Dyslexia
Dyslexia affects the area of the brain that deals with language, leading to differences in the way information is processed and affecting the underlying skills needed for learning to read, write and spell.
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Detailed description of Dyslexia
Positive characteristics of Dyslexia
How Dyslexia can impact on learning, teaching and training
Brief description of Dyslexia
Dyslexia affects the area of the brain that deals with language, leading to differences in the way that information is processed and affecting the underlying skills needed for learning to read, write and spell.
Detailed description of Dyslexia
People with dyslexia can often perform a range of complex tasks, such as solving complicated problems in electronics or design, yet cannot do the seemingly simple: learning to read and spell, organising writing, taking notes, remembering instructions, telling the time or finding their way around. A way of regarding this pattern of strengths and weaknesses is as a cognitive or learning style, in fact many individuals with dyslexia themselves experience their dyslexia as a difference in the way they think or learn.
The effects that dyslexia has on a person’s ability to function in a day-to-day environment, as well as in a learning environment, can vary depending on the degree of difficulty.
Positive characteristics of Dyslexia
- Creative and original thinking
- Good strategic thinking and problem-solving
- Determined and hard-working
- Highly motivated
- Many have developed their own strategies to overcome some of their difficulties
Because of their language processing and short term memory difficulties, people with dyslexia rely heavily on meaning and understanding, which requires:
- A highly personalised approach to learning;
- A need to have the learning process and conventions made explicit;
- A need to understand how and why in order to learn.
Many, but not necessarily all, of the following learning styles could apply to learners with dyslexia:
- Thinking holistically (all at once) rather than step by step;
- Needing to see the whole 'picture' first before learning the steps or details;
- Difficulty remembering sequences but not patterns;
- Good at seeing how lots of things are connected, how things work;
- Difficulty memorising things except when something is really understood or there is a personal connection;
- Learning by experience, not from being told;
- Concrete tactile learning and learning better with the help of colour, humour, stories, images, etc;
- Difficulty learning or applying rules or generalisations - learning from the particular to the general;
- Finding it easier to read and write if there is a personal interest in the subject matter;
- In mathematics, they often understand concepts but not calculation processes or mathematical language.
How Dyslexia can impact on learning, teaching and training
Reading
Reading forms a major part of most vocational courses which may put an immense strain on the studies of learners affected by dyslexia. They may, for example, read at half the reading speed of their peers and may also have difficulty remembering what has been read. Vocabulary levels may also be poor and so their levels of comprehension can also suffer. Individuals with dyslexia may experience any or all of the following:
- Visual stress;
- Reading overload;
- Lack of speed with reading;
- Difficulty summarising;
- Difficulty sorting and selecting materials for study;
- A lack of understanding and retention of what has been read;
- Difficulty extracting the main points from what has been read;
- Misreading (assignment or examination questions).
Spelling
Those with dyslexia can experience problems with written expression and vocabulary to the point where it affects the teacher/trainer’s understanding of their work.
Notetaking
The difficulties experienced by some people with dyslexia might include some or all of the following:
- Difficulty writing and listening simultaneously;
- Difficulty making detailed notes and understanding what has been written when reading it back;
- Difficulty extracting the main points during lessons;
- Problems copying quickly and correctly.
Writing
People with dyslexia may experience problems with their written work including some or all of the following:
- Poorly constructed and/or slow handwriting interfering with their ability to get their ideas down;
- Difficulty planning and structuring written work;
- Problems with the transition of ideas;
- Difficulty relating theory to practice;
- Poor written expression and/or sentence structure;
- Difficulty understanding conventions in writing;
- Difficulty relating abstract to particular;
- Problems editing and proofreading.
Oral Language
Certain difficulties experienced by individuals with dyslexia, can be associated with language as well as written work and reading.
Learners may experience problems when ‘taking in’ information given orally quickly and/or accurately enough. They may also misunderstand instructions or information and have difficulty assimilating what has been said in group situations. Retrieval of the appropriate word and pronunciation of polysyllabic words may also be problematic.
Organisational Skills/Time Management
Some people with dyslexia experience short term memory problems which can affect notetaking, reading, writing and general organisation. It can also cause difficulties with organising their time to enable them to meet deadlines.
These difficulties tend to be the ones that are most often ignored and, because of this, individuals with dyslexia can sometimes be judged as being lazy, unmotivated, sloppy or careless.
Calculation
Many people with dyslexia are mathematically very able; however, some may have difficulties resulting from visual perceptual, short-term/working memory problems, or sequencing difficulties. Learners may also experience some or all of the following mathematical difficulties:
- Visual problems such as reversals and substitutions;
- Transcription errors between media;
- Losing place in multi-step calculations or failing to hold all aspects in mind;
- Difficulty remembering sign and symbols;
- Problems remembering formulae and theorems;
- Difficulty retrieving specialised vocabulary;
- Difficulty with arithmetic and basic numeracy;
- Difficulty moving from concrete to abstract.
