What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia as defined by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) “as a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin.” Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, states that reading is a complex process. “It requires our brains to connect letters to sounds in the right order, and pull the words together into sentences and paragraphs we can read and comprehend.” Dyslexia affects the areas of the brain that processes language; decoding (ability to apply letter-sound relationships), reading fluency, comprehension, memorizing, spelling, and writing. While having your child diagnosed with dyslexia can be traumatic; dyslexia is the most common learning disability affecting between 8-10 percent of the population. While there is no cure for dyslexia and it can make reading more difficult it has no relationship to an individuals intelligence. With the right phonics based multisensory instruction your child will be among the many dyslexic success stories.