Dyslexia Doesn't Mean Reversing Letters and Digits

Before I became a Speech Language Pathologist I thought that dyslexia meant that you confused letters and numbers, like reading a lowercase "d" as a "b," or transposing digits in a phone number. This conception doesn't begin to do justice to how deep and fascinating dyslexia really is. A definition floated by the International Dyslexia Association does a good job of simplifying dyslexia without sacrificing any of its complexity:

"Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and / or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge."

One of the key words is "specific," which is used to describe something that is not consistent with a larger profile of strengths and weaknesses. Specific language impairment is used to describe language difficulties that exist in the evidence of no associated cognitive weakness (e.g. normal intelligence).

So, a specific learning disability exists in the evidence of normal (or greater) intelligence and effective teaching. It is unexpected. It doesn't add up in relation to the individual's other strengths.

(Hat tip to Dr. Charles Haynes, who posted this definition on the ASHA Language Learning and Education SIG discussion board.)

həlo wərld

This is a blog about speech pathology for parents of children with communication disorders.

I am a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist who moved to Seattle after a graduating from University of Iowa. I did my Clinical Fellowship at an agency in rural Washington, where I worked in early intervention with kids from birth to three. I'm grateful to all those families who let me enter their homes and share their journeys with me. They taught me so much.

I've worked in private clinics and will soon be working in the schools.

First posting!

Hello World, or as linguists code it phonetically:

həlo wərld