Nursery World - Dyslexia: Process mixer

Dyslexia is sometimes hard to diagnose and impossible to cure, but early years practitioners can do much to boost children's learning, as Maggie Jones explains

Dyslexia is best thought of as a problem with information processing. Dyslexic children will struggle with reading, writing (which can include mathematics and musical notation) and spelling. They may also have short-term memory problems, which can cause difficulties with tasks such as remembering telephone numbers long enough to write them down, with copying notes from a blackboard into a book, with personal organisation and staying 'on task'.

Dyslexia tends to run in families, and it's now generally accepted that there is some physical difference in the brains of dyslexic people. The condition is three times more common in boys than girls. It can occur at all levels of intellectual ability, and also can vary from mild to severe. About 4 per cent of the population of Britain is severely dyslexic, and some 350,000 schoolchildren may be affected. At least 20 per cent of children who have special needs are likely to be dyslexic.

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