Dyslexia: Understanding and Supporting Reading Difficulties
Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder affecting reading, impacting 5 to 10% of children. Of neurobiological origin, it is characterized by persistent difficulties in decoding written words despite normal intelligence and appropriate teaching. This comprehensive guide presents the scientific foundations, warning signs, remediation strategies, and practical tools.
📋 In this article
What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder that specifically affects reading learning. According to the DSM-5 definition, it is a specific learning disorder with reading deficit, characterized by difficulties in word recognition, decoding, and spelling.
This disorder is persistent: it is not simply a delay that will catch up with time. Dyslexia is present from the earliest learning stages and continues into adulthood, even if compensations develop. It is not related to intellectual deficit, sensory impairment (vision, hearing), lack of motivation, or an unfavorable environment.
🔬 Prevalence and heredity
Dyslexia affects 5 to 10% of the population, with male predominance (ratio 2-3 boys to 1 girl, possibly related to under-diagnosis in girls). There is a strong genetic component: a child whose parent is dyslexic has a 40 to 60% risk of being dyslexic themselves. Several genes involved in neuronal migration have been identified.
Causes and neurobiological foundations
Neuroscience research has helped understand the brain mechanisms of dyslexia. Three main explanatory hypotheses are currently accepted:
The phonological hypothesis
This is the most scientifically robust hypothesis. People with dyslexia have a phonological processing deficit: difficulty manipulating language sounds (phonological awareness), temporarily storing verbal information (phonological memory), and rapidly accessing phonological representations (rapid naming).
The visual-attentional hypothesis
Some dyslexics have visual processing difficulties: reduced visual-attentional span (number of letters processed simultaneously), eye scanning difficulties, contrast sensitivity. These difficulties can coexist with phonological deficit.
The cerebellar hypothesis
The cerebellum, involved in learning automatization, would have atypical functioning in some dyslexics, explaining difficulties in automating reading and sometimes associated motor disorders.
Types of dyslexia
| Type | Affected mechanism | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Phonological dyslexia | Assembly pathway (decoding) | Difficulty reading new words and pseudo-words, sound confusions |
| Surface dyslexia | Addressing pathway (global recognition) | Difficulty with irregular words, regularization ("femme" read as "fème") |
| Mixed dyslexia | Both pathways | Combined difficulties of both types, most common form |
| Visual-attentional dyslexia | Visual processing | Word/line skipping, difficulties with long words |
Warning signs by age
Before reading learning (kindergarten)
- Oral language delay (late speech, short sentences)
- Difficulty learning nursery rhymes and songs
- Difficulty finding rhymes
- Confusion in sound or syllable order
- Difficulty memorizing days, months, alphabet
- Family history of dyslexia
In Grade 1-2 (beginning learning)
- Difficulty associating letters and sounds
- Significant slowness in decoding
- Hesitant, choppy reading without fluency
- Confusions of visually similar letters (b/d, p/q) or phonetically similar (f/v, t/d)
- Inversions of letters or syllables
- Difficulty memorizing frequent sight words
- Growing gap with peers
Beyond Grade 3
- Reading remains slow and effortful
- Comprehension impaired by decoding effort
- Very deficient spelling (associated dysorthographia)
- Reading avoidance, significant fatigue
- Impact on all learning
Dyslexia diagnosis
Diagnosis is made by a speech-language pathologist after a complete written language assessment. It can only be established after sufficient reading instruction (generally not before the end of Grade 2). The assessment evaluates:
- Reading: decoding, fluency, comprehension
- Spelling: word and text dictation
- Oral language: often affected as well
- Phonological awareness
- Phonological memory and rapid naming
⚠️ Differential diagnosis
Before concluding dyslexia, other possible causes must be ruled out: visual disorder (orthoptic assessment), hearing disorder (ENT assessment), intellectual deficit (psychological assessment if doubt), lack of exposure to writing or inappropriate teaching.
Remediation principles
📝 Phonological remediation
Strengthen phonological awareness: manipulation of syllables, rhymes, phonemes. Work on grapheme-phoneme correspondences explicitly and systematically. This is the foundation of remediation, based on evidence.
📖 Fluency work
Once decoding is established, work on fluency (reading speed) through repeated readings, timed readings, flash readings of syllables and words. The goal is to automate to free cognitive resources.
🔠 Multisensory approach
Associate multiple channels: see the letter, hear the sound, trace the letter (kinesthetic). Multisensory methods (Orton-Gillingham type) have shown their effectiveness.
📚 Orthographic lexicon work
Memorize frequent irregular words that cannot be decoded. Gradually build a stock of globally recognized words to make reading more fluid.
Strategies and adaptations
To facilitate reading
- Adapted font: Arial, Verdana, OpenDyslexic, size 12-14
- Increased line spacing (1.5 to 2)
- Increased letter and word spacing
- Airy texts, not too much text per page
- Background color (cream, pastel) rather than pure white
- Reading guide (ruler, reading window)
- Colored syllables for difficult texts
To reduce load
- Reduce quantity to read
- Provide audio texts as supplement
- Read instructions aloud
- Allow extra time
Our downloadable tools
🔤 Simple syllable cards
Syllable cards for decoding training. Simple syllables (CV, VC) then complex (CCV, CVC). For flash reading and games.
Download📖 Dyslexia-adapted texts
Texts with adapted layout: readable font, increased line spacing, optional colored syllables. Multiple difficulty levels.
Download⚡ Syllable flash reading
Cards for rapid syllable recognition training. Improves fluency and decoding automatization.
Download🎯 Phonological awareness exercises
Sound manipulation activities: rhymes, syllables, phonemes. Foundation of dyslexia remediation.
DownloadSchool accommodations
Students with dyslexia can benefit from a PAP (Personalized Support Plan) that formalizes necessary accommodations:
| Domain | Accommodations |
|---|---|
| Time | One-third additional time, extended deadlines |
| Materials | Adapted documents (font, line spacing), audio texts |
| Assessment | Reading instructions, multiple choice, reduced volume, don't penalize spelling |
| Tools | Computer with spell-checker, text-to-speech software |
| Method | Seat near board, reformulated instructions |
Frequently asked questions
Dyslexia is a lasting disorder of neurobiological origin. One doesn't "cure" dyslexia, but appropriate remediation allows effective compensation for difficulties. Many dyslexics become functional readers, even if reading often remains slower and more effortful than for others.
Letter reversals (b/d, p/q) are normal at the beginning of learning and don't automatically indicate dyslexia. They become concerning if they persist beyond Grade 2 and are accompanied by other difficulties. Only a speech-language pathology assessment can confirm or rule out dyslexia.
Dyslexia diagnosis can only be made after sufficient reading instruction (generally end of Grade 2). Before that, we speak of "dyslexia risk" or "reading delay." However, early signs (oral language difficulties, phonological awareness) can alert as early as kindergarten and justify preventive intervention.
Yes, by definition. Dyslexia affects people of normal or even superior intelligence. It's a specific disorder that only affects reading and writing learning, not general intellectual abilities. Many dyslexics succeed brilliantly in various fields.
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Discover all tools →Article written by the DYNSEO team in collaboration with speech-language pathologists. Last updated: December 2024.
