Thsi is ont waht dyslexia lokso lkie

Most of you were able to read the previous sentence. A powerful pattern seeker, your brain ignored the errors and instead sought out pre-existing logical patterns to reconstruct a meaningful sentence. Too many children, however, will never be able to complete such a task. For them, the privilege of reading — with its boundless adventures, liberating knowledge, and compelling characters — remains an unattainable goal. For over 40 million people, learning to read is rife with struggle and frustration; in fact, between 5–10% of the population has dyslexia, but this number could be as high as 17%

Despite many common misconceptions, dyslexia is not seeing letters or words backwards, reversing letters, linked to intelligence, attributed to laziness, or rooted in visual problems. Nor is dyslexia a life sentence for failure; several dyslexics in popular culture (including Richard Branson, John Lennon, and Whoopi Goldberg) attribute their reading disability as a key ingredient in their success.

Dyslexia Is Actually:

● A neurobiological reading disability

● Traced to differences in the wiring of the brain, primarily the parts of the brain associated with the functions of language

● Heritable: Children with a first-degree relative are 40% more likely to be dyslexic.

● Difficulties understanding and recognizing the sound structure of language: struggles to recognize rhyme, difficulties breaking words into syllables or blending sounds together to form words, struggle to connect letters to their associated sounds

● A resulting domino effect of literacy challenges: problems in decoding unfamiliar words, slow and inaccurate reading, and poor writing and spelling.

When children struggle to read, they suffer in more than academics. Children with dyslexia are more likely to face emotional and behavioral challenges, including depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A 2019 survey showed that prison inmates are more likely to have dyslexia. Students with dyslexia are more likely to drop out of school and less likely to pursue higher education.

It’s Time to Reject The Blame Game

On any social media outlet, you’ll find heated battles about dyslexia: teachers quarreling over best instructional strategies, school district leaders pointing the finger of blame at poor teacher preparation, scientists nonplused that their findings have not translated into classroom practice. Then there are the charlatans selling false hope and cures, such as glasses with different color lenses, playing into the inaccurate notion of dyslexia as a vision-based issue.

What has been forgotten in all this posturing, is the people it affects the most: the children. There are many stakeholders in this fight to overcome dyslexia. As a group, we need to push past our politicized stances so that we can collaborate to minimize the stigma and struggles of the disorder. At an immediate level, children with dyslexia need support and advocacy from the following:

● Vocal parents who fight tirelessly on their behalf

● Knowledgeable pediatricians able to recognize the warning signs as early as age 3

● General education teachers who identify readers who struggle

● School psychologists to diagnose dyslexia

● Special education teachers who provide high-quality instruction and targeted interventions

● School social workers and/or counselors to help them with the socioemotional challenges associated with reading difficulties

Additionally, children with dyslexia need peripheral support from visionary professionals including the following:

● School leaders who prioritize meeting the needs of all children

● Teacher preparation programs who effectively train teachers

● Professional organizations who advocate for them

● Insurance companies that reimburse families for the high costs associated with advocating for their child

● Employers who support time off for parents to attend school-based meetings

● Translators to communicate with parents from diverse language backgrounds

Lastly, to drive educational policy and promote change in education, let’s involve the following:

● Research groups and think tanks who push forward scientific brain-based advances

● Publishing companies and curriculum designers who prioritize best practices over profit

● Colleges and universities that provide support structures for secondary learning

● Technology companies that expand digital tools to assist struggling readers

● Lawyers who represent free appropriate public education

● State legislatures that prioritize funding for universal early screening, effective intervention, and teacher training. As of May 2019, only seven states have no dyslexia-specific legislation.

Struggling to read is far more than an educational problem; it is a societal one. As such, we cannot punt dyslexia to the purview of teachers alone. Overcoming dyslexia requires a confluence of players. When we come together to address our nation’s disservice to growing readers, we have the potential to prevent the debilitating consequences of reading failure. Most importantly, we will help all children along the path towards lifelong reading.

Molly Ness is a teacher educator, a reading clinician, and an author of three books in the field of education.