Dyslexia

A difference in how the brain processes written language. Nothing to do with intelligence, and everything to do with effort.

What it is

Around one in ten people are dyslexic. Most of the adults among them were never assessed, and a good many concluded decades ago that they were stupid.

Dyslexia affects the processing of written language: mapping sounds to letters, holding them in working memory, and retrieving them quickly. Reading is possible. It just costs a great deal more.

It is not a visual problem, and it is not about seeing letters backwards, which is the myth that has done most to delay recognition. It is phonological.

The Equality Act 2010 treats it as a disability, which means adjustments in education and at work are a legal requirement rather than a courtesy.

Signs you might notice

Reading that is accurate but slow and exhausting, or fast and inaccurate.

Spelling that varies for the same word within one page.

Trouble with sequences: months, times tables, alphabetical order, instructions.

Reading aloud avoided at all costs.

A striking gap between what somebody can explain out loud and what they can put on paper.

In adults: forms avoided, note-taking impossible in meetings, and an exhausting amount of covering up.

How it can affect day-to-day life

The secondary damage does more harm than the reading difficulty. A child who is slower at the one skill school measures constantly concludes something about themselves by about year three, and that belief outlasts any intervention.

Anxiety and school refusal are common. So is behaviour that gets punished, because being asked to read aloud in front of thirty people is genuinely humiliating.

At work, dyslexia costs most in the places nobody adjusts: dense emails, written assessments, and being asked to take minutes.

Supporting someone well

Separate the skill from the subject. If you want to know what a child understands about the Romans, do not measure it with a writing task.

Use text-to-speech and speech-to-text without treating them as cheating. They are the equivalent of glasses.

Give notes in advance, not after. Reading and listening at once is the hard combination.

Never ask somebody to read aloud unprepared.

Use a clear font, generous spacing, and off-white paper. Small things, real effect.

Say the strengths out loud, and mean them. Reasoning, problem-solving and verbal ability are frequently well above average, and they are what the person will build a career on.

Our neurodiversity and SEND pre-screening covers cognition and learning and produces a written profile in around fifteen minutes. It also sets the reading comfort of our own apps to match, so Fiducia Life and The Library open in a form that is easier to read from the first screen.

Where to get help

Schools can put support in place immediately without a formal diagnosis. Ask the SENCo, and ask what is being done rather than whether an assessment is coming.

A full assessment is done by an educational psychologist or a specialist teacher. It costs money privately, and schools sometimes fund it.

Adults at work: Access to Work will fund software, coaching and equipment, and it is under-claimed.