Dyslexia
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. It refers to a cluster of symptoms, which result in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words.
Dyslexia affects individuals throughout their lives; however, its impact can change at different stages in a person’s life. It is referred to as a learning disability because dyslexia can make it very difficult for a student to succeed academically in the typical instructional environment.
Use this link to visit the International Dyslexia Association official website.
Dyslexia Definition
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.
- Adopted by the IDA Board, November 12, 2002.
- This definition is also used by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2002.
- Difficulty Reading Words in isolation
- Difficulty accurately decoding unfamiliar words
- Difficulty with oral reading (slow, inaccurate, or labored without prosody)
- Difficulty spelling
- Difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language (making connection between oral language and the letters/sounds that represneet language in written form)
- Phonological awareness
- Rapid Naming
- Phonological Memory
- Reading Comprehension
- Written Expression
- Vocabulary Growth
