Dyslexia
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. It's estimated up to 1 in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia.
Whilst it is often regarded as a learning difference, many are not aware of the unique skills that come with having dyslexia for example strong visual, creative and problem solving skills.
Some people are born with dyslexia, but others develop dyslexia later in life, usually as a result of damage to the brain. This is known as ‘alexia’.
Dyslexia varies from person to person and no two people has the same set of strengths and challenges. Characteristic features of dyslexia include challenges in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed.
Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities and is best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct category, there are no clear cut-off points.
“I didn’t tell anyone at work I had dyslexia for years. I was able to do many parts of my job easily and well, but I spent a lot of long evenings going over documents and feeling frustrated with the quality of my notes. I found some practical strategies really helped, such as formatting documents so they were easier for me to process and switching to dictation software.”
- Kate,
Social Services Administrator
Many people with dyslexia possess unique skills. These skills vary from person to person, but commonly include having the ability to alter and create perceptions, see the bigger picture, coming up with big ideas and being great with creativity, story-telling and problem-solving.
Did You Know?
There is more than one type of dyslexia
Dyslexia often runs in families
Dyslexia does not affect intelligence
Many famous people have dyslexia
(for example, Richard Branson, Kiera Knightly, Whoopi Goldberg and Stephen Spielberg)
Download our Dyslexia Information Sheet:
This information sheet has been created by our team of expert psychologists, and provides information about Dyslexia, common challenges, and suggestions of the support available.
How Can Lexxic Help?
At Lexxic, we have a range of diagnostic tools to help assess your needs, or the needs of your employees.
Our team of highly qualified psychologists provide support and advice for adults in the workplace. We work with you from the point of diagnosis, through to identifying what you need to get the best long-term outcomes.
We can help you to better understand your strengths and challenges, know your learning style, and give you training for specific skills.
Get in touch if you would like to chat with one of our team, or find out more about the services we can provide.
Further Resources
We were established in 2007 by Chartered Occupational Psychologist Nicola James, after managing the challenges of her own dyslexia in the corporate sector. Nicola often contributes to our blog pages, providing insightful experiences and tips that can help people with managing their dyslexia - you’re not alone!
Why not take a read of her latest blog post?
Alternatively, take a browse of our full blog: News and Blog
