Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What can a parent do to support a child with dyslexia?
A: There are many things that parents can do to help their student:
Read out loud with your child as often as possible. It is also helpful for the child to follow along as you read. This allows the child to hear and see each word as it is read.
Communicate often with your child's teacher about their progress.
Attend your child's annual 504 or ARD meeting each year.
Q: What are the unique strengths of a person with dyslexia?
A: People with dyslexia often have strengths in creativity and listening comprehension in spite of a weakness in decoding words. Please click here for a visual related to the strengths of a person with dyslexia.
Q: What is dyslexia?
A: Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. Students with dyslexia have difficulty:
Recognizing words quickly and accurately when reading
Spelling words correctly
Decoding words while reading
Usually these difficulties occur because students with dyslexia struggle with the phonological part of language. For example, they may struggle with one or more of the following things:
Remembering letter sounds
Remembering sight words
Phonemic awareness reading skills
Rapidly naming familiar letters, objects, or even colors
Q: What causes dyslexia?
A: The exact causes of dyslexia are still not completely clear, but anatomical and brain imagery studies show differences in the way the brain of a person with dyslexia develops and functions. Moreover, most people with dyslexia have been found to have difficulty with identifying the separate speech sounds within a word and/or learning how letters represent those sounds, a key factor in their reading difficulties. Dyslexia is not due to either lack of intelligence or desire to learn; with appropriate teaching methods, individuals with dyslexia can learn successfully. (International Dyslexia Association)
Q: What are early signs that may indicate a student has dyslexia?
A: Students may:
Read aloud very slowly with many errors
Have trouble reading words in isolation
Struggle learning how to spell
Click here to learn more about the signs of dyslexia.
Appendix A-Dyslexia Handbook FAQ Spanish (Updated August 2023)
Appendix A-Dyslexia Handbook FAQ (Updated August 2023)