Dyslexia is a common type of specific  learning difficulty that  mainly affects the skills involved in the reading and spelling of words.

A person with dyslexia has difficulty "decoding" words despite appropriate learning opportunities. This difficulty will also be significantly greater than for other areas of learning.

Dyslexia should be recognised as a spectrum disorder, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe. In particular, people with dyslexia have difficulties with:

• phonological awareness
• verbal memory
• verbal processing speed

These terms are explained in more detail below.
 

Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness is thought to be a key skill in early reading and spelling development. It is the ability to identify how words are made up of smaller units of sound, known as phonemes. Changes in the sounds that make up words can lead to changes in their meaning.

So, for example, a child with a good level of phonological awareness would understand that if you change the letter "p" in the word "pat" to "s", the word would become "sat".

Verbal memory

Verbal memory is the ability to remember a sequence of verbal information for a short period of time.

For example, the ability to remember a short list such as "red, blue, green", or a set of simple instructions, such as "Put on your gloves and your hat, find the lead for the dog and then go to the park."

Verbal processing speed

Verbal processing speed is defined as the time it takes to process and recognise familiar verbal information, such as letters and digits.

For example, having difficulty writing down unfamiliar words when they are spelled out, or telephone numbers.

Dyslexia and intelligence

Even though dyslexia is classed as a learning difficulty or more commonly now referred to as a learning difference, there is no connection between dyslexia and a child’s intelligence. Children of all intellectual abilities, from low to high intelligence, can be affected by dyslexia.

Similarly, a child’s difficulty with reading and spelling is not determined by their intelligence, but by how severe their dyslexia is. Children with average intelligence and mild dyslexia are likely to be more skilled at reading and writing than children with high intelligence and severe dyslexia.
 

•  Identification as a struggling reader by class teacher.
•  Discussion with Inclusion Support Team.
•  Discussion with parents.
•  Permission from parents sought for screening.

• Rapid Naming
• Bead Threading
• One Minute Reading
• Postural Stability
• Phonemic Segmentation
• Two Minute Spelling
• Backwards Digit Span
• Nonsense Passage Reading
• One Minute Writing
• Verbal Fluency
• Rhyme NEW
• Vocabulary NEW