Diagnosing dyslexia in adults

Back to Health A to Z. Unlike a learning disability , intelligence isn't affected. But people with dyslexia often have good skills in other areas, such as creative thinking and problem solving. If you think your child may have dyslexia, the first step is to speak to their teacher or their school's special educational needs co-ordinator SENCO about your concerns. Adults who wish to be assessed for dyslexia should contact a local or national dyslexia association for advice.

Am I dyslexic? Take this dyslexia test to see if your lifelong reading and spelling challenges could be signs and symptoms of this common but commonly misunderstood learning disability. Adults with undiagnosed dyslexia often don't realize that their academic and professional challenges stem from a learning disability beyond their control. As a result, those adults may suffer from low self-esteem — incorrectly thinking they were less intelligent or didn't try as hard as their peers — and may feel as if they're not living up to their "full potential.

Self-Assessment Tool. Fran Levin Bowman, M. For some individuals who have never been diagnosed, dyslexia is a hidden disability which may result in underemployment, difficulty navigating academic environments, difficulty on the job, and reduced self-confidence. Even those who have been diagnosed are likely to struggle with reading or writing in some aspects of their lives. Dyslexia is a specific reading disorder and does not reflect low intelligence.

Dyslexia is the inability to relate the sounds of words with the letters that create the words. It also has no relation to vision problems. Adults with dyslexia have had it their entire lives, but it may not have been diagnosed. There are three main types of dyslexia. Most people have all three types, usually at differing levels.