Dyslexia
Frequent Asked Questions
1. What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is difficulty with reading accurately and fluently and can also be accompanied
by spelling difficulties. Over the last forty years there have been numerous definitions,
but they all have common elements: neurobiological basis, difficulties in phonological
applications to reading, and difficulties in fluent and accurate reading. The Diagnostic
Statistical Manual (DSM-5) used by Psychologists world-wide (American
Psychological Association, 2013) defines dyslexia as follows:
“Dyslexia is an alternative term used to refer to a pattern of learning difficulties
characterised by problems with accurate or fluent word recognition poor decoding, and
poor spelling abilities. If dyslexia is used to specify this particular of difficulties, it is
important to also specify any additional difficulties that are present such as difficulties
with reading comprehension or math reasoning” (APA, 2013).
2. My child struggles to read fluently and takes a long time to read even 1
sentence. Is this dyslexia?
Possibly, difficulties in reading accurately and fluently are one of the indicators your
child may have dyslexia. It is important to also consider whether your child also has
difficulty in one or more of the following: (a) understanding what they have read, (b)
mathematics, and (c) writing. Difficulties across more than one area of learning are
best described as a specific learning disorder, even when the indicators of dyslexia
are also present.
3. My child is struggling to read. His father and uncle still struggle with reading.
Could this be dyslexia?
We commonly find that dyslexia can run in families, it is considered to be a risk factor.
Current research is trying to identify more about the genes which might be linked to
dyslexia and whilst we do not have a definitive answer, there is a growing body of
evidence to suggest that one of the causes of dyslexia is biological. There is no
guarantee that your children will have dyslexia, watch how clearly your child is
speaking and using language prior to beginning school and seek help if you are
concerned.
4. My child has difficulty reading print of different sizes depending on the
background and the colour. Is this dyslexia?
Sensitivity to print size, type and colour is a visual processing disorder. Treatments
can include Irlen lenses (tinted glasses or filters) and behavioural optometry programs
(vision exercises). This visual sensitivity may also be accompanied by a specific
learning disorder in reading or dyslexia, but is not dyslexia in itself.
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5. If a child has trouble understanding what they read, do they have dyslexia?
Possibly, careful observation and assessment in relation to the processes of, and
around reading will seek to answer this question more fully. If reading accuracy
(reading words correctly) and fluency (reading words quickly) are good and the
difficulties only exist in relation to a child’s understanding of what they read, this is not
dyslexia. If however, there are difficulties in both these areas, a professional will use
their judgement as to the appropriateness of the label and may describe this as
dyslexia with additional difficulties in reading comprehension. In its’ place they may
use the more appropriate term specific learning disorder – with impairment in reading.
6. My child has difficulties with spelling and phonological awareness. Is this
dyslexia and if so, which professional should see him?
Possibly, an assessment of your child’s language and academic skills will help to
identify your child’s needs. If your child’s phonological skills (clear speech production
and blending sounds to say words) are significantly impaired we recommend a speech
and language pathologist begin working with your child to develop these critical skills.
As phonological skills begin to improve, an updated assessment of spelling should
occur to review the next steps. A teacher experienced in teaching spelling using a
multisensory approach is recommended once phonological skills are functional for
your child and spelling errors are more related to the rules of written language.
7. My 6 year old is repeating Kindergarten at school. He has been seeing a speech
pathologist for 1 year to help him with his articulation. As the school says he is
struggling to read should the speech pathologist concentrate on his reading
instead of his sounds?
It is important for your child to continue to work with their speech pathologist to
improve their articulation or phonological processing so they are able to blend sounds
to read words when the time is right. Reading interventions are not recommended
before clear speech is consistently established.
8. The School Counsellor at my child’s school recommended that we have my
daughter tested to see if she has a diagnosis of dyslexia. Who can test for
dyslexia?
An educational psychologist can provide the most comprehensive assessment of all
aspects of your child’s learning in conjunction with input from audiologists, behavioural
optometrists, occupational therapists, pediatricians, speech and language pathologists
and teachers. It is important to rule out that there is nothing else that may explain your
child’s difficulties in reading before a diagnosis is made. Dyslexia is now recognised
as a formal category of a learning disorder in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM5) used by Psychologists world-wide (American Psychological Association, 2013).
9. Is there more than one test to assess if my child has dyslexia and if so, which
test is recognised by schools and other professionals?
A dyslexia assessment needs to include an assessment of overall learning in the
areas of reading accuracy and comprehension (including phonological awareness),
spelling, writing, and mathematics. On the basis of these assessments, further testing
should be carried out by a professional experienced in learning difficulties and
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disabilities to determine that there is no other identifiable cause of the learning
difficulty (i.e., attention, vision, hearing, processing, intelligence, language disorder …).
Unfortunately there is no single test which can investigate the complexity of a child’s
learning needs.
tlAskeQuestions
10. What is the best way to help a child with dyslexia?
After a correct diagnosis of dyslexia, that is difficulty with reading accurately, fluently
and spelling and not in other areas of learning or not explained by another factor, the
most effective intervention is to work with a professional experienced in dyslexia.
Dyslexia won't go away on its own or get better over time; unfortunately it is the
complete opposite of this. A program to help 'treat' or support dyslexia should include
direct and explicit instruction in phonological awareness (oral/speaking and
aural/listening skills in producing, identifying and manipulating sounds), links to
spelling in the form of synthetic phonics (common letter representations for the sounds
we hear to encode or spell words) and guided oral reading (decoding strategies and
reading practice). The most critical aspect of any of these programs is time, time for
your child to learn the skills but more importantly time for these skills to become
automatic, mastered, or fluent.
It is tempting to be swayed by promises of a "cure" for dyslexia. There is no single
program that will encompass everything everyone with dyslexia will need. Children
and adolescents with dyslexia need clear and purposeful re-teaching of the sounds,
blends, common and uncommon words, and time to apply this to reading interesting
texts over a consistent and prolonged period of time. Learning Links helps children
and adolescents with dyslexia.
11. Can an Occupational Therapist, Speech Pathologist or Behavioural Optometrist
diagnose and treat dyslexia?
All allied health and educational professionals can contribute to the assessment of a
child suspected as having dyslexia. It is critical to rule out any vision, hearing and
language difficulties prior to making any form of diagnosis. Learning Links
recommends the starting point for an assessment to be with an Educational
Psychologist with experience in the area of learning and schooling.
12. Does the diagnosis of dyslexia cover all learning difficulties?
No, it is just one small subset of a global label of “specific learning disorders” and only
describes some of the aspects of reading. Dyslexia is a label to describe those
children whose primary learning difficulty or disability is in the area of reading
accurately and fluently and spelling.
13. Can dyslexia be labelled as anything else?
Yes, the DSM-5 allows for the more global term Specific Learning Disorder in
Reading.
14. I read that there is a move in Australia to have dyslexia recognised as a
disability? Is this true? Will this help my child?
A dyslexia working party was established in 2010 in Australia by the key agencies
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associated with learning difficulties to lobby the Federal Government to acknowledge
the label of dyslexia as a recognised disability. In 2012 Christopher Pyne, then
opposition Minister for Education, also petitioned the Senate to acknowledge dyslexia
as a disability and as such afford students in schools with the appropriate supports
required for their schooling. At this time the term dyslexia is not officially recognized as
a disability in Australia, however this may change with persistent dialogue.
15. Can dyslexia be cured?
For most adults who have experienced dyslexia during childhood there remains a
lingering difficulty with reading. This most often appears in the form of reading speed,
that is, adults who have experienced dyslexia during childhood will continue to read
slower than their peers as adults. We can make a significant difference in improving
the life outcomes for children with dyslexia and increase their potential to achieve
success, however for many adults there will remain a lingering remnant of dyslexia.
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