What is Dyslexia * Online Assessment* Common Characteristics*

When most people hear the word dyslexia they think of someone with reading problems and possibly someone who reads letters and words upside down or backwards.  Dyslexia can be about reading upside down, backwards, and even all jumbled around but there is so much more that we actually know about dyslexia.      

Letters like b, d, g, p, and q are some letters that can be easily confused.  Transpositions, substitutions, additions, etc, can occur when a dyslexic is reading; however, the term dyslexia can be used more broadly.  Overall, dyslexia refers to people who primarily use a visual-spatial or “picture thinking” ability.  They also experience difficulty in one or more areas of mental processing.  Usually this doesn’t mean there’s a problem with the eyes, for example.  Instead, the problem is in the way the brain interprets what the eyes see.  So when we're not focused or oriented what the brain thinks the eyes see may be very different from what is actually there.  Julian, in the pictures below, shows some possibilities of how the brain may be interpreting d.

If your child is in school you may have been told they have a language-based learning disability, auditory processing disorder, reading disability, or visual processing disorder.  These terms all mean the same thing as dyslexia.  There are over 90 different labels describing learning difficulties.  This can be confusing.  At the core of these disabilities is the ability to think with pictures.  Notice the word “ability”?  One of the things different about OnPoint is we focus on the gifts or talents that people with learning differences have.  

Is it d, b, q, g, or p?

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Is it Dyslexia?  Try this confidential and informal assessment provided by Ron Davis' Reading Research Council: Online Assessment.

 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________                                                                                                                                                        "I can communicate better, finish reading a book, write better, get to sleep faster, and get along with others, so much easier, now after my program!"

-14 year old

  Common Characteristics of Dyslexia On average dyslexic learners have about 10 common traits.  Ron Davis, the founder of Davis Dyslexia Association International, has put together 37 Common Characteristics of Dyslexia.  Some people have more than ten and others a few less; some people say they have most of them!  But what remains consistent from one dyslexic to the next is inconsistency!

Which do you have?

Here are some of the areas of common traits for dyslexia.  The link above is a complete list of Ron's 37 common traits.