Overview

Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling.

It's a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing.

Unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn't affected.

It's estimated that up to 1 in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a lifelong problem that can present challenges on a daily basis, but support is available to improve reading and writing skills and help those with the problem be successful at school and work.

What are the signs of dyslexia?

Signs of dyslexia usually become apparent when a child starts school and begins to focus more on learning how to read and write.

A person with dyslexia may:

• read and write very slowly
• confuse the order of letters in words
• put letters the wrong way round (such as writing "b" instead of "d")
• have poor or inconsistent spelling
• understand information when told verbally, but have difficulty with information that's written down
• find it hard to carry out a sequence of directions
• struggle with planning and organisation

But people with dyslexia often have good skills in other areas, such as creative thinking and problem solving.

Getting help

If you think your child may have dyslexia, the first step is to speak to their teacher or their school's special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) about your concerns.

They may be able to offer additional support to help your child if necessary.

If your child continues to have problems despite extra support, you or the school may want to consider requesting an in-depth assessment from a specialist in assessing specific learning difficulties (SpLD), an educational psychologist or a speech and language therapist.

This can be arranged through the school, or you can request a private assessment by contacting:

• an educational psychologist directly (see the directory of chartered psychologists on the British Psychological Society's website)
• a voluntary organisation that can arrange an assessment or share details of a qualified assessor in your area, such as the British Dyslexia Association, The Dyslexia Association, or Patoss.

Adults who wish to be assessed for dyslexia should contact a local or national dyslexia association for advice.

Support for people with dyslexia

If your child has dyslexia, they'll probably need extra educational support from their school.

With appropriate support, there's usually no reason your child can't go to a mainstream school, although a small number of children may benefit from attending a specialist school.

Techniques and support that may help your child include:

• occasional 1-to-1 teaching or lessons in a small group with a specialist teacher
• phonics (a way of teaching children to identify and process the smaller sounds that make up words) combined with other techniques
• technology like computers and speech-recognition software that may make it easier for your child to read and write when they're a bit older

Schools and colleges must offer support to students with a specific learning difficulty like dyslexia, and have access to specialist staff who are trained in helping students with special education needs.

Assistive technologies such as speech-recognition software, word processors and electronic organisers can be useful for adults, too.

Employers are required to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace to help people with dyslexia, such as allowing extra time for certain tasks.

Support groups

As well as national dyslexia charities, such as the British Dyslexia Association (BDA), there are several local dyslexia associations listed on the BDA website.

These are independently registered charities that run workshops and help to provide local support and access to information.

Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of dyslexia differ from person to person. Each individual with the condition will have a unique pattern of strengths and weaknesses.

Some of the most common signs of dyslexia are outlined below.

Pre-school children

In some cases, it's possible to detect symptoms of dyslexia before a child starts school.

Symptoms can include:

• delayed speech development compared with other children of the same age (although this can have many different causes)
• speech problems, such as not being able to pronounce long words properly and "jumbling" up phrases (for example, saying "hecilopter" instead of "helicopter", or "beddy tear" instead of "teddy bear")
• problems expressing themselves using spoken language, such as being unable to remember the right word to use, or putting sentences together incorrectly
• little understanding or appreciation of rhyming words, such as "the cat sat on the mat", or nursery rhymes
• difficulty with, or little interest in, learning letters of the alphabet

Primary school children

Symptoms of dyslexia usually become more obvious when children start school and begin to focus more on learning how to read and write.

Symptoms of dyslexia in children aged 5 to12 include:

• problems learning the names and sounds of letters
• spelling that is unpredictable and inconsistent
• confusion over letters that look similar and putting letters the wrong way round (such as writing "b" instead of "d")
• confusing the order of letters in words
• reading slowly or making errors when reading aloud
• answering questions well orally, but having difficulty writing the answer down
• difficulty carrying out a sequence of directions
• struggling to learn sequences, such as days of the week or the alphabet
• slow writing speed
• poor handwriting
• problems copying written language and taking longer than normal to complete written work
• poor phonological awareness and word attack skills

Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognise that words are made up of smaller units of sound (phonemes) and that changing and manipulating phonemes can create new words and meanings.

A child with poor phonological awareness may not be able to correctly answer these questions:

• what sounds do you think make up the word "hot", and are these different from the sounds that make up the word "hat"?
• what word would you have if you changed the "p" sound in "pot" to an "h" sound?
• how many words can you think of that rhyme with the word "cat"?

Word attack skills

Young children with dyslexia can also have problems with word attack skills.

This is the ability to make sense of unfamiliar words by looking for smaller words or collections of letters that a child has previously learned.

For example, a child with good word attack skills may read the word "sunbathing" for the first time and gain a sense of the meaning of the word by breaking it down into "sun", "bath", and "ing".

Teenagers and adults

As well as the problems already mentioned, the symptoms of dyslexia in older children and adults can include:

• poorly organised written work that lacks expression (for example, even though they may be very knowledgeable about a certain subject, they may have problems expressing that knowledge in writing)
• difficulty planning and writing essays, letters or reports
• difficulties revising for examinations
• trying to avoid reading and writing whenever possible
• difficulty taking notes or copying
• poor spelling
• struggling to remember things such as a PIN or telephone number
• struggling to meet deadlines

Getting help

If you're concerned about your child's progress with reading and writing, first talk to their teacher.

If you or your child's teacher has an ongoing concern, take your child to see your GP so they can check for signs of any underlying health issues, such as hearing or vision problems, that could be affecting their ability to learn.

If your child doesn't have any obvious underlying health problems to explain their learning difficulties, different teaching methods may need to be tried.

You may also want to request an assessment to identify any special needs they may have.

If you're an adult and think you may have dyslexia, you may want to arrange a dyslexia assessment. The British Dyslexia Association has a directory of local dyslexia associations.

Associated problems

Diagnosis

The earlier a child with dyslexia is diagnosed, the more effective their future treatment is likely to be.The earlier a child with dyslexia is diagnosed, the more effective educational interventions are likely to be.

But identifying dyslexia in young children can be difficult for both parents and teachers because the signs and symptoms are not always obvious.

If you're worried about your child

If you're concerned about your child’s progress with reading and writing, first talk to their teacher. You may also want to meet with other staff in the school.

If there's an ongoing concern, take your child to see a GP. It may be that your child has health problems that are affecting their ability to read or write.

For example, they may have:

• vision problems, such as short-sightedness or a squint
• hearing problems as the result of a condition such as glue ear
• other conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

If your child does not have any obvious underlying health problems to explain their learning difficulties, it may be that they're not responding very well to the teaching method and a different approach may be needed.

Dyslexia assessments

If there are still concerns about your child’s progress after they have received additional teaching and support, it may be a good idea to have a dyslexia diagnostic assessment.

This can be carried out by an educational psychologist or an appropriately qualified specialist dyslexia teacher.

They'll be able to support you, your child and your child's teachers by helping improve the understanding of your child's learning difficulties and suggesting interventions that may help them.

Find out more about diagnostic assessments from the British Dyslexia Association.

Requesting an assessment

There are various ways to request an assessment for your child, although it can sometimes be a time-consuming and frustrating process.

The first step is to meet your child's teacher and their school's special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) to discuss your concerns and any interventions that have been tried already.

If your child continues to have difficulties despite interventions, you can ask for them to be referred for assessment by a local authority educational psychologist or other specialist in dyslexia.

Or you can approach an independent educational psychologist or another suitably qualified professional directly.

You can find a directory of chartered psychologists on the British Psychological Society's website.

You can also contact a national or local dyslexia association for help arranging an assessment.

The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) has an individual assessment service for children and adults.

The assessment procedure

Before the assessment takes place, you and your child's school may be sent a questionnaire that asks about your child and related issues, such as:

• their general state of health
• how well they perform certain tasks
• what you think needs to change.

The assessment itself may involve observing your child in their learning environment, talking with key adults involved with your child’s learning, and asking your child to take part in a series of tests.

These tests may examine your child's:

• reading and writing abilities
• language development and vocabulary
• logical reasoning
• memory
• the speed they can process visual and auditory (sound) information
• organisational skills
• approaches to learning

What happens afterwards

After your child has been assessed, you'll receive a report that outlines their strengths and weaknesses, with recommendations of what could be done to improve areas they're having difficulties with.

Depending on the severity of your child's learning difficulties, it may be possible for their difficulties to be managed through special educational needs support, an action plan drawn up by their school and their parents. Read more about special educational needs support on GOV.UK

In a small number of cases where a child's difficulties do not improve and progress does not seem to be made, you may want to request your local council do a fuller assessment that covers all aspects of your child's development, called an educational health and care (EHC) assessment.

If the assessment shows your child needs more special education support, they may have an educational plan made for them, known as an education health and care (EHC) plan.

This sets out what your child's educational needs are and the support required to meet those needs in a document that's reviewed formally every year.

Find out more information from GOV.UK about children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Management

While dyslexia is a lifelong problem, there's a range of specialist educational interventions that can help children with their reading and writing.

These interventions are generally most effective if they're started at a young age.

The type and extent of intervention needed will depend on the severity of your child's difficulties. 

A specific action plan for your child may be drawn up and implemented by their school.

Most mainstream schools should be able to offer suitable interventions for your child, although a small number of children may benefit from attending a specialist school.

Educational interventions

A number of educational interventions and programmes are available for children with dyslexia.

These can range from regular teaching in small groups with a learning support assistant who delivers work set by teaching staff, to 1-to-1 lessons with a specialist teacher.

Most interventions focus on phonological skills, which is the ability to identify and process word sounds. These interventions are often referred to as phonics.

Phonics interventions can involve teaching a child to:

• recognise and identify sounds in spoken words (for example, helping them recognise that even short words such as "hat" are actually made up of 3 sounds: "h", "a" and "t")
• combine letters to create words, and over time, use the words to create more complex sentences
• monitor their own understanding while they read (for example, by encouraging them to ask questions if they notice gaps in their understanding)

These interventions should ideally be delivered in a highly structured way with development in small steps, and should involve regularly practising what's been learnt.

It's recommended that your child is taught in a multisensory way, where they use several senses at the same time.

An example of multisensory teaching is where a child is taught to see the letter "a", say its name and sound and write it in the air, all at the same time.

How you can help your child

As a parent, you might be unsure about the best way to help your child.

Read to your child 

This will improve their vocabulary and listening skills, and will also encourage their interest in books.

Share reading 

Both read some of the book and then discuss what's happening, or what might happen.

Overlearning 

You may get bored of reading your child's favourite book over and over, but repetition will reinforce their understanding and means they'll become familiar with the text.

Silent reading 

Children also need the chance to read alone to encourage their independence and fluency.

Make reading fun 

Reading should be a pleasure, not a chore. Use books about subjects your child is interested in, and make sure that reading takes place in a relaxed and comfortable environment.

Parents also play a significant role in improving their child's confidence, so it's important to encourage and support your child as they learn.

Technology for children

Many children with dyslexia feel more comfortable working with a computer than an exercise book.

This may be because a computer uses a visual environment that better suits their method of learning and working.

Word processing programmes can also be useful because they have a spellchecker and an autocorrect facility that can highlight mistakes in your child's writing.

Most web browsers and word processing software also have text-to-speech functions, where the computer reads the text as it appears on the screen.

Speech recognition software can also be used to translate what a person is saying into written text.

This software can be useful for children with dyslexia because their verbal skills are often better than their writing.

There are also many educational interactive software applications that may provide your child with a more engaging way of learning a subject, rather than simply reading from a textbook.

Adults

Much of the advice and techniques used to help children with dyslexia are also relevant for adults.

Making use of technology, such as word processors and electronic organisers, can help with your writing and organising daily activities.

Using a multisensory approach to learning can be helpful. For example, you could use a digital recorder to record a lecture and then listen to it as you read your notes.

It can also be useful to break large tasks and activities down into smaller steps.

If you need to draw up a plan or make notes about a certain topic, you may find it useful to create a mind map, rather than writing a list.

Mind maps are diagrams that use images and keywords to create a visual representation of a subject or plan.

Adjustments at work

If you're in work, let your employer know that you have dyslexia, as they're  required by law to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace to assist you.

Examples of reasonable adjustments may include:

• providing you with assistance technology, such as digital recorders or speech-to-text software
• giving you instructions verbally, rather than in writing
• allowing you extra time for tasks you find particularly difficult
• providing you with information in formats you find accessible

Read more about reasonable adjustments at work on GOV.UK