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Understanding Dyslexia
Dyslexia types, causes, FAQ, misconceptions, and research
It’s a Dyslexia Diagnosis. Now What?
First, understand what dyslexia is and what dyslexia isn’t. Dyslexia is a language-based condition with a cluster of symptoms related to language and reading. It describes behaviors, not a condition. Dyslexia is an unexpected reading difficulty that is out of step with other learning abilities (Shaywitz).
It’s not a medical condition; that’s a dyslexia myth.
If your child has a limp, you are more likely to name the cause, e.g., he has a twisted ankle (causing the limp) – rather than he has a limp. Using this approach, dyslexia is the “limp”; the cause of the “limp” (i.e., the cause of dyslexia) is likely related to language processing or another cognitive skill gap.
The important point is that dyslexia, like most educational evaluations, is determined by assessing risk factors, observing and testing symptoms (how serious the “limp” is), and testing cognitive skills.
Two other misconceptions:
- Dyslexia is not related to IQ – more here
- Dyslexia is rarely a vision-based disability (It’s almost always language processing-related).
Dyslexia Isn’t a Different Brain—It’s Just a Bigger Gap
It’s a common misconception that dyslexia is fundamentally distinct from other reading difficulties—often fueled by how dyslexic children rely on creative or visual workarounds.
The reality? Dyslexia and less severe reading delays exist on the exact same continuum.
Dyslexic brains aren’t wired differently. These students make the same types of reading errors as their peers—they simply make more of them. This means that the same reading interventions that help children with less severe reading delays can also help individuals with dyslexia.
Science backs this up. According to the University of Michigan, the scientific consensus is that dyslexia is a language-based learning difficulty that affects both listening and reading. A general reading delay follows the exact same description—just less severe.
Dyslexia is Not Fixed, Change is Possible
The idea that dyslexia is fixed comes from the experience of dyslexic parents as adults who did not have the benefit of today’s treatment options. Second, the constant use of the dyslexia diagnosis label has created the impression that it is a disease or a condition.
People wonder what dyslexia looks like. A dyslexia diagnosis is often expressed as follows: A dyslexic brain is normal and healthy. It just works differently. Sound right? Well, it’s not. It suggests:
- Dyslexic brains are different, and
- Dyslexic brains won’t or can’t change.
Different brain wiring is a tidy way to explain why dyslexic children respond unusually. Even though most 6-year-olds make many of the same errors, their wiring is not questioned. This view, and the concept of a dyslexia gene, are fed by the stubborn misconception that dyslexia is some kind of condition.
Just as speech issues eventually fade, some dyslexia symptoms reduce over time as cognitive skills mature. However, significant gains will only come from interventions that target the cause of dyslexia, leading to more efficient reading.
This page covers everything you need to know about dyslexia. Click the link to get to the right section:
Request this dyslexia report for a warning-signs checklist and treatment options.
Blaise went to a good school but he was falling further and further behind and now it was affecting his confidence. His mother could see a downward spiral starting. Then his school sent home a flyer about Gemm Learning and the possibilities of brain change. After a few months over the summer the results were amazing.
“I wanted to let you know Blaise made first honors. He had a 95.6 average. I can’t even tell you how thankful I am to you and everyone at GEMM LEARNING. I remember the first day I walked into your office crying my eyes out hoping and praying for a miracle. Blaise is diligent and hard working and your Fast Forward program was the perfect fit. THANK YOU!!!!!!”
Dyslexia
Amber
Age: 11
Location: Idaho
Diagnosis: Dyslexia
Results
In one year, Amber moved to reading on grade level (3+ years of gain during her time at Gemm Learning) and has the confidence now to assist other students.
Uncovering the Root Causes of Dyslexia
Core Takeaway: Dyslexia is almost always a Language-Processing Issue
While many associate dyslexia with visually reversing letters (like “b” and “d”), dyslexics typically hear these letters as the same rather than see them as the same. Early signs of dyslexia stem from delays in phonological processing (distinguishing speech sounds) and language manipulation (such as rhyming).
Causes and Risk Factors
Language-processing delays linked to dyslexia can stem from several factors:
- Genetics: Approximately 40% of cases of dyslexia are inherited.
- Ear Infections: Ear infections can muddy how language is received. It reduces the amount of meaningful language stimulation a child hears in the first three years of life.
- English Second Language: Adopted children born hearing another language or children who do not hear English at home are at-risk readers. Even a minor processing glitch will cause difficulty.
- Environment: The number of words a child hears each day influences later reading ability. Being read to daily makes a huge difference for a child, as does being spoken to in adult language.
Dyslexia vs.Vision Issues
Visual issues (such as eye-tracking problems, poor hand-eye coordination, or medical eye conditions) are distinct from dyslexia and require separate treatment. Visual integration difficulties often point to attention/sensory issues (like ADHD) rather than visual dyslexia.
Because dyslexia is primarily caused by cognitive skill gaps that respond to exercise, it can, in most cases, be remediated. If you are unsure about your child, take a free reading assessment and behavioral survey.
Types of Dyslexia
Dyslexia is diagnosed by comparing reading ability to overall learning skills and intelligence. A formal evaluation considers family history, school performance, processing abilities, and academic skills.
Stealth Dyslexia:
Stealth dyslexia is a relatively new term for children who use coping strategies to hide their reading difficulties.
- It occurs in bright children who have enough comprehension to hide their reading and decoding difficulties.
- Around age 11, as text becomes more complex, these workarounds fail because decoding requires too much concentration, causing reading comprehension to drop.
Stealth dyslexia often responds quickly to a targeted reading curriculum for dyslexia that addresses auditory processing delays and improves automatic decoding.
Developmental Dyslexia:
- Used interchangeably with dyslexia.
- The general term for reading performance that is significantly below expectations based on a person’s IQ.
- It affects 5–10% of children, particularly boys.
Phonological Dyslexia (Dysphonetic / Auditory Dyslexia):
- Refers to difficulties connecting sounds to letter symbols due to impairments in language processing (phonemic awareness).
- Most accepted science now views almost all dyslexia as rooted in these phonological delays.
- Individuals struggle with sound-based tasks like rhyming and sound deletion.
Surface Dyslexia (Dyseidetic / Visual Dyslexia):
- Refers to individuals who have a good grasp of phonics but struggle with whole-word recognition, visual memory of words, and spelling.
A formal evaluation will assess intellectual ability, auditory processing, psycholinguistic processing, and academic skills. It also considers the individual’s family background and overall school performance. More on tests for dyslexia here.
If you are unsure about your child, take our free risk factor and symptoms screening. We will send you our findings.
“She is 11 years old today. She wanted to go to the bookstore Wednesday – she bought 5 books with her own money. This is not something she would have done three months ago. It would have been to overwhelming to have five books staring at her to read. What a wonderful birthday present Fast ForWord has been for her!”
Signs of Dyslexia by Age
3–4 years
Speech or language delays; difficulty with rhyming; limited vocabulary.
5–8 years
Slow or labored decoding of words; mispronounces long words; avoids or resists reading aloud; poor memory for names and dates.
9–11 years
Cannot read for long periods; resists reading; slow, choppy oral reading; comprehension difficulties.
12–18+ years
Difficulty extracting main ideas from text; difficulty with multiple-choice tests; homework stress; does not read for pleasure.
More here: Dyslexia symptoms checklist by age
Dyslexia Risk Factors
Family history / hereditary
Parent or close relative with dyslexia or reading difficulties. Dyslexia often runs in families.
Speech or language delay
Late talking, unclear speech, trouble putting words together can language processing delays that could lead to dyslexia.
Frequent ear infections
Recurrent ear infections in early childhood can interrupt clear sound input, making it harder to build phonological skills.
Difficulty with rhyming
Can’t recognize or generate rhymes indicates difficulty processing language patterns.
One risk factor doesn’t mean a child has dyslexia, but a cluster of these signs is a reason to seek a screening or evaluation.
“Gemm’s 6 month program REALLY helped my son with dyslexia and ADHD. The material seemed easy to me, but it seemed to really help him improve. He went from many failing grades in 2nd grade to all B’s in 3rd grade. And 3rd grade in private school is no joke!! Deli who helped monitor his progress was a joy to work with. Thank you to the Gemm Learning team!!”
A Guide to Dyslexia Testing
School support, including an IEP, often requires a formal diagnosis, so an evaluation by a neuropsychologist or SLP clinician is the first step. Here is a rundown of the kinds of tests your child might receive:
- Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN/RAS): RAN/RAS is a game-like test that presents cards with colors, numbers, letters, and objects for the student to name in quick succession.
- Reading Assessments (GORT-5, GSRT, Woodcock-Johnson): These tests use a variety of fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension questions to approach reading from different angles. This article explains what these dyslexia tests measure and what they don’t.
- Word Efficiency & Decoding (TOWRE-2): Uses real and nonsense words to evaluate decoding skills. Read more here.
Gemm Learning offers a free online reading assessment that covers phonics, decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension that correlate with formal, nationally normed tests.
Dyslexia FAQ
Is dyslexia curable?
This is a controversial question, and a flawed question. Flawed, because dyslexia is not a medical condition that needs to be cured; it’s an unexpected difficulty with reading that does not match an individual’s abilities in other areas. And controversial, because of the movement around dyslexia being a gift. Read more about the silver lining of dyslexia here.
The cognitive skill gaps that cause dyslexia can be strengthened, reducing and often completely eliminating signs of dyslexia. Whether that success amounts to a cure for dyslexia is up to the individual to decide.
At what age can you detect dyslexia and intervene effectively?
Children who have speech delays or have difficulty rhyming as a toddler are at risk for dyslexia. But language processing skills don’t mature until around age 7. And so it’s premature to describe a child as having dyslexia before processing skills have had a chance to develop. Similarly, it’s premature to have a child tested for dyslexia under 8 years of age.
How do we know whether the reading difficulty is dyslexia or something else?
Dyslexia describes reading difficulty on a continuum of reading difficulties, at the severe end. So, an extreme reading difficulty is dyslexia; it’s not caused by dyslexia.
If the intervention starts late, is it too late to help?
No. The brain is plastic and changes throughout life. So there’s always potential to resolve dyslexia at any age. However, learning is also sequential, and dyslexia can hold back progress in many ways. And so, early intervention is always advisable.
Are accommodations like extra time or audiobooks enough?
For many struggling readers, accommodations can reduce stress and help a child keep in touch with their peers learning-wise. However, they are band-aids only. To truly set your child up for life success, reading programs for dyslexia can have a much more profound and lasting effect.
How do you choose a high-quality reading intervention for dyslexia?
There are a number of different interventions for dyslexia, tackling different causes – language or visual processing, focus, working memory – or using different ways to strengthen, including online software and physical exercises.
Orton Gillingham and other 1-on-1 phonics training build a child’s auditory memory sound by sound. It’s a long, laborious process, but it is ultimately successful. If you are looking for programs better than Orton-Gillingham, consider interventions that address the processing skill delays that are causing the delay in phonemic awareness.
Understanding that Gemm Learning provides an at-home dyslexia intervention, and so somewhat biased, here are the basics of any successful intervention:
- Addresses the underlying causes of dyslexia, not surface symptoms
- Evidence-based and supported by research.
- Includes professional oversight – unsupervised routines at home just don’t work
What should our next step be if we suspect dyslexia?
If your child is more than a grade or two behind in reading and has more than 1-2 symptoms on our age-based dyslexia checklist, you probably have your answer.
If you are still unsure, consider our free dyslexia screening, which reviews symptoms and risk factors.
“She has just continued to do an amazing job. We’re so thankful for the program. It has truly changed our lives. She had all A’s and I believe one B for this last year in 5th grade. I can’t begin to thank you enough for giving us hope and a solution! I continue to tell everyone I can about the Gemm program!”
Research Snapshot
| Study | Raschle et al. (2015) |
|---|---|
| Published In | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Key Finding | Children at familial risk for dyslexia often show early language delays. These early deficits in vocabulary and grammar predict later reading and phonological difficulties. |
| Why It Matters | This research confirms that dyslexia is deeply rooted in language processing. Early identification of language delays can help prevent later reading challenges through targeted intervention. |
| Learn More | Read study summary |
Behaviors Associated With Dyslexia
Here’s a list of issues and the percentage incidence in individuals with a dyslexia diagnosis:
- ADHD: up to 40%
- Anxiety: up to 29%
- Impaired balance: up to half of children, one in five adults with dyslexia
- Dyspraxia: up to 85%
- Dysgraphia: not clear
- Dyscalculia
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder: up to17%
- 2e Dyslexia and Gifted: up to 5% of school-age children
- Amusia (tone deafness)
While these are sometimes viewed as comorbidities, many are different disabilities with the same cognitive source.
DYSLEXIA MYTHS
Myth: Intelligence and dyslexia are linked
Dyslexia impacts self-image. Children with dyslexia can become discouraged about continuing in school, leading to a perceived link between dyslexia and intelligence. However, dyslexia is related to learning, not IQ. Many people with dyslexia are very bright and accomplish amazing things as adults.
Myth: If you have reversed letters or numbers your have dyslexia
Most children will reverse some of their letters and numbers early on. Continuing reversals after two years of handwriting instruction are a sign of dyslexia, along with many other warning signs.
Myth: Dyslexia is a lifetime condition
The notion that dyslexia cannot be cured or corrected stems from the belief that the brain is hardwired like a computer and incapable of change. This is not true. The brain can be exercised just like a muscle—meaning the window to overcoming dyslexia is always open, using brain-based programs that train essential cognitive skills.
Myth: There is a dyslexia gene
Dyslexia is a description of symptoms, not an affliction or biological condition. However, the language processing delays that cause dyslexia can be hereditary.
Myth: Dyslexia is much more common in boys
Dyslexia occurs nearly as often in girls as in boys. Boys tend to act out when frustrated, drawing attention to the behavior and underlying problem.
Myth: Adults who have or had dyslexia won’t succeed
This is entirely false. Numerous lists and websites cover this topic. A quick search will bring up hundreds of references to successful men and women in every profession who live with dyslexia.