Dyslexia is a learning disorder that effects areas of the brain that processes language. It is a learning disorder that involves difficulty with reading, writing and spellings. It is a disorder rather than a learning disability as it doesn’t affect intelligence. Dyslexia also affects information processing which can impact on organisational skills. On the other hand, individuals with dyslexia often show strengths in areas such as creativity and reasoning.

Common signs of dyslexia can be found here: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk

Each individual will experience dyslexia differently and will all have their own strengths and difficulties.

Here we have an interview with a young girl named who is 10 years old and currently in year 6. She was diagnosed with dyslexia two years ago but until then some behaviours were labelled ‘naughty’.

What school year?

Year 6

What is your favourite subject?

Maths

Why? 

Because it’s the one that I understand the most. I also kind of like RE, I am learning about Christianity and Sikhism, I say kind of because I like learning the different religions but sometimes there are graphs which are complicated. 

Do you enjoy school?

I prefer learning at school than at home. 

What do you enjoy about school?

I enjoy being able to socialise and being with my friends. I also like how the different subjects are unique. 

What do you not enjoy?

I do not enjoy English or guided reading or spellings because those subjects I sometimes feel bad about because I’m not good at them and other people make fun of me as I’m not as good as them.

What do you find difficult?

Anything to do with reading and writing and sometimes I struggle to focus and understand.

What does dyslexia feel like?

It doesn’t feel very good because people sometimes make fun of me when they see spellings in my books, for example they’ll laugh and say I’ve spelt an easy word wrong. It is hard because other people don’t understand how it is or what its like to cope with when attempting tasks. This sometimes tears me down. When we do spellings I don’t like to say my score out loud because I’m s cared people will make fun out of me because I often get a score of 1 or 0. I don’t like writing and I find it hard because it takes me like 10 minutes to write one sentence and someone has to explain many times to me for me to understand. The teacher will sometimes give me a different sheet to work on. I have to ask people for the most simplest spellings and I don’t like to bother them so I often don’t ask for help, I feel lost in the class sometimes, taking a while to decide what to do. I like when my teacher gives me sentence starters. 

Have you heard of dyslexia? I have heard of it before as another pupil has it and we had a dyslexia awareness week. People in my family also have it.

What is your definition of dyslexia?

I think it means that people don’t really understand stuff that other people do. Its harder for dyslexic people to do some subjects as it effects peoples reading and writing. For others its not every subject it effects but for me I struggle all over. Dyslexic people sometimes they can guess what happens before it actually happens, for example they can predict something and it can be correct. 

Its hard for me to have a lot of friends and for me its better to have a couple of friends who are actually there for me. A close friend is better than a bunch of friends who aren’t actually your friend.

Do you feel strange?

Sometimes I feel a lot different because when I look at the other children books when we write books and I would have written a paragraph and they have written I whole page and this makes me feel like the teacher won’t appreciate my work. I get disappointed with myself because I can’t keep up, I also feel like I’m going to get into trouble for not doing enough.

Do you tell anyone when you feel like this?

I tell my closest friend and sometimes my teacher but if I feel like its not serious then ill keep it to myself because I feel people will judge me more than they already do. I feel my dyslexia is the reason I don’t have as many friends.

What helps?

Sometimes when I read or write I have to think of my sentence, then say it out loud, then write it on a whiteboard and sometimes my teacher writes it first then I copy as its difficult for me to remember before writing it on the page.

Do you get support at school?

I do go out and lexis but now because of coronavirus its not taking place so currently I don’t have much support. 

What do you do with homework?

I get my mum and dad to help me with but we don’t get that much, we get a sheet but only two pieces a term. 

What do you think could help you more?

Maybe if I had a tutor that could help me with my writing, readings and spellings test to start of with easier words and get more difficult. Also, I would like to get easier spellings at school because they are pretty difficult for me. 

In school I find it hard to concentrate and I get distracted easy and if the teacher shouts I get scared. I feel like they shout at me. I’m really quiet at school as I don’t feel so safe at School.