Facts About Dyslexia

1. Dyslexia is the most common learning disability. Individuals with this medical condition have difficulty in the areas of language processing
2. 1 in 5 people suffer from dyslexia.
3. About 70 to 85% of children who are placed in special education for learning disabilities are dyslexic.



4. Dyslexia does not reflect an overall defect in language, but a localized weakness within the phonologic module of the brain (where sounds of language are put together to form words or break words down into sounds).
5. People with dyslexia are usually more creative and have a higher level of intelligence.
6. Those with dyslexia use only the right side of the brain to process language, while non-dyslexics use three areas on the left side of the brain to process language.
7. Children have a 50% chance of having dyslexia if one parent has it. And a 100% chance if both parents have it.
8. Dyslexia ranges from mild to severe. Around 40% of people with dyslexia also have ADHD. And those with dyslexia use about 5 times more energy to complete mental tasks.
9. Dyslexia is not a disease so there is no cure. It’s a learning disability that includes difficulty in the use/processing of linguistic and symbolic codes, alphabetic letters representing speech sounds or number and quantities.
10. Dyslexics do not “see” words backwards. The “b-d” letter reversal for example is mainly caused by deficits in interpreting left and right.
11. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 15% of the population has dyslexia.

Gifts of Dyslexia

• Dyslexics often enjoy and excel at solving puzzles.
• Dyslexics have excellent comprehension of the stories read or told them.
• Most dyslexics often have a better sense of spatial relationships and better use of their right brain.
• Dyslexics have excellent thinking skills in the areas of conceptualization, reason, imagination, and abstraction.
• Dyslexics have a strong ability to see concepts with a “big picture” perspective.
• Dyslexics are adept to excellence in areas not dependent on reading.
• Dyslexics typically have a large spoken vocabulary for their age.
• Dyslexics tend to be more curious, creative, and intuitive than average.
• Dyslexics’ special mode of thought easily produces the gift of mastery.
• Dyslexia is  not related to low intelligence.