What is Dyslexia?

Understanding Dyslexia is one way to have a deeper understanding of the reading process. Following is the definition of dyslexia from the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Services).

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin.  It is characterized by        difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.  These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the attempt of effective classroom instruction.  Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impeded growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.  

After reading and understand what dyslexia is, one would think that all areas of cognitive thinking would be affected, but that is not the case.  Perhaps what puzzles educators and parents the most is that students who fail to learn how letters represent speech sounds and how sounds are represented by letters in words often are good thinkers and are talented in other areas.  Because dyslexia is domain specific in the brain, the cognitive abilities such as reasoning, comprehension, vocabulary, syntax, and general IQ score typically are unaffected.  In fact, although IQ score and reading in the typical reader influence each other over time, IQ score and reading are not linked in the reader who has dyslexia.  Therefore, interventions and planning are very critical when educating someone who has dyslexia.