Dyslexia tutors often answer questions about the nature of dyslexia. The definition of dyslexia can vary greatly, but a dyslexia tutor tends to know it when they see it. There are many common symptoms, and you can find a list of these by clicking on “about dyslexia” on our website. When explaining the nature of dyslexia, dyslexia tutors often face preconceived notions about what dyslexia is. One common idea is that a dyslexic must read and write backwards.
Certainly, reading and writing words entirely backwards is one of the most commonly known signs of dyslexia. For many people, it may be the only sign of dyslexia that they are familiar with. However, despite the widespread knowledge of this symptom, it is not a very common symptom among dyslexics. Certainly, dyslexics flip letters and sounds from time to time, but in all of my years of dyslexia tutoring, I have only had one student who did this with any consistency. The problem with dyslexia being boiled down to a single symptom is that many children go undiagnosed, because the adults that have contact with them do not realize that there are a multitude of symptoms that point to dyslexia. As a result, the child may not be enrolled in dyslexia tutoring, because a parent doesn’t believe that the child has dyslexia.
When people find out that I’m a dyslexia tutor, I often end up in conversations with them regarding reading struggles that they, or someone in their family have. In many cases, they will name a long list of challenges that point directly to dyslexia, but when I point this fact out, they are convinced that it isn’t dyslexia because the person does not read and write completely backwards.
If you help spread the word about the variety of symptoms that point to dyslexia, you can help more children get the help that they need.
Peter
