I sometimes read articles about Dyslexia being a "Hidden Disability" and then there are many angry comments from parents of dyslexic children saying that there is nothing hidden about not being able to read! Which of course is true, but they are missing the point. While struggling to learn to read and write are the most obvious signs of dyslexia, underneath it are many other difficulties that are not so obvious and cause many of the stresses that dyslexics experience day to day. I really like the analogy of an iceberg and the infographic above shows perfectly that while the Literacy Problems are the part we all see, there is so much more going on below the surface.......
While teachers and parents focus on literacy skills, there are many other issues that are over looked. Being dyslexic can be exhausting, many everyday tasks which others consider simple or straightforward require significant additional effort. Some are almost impossible. It is these things that frustrate parents and teachers and cause classmates to laugh or tease you.
Why have you lost your coat and have no recollection of where you left it?
Why have you no idea what to do when your teacher has just spend 10 minutes explaining the lesson?
Why do you turn left when your teacher asked you turn right?
Why did you miss the punchline of the joke your friend told and have no idea why everyone is
laughing?
Why did you not give in your homework even though it was in your bag?
Why did you forget the message the teacher asked you to deliver by the time you got to the person the message was for?
Why does it take twice as long to complete a jigsaw puzzle compared to your friends?
Why did you not notice the sentence starters on the worksheet that everyone else is using to complete their writing?
There is often sympathy and understanding from adults about how difficult reading is, particularly if they know you are dyslexic. Teachers and parents will work patiently and carefully with you. They will give you more time to work out a word, they will give you easier texts to read, they will read tricky words or texts for you, they will let you read with a partner. They praise you when you try to read a word even when you get it wrong.
However, there is no sympathy for the situations above. People think you are being careless or lazy or you are not paying attention. Very often the teacher will be annoyed or cross and will tell you off for not trying hard enough. They do not realise these difficulties are also part of Dyslexia. Unfortunately, they can not see what is going on inside your brain. They can not see the level of effort that is required or that this level of effort is not sustainable throughout the school day. They can not see that in fact some of the things they ask are actually unreasonable as they are almost impossible for you.
We would not ask someone in a wheelchair to climb stairs, but we will ask someone with a working memory impairment to remember an instruction that is beyond their memory span. And then we blame them when they can not do it...
There are many hidden difficulties which many people are not aware of including working memory, auditory processing, visual processing and coordination difficulties which impact students with dyslexia. These need to be better understood by teachers and parents so that the right support and strategies are provided.
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