionary books.
- Allowing dyslexic children to volunteer when they feel comfortable reading in front of peers, rather than making it compulsory and impromptu.
- Providing dyslexic students with vocabulary for upcoming topics in advance, so their ability to learn the actual content is not impaired by the unfamiliarity of the key words.
- Not penalising dyslexic students for spelling mistakes or obvious word omissions when assessing essays, etc. Avoiding peer-marking of classwork when the class includes dyslexic students.
- Allowing students to photograph/screenshot notes on the board, rather than copying them into their books.
- Highlighting keys words.
What Not To Do
No dyslexic child should be punished for their difficulties, and this includes having to rewrite large amounts of text with corrections, or missing breaks or fun activities in order to finish incomplete work.
Nor should any dyslexic person be labelled as stupid, incapable, or of lower intelligence, purely due to their difficulties with reading or spelling. In our wonderful school, children with dyslexia who cannot spell are still in literacy extension courses when they excel in other areas of literacy and thrive when extended.
How Can I Help?
If you suspect your child is dyslexic, and haven’t had them assessed, ask your GP for a psychologist referral for an assessment. A formal diagnosis will help your child with self-recognition, self-awareness, and self-esteem, as well as ensuring they are eligible for both formal and informal accommodations throughout their education.
Consider additional supports such as a Reading Ruler. They don’t work for all dyslexic people, but it’s worth a shot! https://www.mydyslexiashop.com.au
As with anything, let your child express their feelings and frustrations safely. Empathise with how frustrating it must be for them! Discourage them from ever referring to themselves using any derogatory language, such as “stupid”, and always praise their successes (whether related to reading/spelling or otherwise!). Encourage them to practice, and remind them they can do hard things.
Ensure their teachers are informed, and supporting your child as best they can. This might include a formalised IEP, if your school functions best this way.
Highlight your child’s skills and strengths, and ensure that these are referenced more often than their dyslexia is. If you need to spend 10 minutes discussing a new strategy or approach to do with their dyslexia, then you need to ensure you spend at least 10 minutes that day engaging with them about their favourite topic, or listening to them play their instrument, or cheering for them while they play sport, or “doing their maths homework” with them even though they don’t need any assistance – and praising them for every right answer, or telling them how amazing the sandwich they made you was!
Remember that this neurodivergence will be with them for life, so they need to perceive it as an aspect of how their brain works, not as a failing, something that makes them useless, something you’re disappointed by, or something that makes them less-than.