What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that primarily affects reading, writing, and spelling. However, it's not just about these skills, dyslexia often affects the way individuals process and interpret both visual and auditory information, which can significantly impact learning, especially literacy skills.  

Individuals with dyslexia often experience challenges with these cognitive functions: 

• Phonological awareness: The ability to identify, discriminate between, and manipulate the separate sounds (phonemes) in spoken language. 

• Verbal memory: The capacity to accurately retain and recall sequences of sounds or words for a short time. 

• Working memory: ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind over short periods while it is actively used. 

• Verbal processing speed: The ability to quickly access sound-based information from long-term memory and respond to visual stimuli. 

  
  

These skills are critical for accurate reading and spelling, and difficulties with them can impact an individual’s ability to read fluently and spell correctly. Difficulties with working memory and processing speed can also impact writing, especially when organising ideas clearly and using correct grammar.  

Signs of Dyslexia 

Features indicative of dyslexia in early years: 

• Family history of dyslexia 

• Slow acquisition of letter names/sounds 

• Difficulty blending/segmenting sounds 

• Slow naming speed 

• Difficulty reading nonsense words 

• Non-phonetic spelling errors 

Primary school age children: 

• Standardised phonics check results 

• Failure to meet age-related reading, writing, and spelling targets 

• Discrepancies between literacy and language performance 

• Slow or no progress over 6-12 months of intervention 

Secondary school age children: 

• Literacy difficulties in early years 

• Persistent word level reading problems 

• Difficulties in reading and writing fluency 

• Spelling difficulties 

If your child is displaying any of these signs, or you are concerned about their progress in literacy, please contact us via the Contact page or email hello@dyslexiasense.com