Dyslexia is a learning difference that can cause difficulties with learning and work. It occurs on a spectrum with some people mildly affected and others more severely. However, with the right understanding, accommodations, and support people with dyslexia can achieve success in education, the workplace and wider society.
Dyslexia affects approximately 10% of the population, but many adult learners do not have formal assessments of their difficulties.
Everyone with dyslexia is different but there is a commonality of difficulties with reading, spelling and writing and related cognitive/processing difficulties. The impact of dyslexia can change according to the environment (i.e. what a dyslexic person is being asked to do and under what circumstances).
While people with dyslexia may develop strengths due to their dyslexia such as determination, problem solving, and resilience, dyslexia does not automatically bring specific gifts or talents.
Some people prefer the wording ‘a person with dyslexia’, while others prefer the term ‘a dyslexic person’. When working with individuals it is important to use the terminology that the person is most comfortable with.
In the past, and in other jurisdictions, other terminology and definitions have been used for dyslexia including Learning Disability, Specific Learning Difficulty, and Reading Disorder.
Autism/Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological, developmental difference which affects how people with ASD communicate, socialise, and interact with others. It is also characterised by restrictive, repetitive behaviour, interests, and activities.
It affects between 1-2% of the population.
Learners with ASD may have difficulties with verbal communication including a delay in the development of language, comprehension difficulties, literal thinking and speech, poorly modulated intonation and delivery of speech, echolalia (echoing speech), unusual vocabulary, and repetitive use of language.
Learners with ASD may also have difficulties with non-verbal difficulties including difficulties in understanding social context, empathising with others and appropriately interpreting social cues, body language and facial expressions. Gestures are often stiff, stilted or over-exaggerated.
Problems with social behaviour will sometimes arise from difficulties with understanding the changing context of social situations and with theory of mind or understanding the intentions of others. This may present as difficulties in interpreting facial expression, gestures and vocal intonation. Also, as learners with ASD tend to be literal thinkers, they will have problems with knowing the rules that govern social behaviour and understanding jokes or idioms.
Learners with ASD can become anxious with changes in routine and have problems with sharing attention, turn-taking and with interactive, imaginative play with others. Therefore, difficulty with participating in the activities or enjoyment of others is a particular challenge to teachers as it affects the student’s ability to share and have varied interests, adapt behaviour according to the situation, accept changes in rules and routines, accept others’ points of view, and generalise learning.
Pupils with ASD may also experience erratic sleep patterns, display unusual eating habits, engage in self-injurious or aggressive or hyperactive behaviour, exhibit an unusual posture or gait, and have irrational fears or phobias.
Teachers need to understand the strengths and difficulties experienced by each individual with ASD, in order to provide for effective teaching and learning for each pupil.
Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD), also known as Dyspraxia, affects fine or gross motor co-ordination, distinct from other motor difficulties such as cerebral palsy or stroke. An individual’s co-ordination difficulties may affect participation and functioning of everyday life skills in education, work and employment.
It is estimated that as many as 6% of the population meet the criteria for being assessed as dyspraxia/ having DCD. Individuals may vary in how their difficulties present; these may change over time depending on environmental demands and life experience and will persist into adulthood.
Learners diagnosed with DCD find it exceptionally difficult to acquire the movement skills that are expected of them in everyday life and are often referred to as ‘clumsy’. Such learners do not suffer from any known neurological condition and their difficulties are not explicable in terms of a generalised delay in development.
Learners may have difficulty coordinating their movements, perceptions and thoughts. They exhibit difficulty with everyday tasks such as buttoning shirts and using a knife and fork, and may confuse left and right.
In the classroom, learners may bump into and drop things and tend to find drawing and writing difficult. It is often difficult for the learner to maintain erect posture, either when sitting or standing, and effort expended on this can be considerable, giving rise to fatigue.
Learners may also need to prop up their bodies with their arms, which may cause problems when they have to write. This difficulty may also result in learners being fidgety or exhibiting a tendency to lie across the desk. Some learners have additional speech problems, others are distractible and show an inability to organise their behaviour. Learners may also have poor spatial awareness.
Learners have difficulty with self-help and organisational skills and may find it difficult to remember what equipment is needed for particular activities and typically will mislay their belongings. Learners may have an inability to recognise potential dangers (e.g. using Bunsen burners and other equipment in science and technology subjects). At home they may be untidy and slow at tasks that require fine-/gross-motor skills.
Often learners may appear to have a lot of information but are unable to record that information in a logical and meaningful order. Their written work does not match their apparent verbal ability. These difficulties can lead to frustration and problems with self-esteem, which can further lead to either withdrawn behaviour or disruptive behaviour.
Dyscalculia is a difficulty that affects a person’s ability to acquire arithmetical skills. It can present itself as a person’s inability to understand basic number concepts and/or number relationships, estimate and subitise, recognise symbols, and comprehend quantitative and spatial information.
Research suggests that dyscalculia has varying levels of severity and can affect different areas of mathematical calculations. These difficulties can have an adverse effect on many day-to-day activities such as dealing with finances, following directions, managing a diary and keeping track of time. It is estimated that between 4% and 6% of the population have dyscalculia.
These learners often experience difficulties with even basic mathematical or numerical tasks or processes such as adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing. Learners can also have difficulty knowing which mathematical process should be employed based on context.
Other difficulties can include telling the time using an analogue watch or clock, handling money or calculating change.
There is a high incidence of co-diagnosis of dyslexia with dyscalculia. This obviously leads to greater difficulties for the student.
Learners with dyscalculia will often suffer from a lack of confidence or low self-esteem as a result of previous experiences with trying to study maths.
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a difficulty with either expressive and/or receptive oral language.
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) was previously known as Specific Language Impairment (SLI). It involves on-going difficulties understanding and/ or using spoken language. That can create obstacles to communication and/or learning in everyday life.
A learner with DLD show may find it difficult to express themselves verbally and may struggle to find words or use varied vocabulary. They may not understand, or remember, what has been said.
Learners with DLD can also have difficulty understanding complex written material and difficulty writing grammatically correct sentences. They can also struggle finding the right words when speaking and this deteriorates if they are under stress (e.g. public speaking).
DLD is a lifelong condition that can have a big impact on a person in an educational setting and can also sometimes impact on social interaction skills.
Learners with DLD often will learn better through more practical and visual methods, rather than oral and aural methods.
Specific Reading Comprehension Difficulties are difficulties with understanding written text, without having similar difficulties decoding the same text.
Reading comprehension disorder is a reading disability in which a person has trouble understanding the meaning of words and passages of writing. Sometimes, a reading comprehension disorder is diagnosed by specialists as specific reading comprehension deficit (S-RCD).
Learners with reading comprehension difficulties can have challenges with a range of written language tasks including literal understanding, making inferences, higher order synthesising and comprehension monitoring skills.
Learners with this type of learning difference can be fluent readers who have trouble understanding what they are reading.
Reading comprehension disorder is thought to affect 5-10% of learners but often goes undetected or are only picked up when encountering more complex texts.
This type of learning challenge is often accompanied by low levels confidence and high levels of frustration in academic settings. A lot of academic support and socio-emotional encouragement is required and significant chunking and differentiation of key learning concepts as required.
Learners may have physical disabilities arising from conditions such as spina bifida muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis or severe accidental injury.
It is important to state that there is no necessary direct correlation between the degree of physical disability and the inability to cope with learning a foreign language, apart from the elements involving physical activity.
Learners with severe physical disability may have minimal additional educational needs, while those with minimal physical disability may have much more significant learning needs.
Physical access and participation can be a major concern for learners who have physical disabilities as those who use wheelchairs, braces, crutches, rolators, canes or prostheses, or those who fatigue easily moving around an educational campus.
ADHD is characterised by poor sustained attention, impaired impulse control, an inability to delay gratification and excessive task-irrelevant activity.
Learners may often fidget with their hands or feet, appear restless, leave their seat in the classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected, may run about or climb excessively in situations where it is inappropriate, have difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly and may often talk excessively.
Learners with ADHD find it difficult to plan and control their behaviour. They often seem unaware of danger and have a tendency to rush into things. They also find listening to, remembering and following through on instructions difficult and fail to finish assignments or projects.
Learners are often reluctant to engage in activities that require prolonged effort, are easily distracted by extraneous stimuli and often have difficulty organising materials required for participating in learning tasks. Learners with ADHD have difficulty with sustained play and are often disliked by their peers because of their aggression, impulsiveness and inability to take responsibility for their actions.
The incidence of symptoms tends to decline in adolescence and adulthood but the disorder persists. Learners with ADHD are often on medical treatment to mitigate the impact of the disorder on their daily lives.
ADD is described as ADHD without the hyperactivity and is characterised by excessive daydreaming, frequent staring, cognitive sluggishness, lethargy, confusion, memory problems and social reticence. Learner often blurts out answers before questions have been completed, have problems awaiting their turn and may frequently and unwittingly interrupt or intrude on others.