| Dyslexia can be present in both children and | | | | pronunciation between tomb and comb, because |
| adults. In fact, it is a learning disability that affects | | | | they are spelled the same. People who experience |
| 10 out of every 100 people - men, women, boys | | | | this particular type of problem have difficulties in |
| or girls. The question is: are there different types | | | | grasping the long and short pronunciation of |
| of adult dyslexia? And the answer is yes, but one | | | | letters. |
| would hesitate to label dyslexia as specific to | | | | Then there is another type of adult dyslexia |
| adults only or children only. And there are also | | | | known as phonological, which indicates that the |
| many types and sub-types of dyslexia. There is | | | | individual does not understand the structure or |
| more research going on all the time, and what we | | | | sounds of words. This can often be experienced |
| knew twenty or thirty years ago about this | | | | by someone who also has surface dyslexia. The |
| learning disorder, and a test can identify not only | | | | resultant combination is known as double deficit |
| your specific type but whether it is mild or | | | | dyslexia. Probably the most commonly |
| severe. | | | | experienced type of dyslexia is orthographic, |
| What is dyslexia? The simple explanation is to | | | | which occurs when the individual has difficulty in |
| parse the Latin roots of the word: dys, meaning | | | | identification of the letters of the alphabet, the |
| not fully functional, and lexia, meaning words. | | | | result of which is problems with reading, writing |
| Putting the two together tells you that someone | | | | and even spelling. People transpose letters, or |
| with this problem will have trouble understanding | | | | write the letter B as D and vice versa. If the |
| words, mainly written. But when you study this | | | | person is fortunate, this will be identified early on, |
| disorder further, you begin to understand that | | | | perhaps as early as kindergarten. |
| there are distinct types of adult dyslexia. In order | | | | As we continue to study the problems people |
| to overcome dyslexia, it is important to | | | | experience with learning disabilities in general and |
| understand these types. | | | | types of adult dyslexia in particular, there is hope |
| Some people with dyslexia have difficulties with | | | | for those who experience learning disabilities, |
| those rules of pronunciation in the English language, | | | | regardless of the specific type. No one should |
| both written and spoken. This is known as | | | | ever go through life feeling that they cannot learn |
| surface dyslexia - an example might be that the | | | | - they just need to identify the problem and work |
| person might not know the difference in | | | | toward a solution - and eventual success! |