Disorders
Common types of neurodivergence in young people. Natural differences in brain wiring that affect learning, communication, and interaction, bringing both strengths and challenges.
Dyslexia
A learning disorder that impairs reading, writing, and spelling abilities despite normal intelligence. Also called a reading disability, dyslexia is a result of individual differences in areas of the brain that process language.
Prevalence
Studies show that dyslexia affects 1 in 5 children (15-20%), but only 1 in 20 get diagnosed (5-7%). As a result, 75% of dyslexic children never receive diagnoses.
About this disorder
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.
Dyslexia comes in four main types: phonological, rapid naming, surface, and double deficit dyslexia.
- Phonological dyslexia is the most common, where people struggle to spell and sound out words.
- Rapid naming dyslexia applies to people who struggle to quickly name colors, numbers, and letters when presented with them, which affects reading speed.
- Double deficit dyslexia is a combination of rapid naming and phonological challenges, showing symptoms like poor naming speed and weak phonological recognition.
- Surface dyslexia occurs when someone can sound out new words but can’t recognize familiar words quickly, leading to issues with memorized spellings.
- Visual dyslexia affects how the brain processes what the eyes see, causing problems like blurred text and tracking lines, which affects the ability to spell or form letters and can result in headaches or eyestrain.
Despite these difficulties, many successful individuals with dyslexia have found ways to work with their unique learning style.
Common symptoms
- Difficulty learning new words
- Delayed speech development
- Trouble with rhyming
- Letter confusion
- Reading below age level
- Spelling problems
- Poor grammar / sentence structure
- Lack of phonemic awareness
- Avoidance of reading aloud
Disadvantages
People with dyslexia may face several other learning difficulties that are thought to be neurological rather than types of dyslexia itself. These include verbal dyslexia, left-right disorder (difficulty distinguishing left from right), dysgraphia (challenges with writing and fine motor skills), dyscalculia (trouble with math calculations and understanding numbers), and auditory processing disorder (issues with processing speech sounds).
Advantages
Dyslexic thinking is known to solve complex problems and see patterns that are often missed by others. These creative processing skills allow dyslexics to see the bigger picture, and visualise new solutions. This skill is really valuable to employees, in fact, 50% of NASA employees are dyslexic. Additionally, dyslexic individuals often have a talent for logical reasoning and analysis, especially in tasks that require breaking down complex problems or understanding patterns and systems.
Famous people with Dyslexia
- Henry Ford
- Steve Jobs
- Albert Einstein
- Alexander Graham Bell
- Tom Cruise
- Keanu Reeves
- Tom Holland
- Walt Disney
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Pablo Picasso
- Muhammad Ali
- Winston Churchill
- Hans Christian Anderson
- John F. Kennedy
- Bill Gates
- George Washington
- George W. Bush
- John Lennon
- Steven Spielberg
- Roald Dahl
- Mark Ruffalo
- Dav Pilkey