Dyslexia and the Student Writer

Dyslexia was associated once in the popular mind as a confusion of b’s with d’s or, at best, a kind of ‘word blindness’ that seemed a primarily visual impairment. But an army of educational psychologists and neuroscientists has over the last few decades uncovered a complex picture of dyslexia that anyone who teaches scholarly writing and literature-based research should be aware of. Here’s how the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the International Dyslexia Association defined dyslexia in 2002:

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.  

As Maryanne Wolfe shows in Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain (2007), defining dyslexia has become more difficult as we learn more about the way reading print happens in the average brain. Clearly, the dyslexic brain works differently from the typical human brain, although it does not limit a person’s general intelligence. Nor is dyslexia localized in one faulty “reading center” in the brain because there is none. Instead, the spectrum of dyslexic conditions may result from differences in visual, auditory, phonological processing;  processing speed in the motor functions of the eye or ear; connectivity of the neural structures common to the reading circuit; hemispheric engagement (i.e. right-brained reading circuitry vs. left-); or a combination of these. For all humans, the act of reading involves many structures and processes creating many points in the universal reading system where things can go wrong. Add to this the shallow orthography of English—meaning the relatively weak phonemic basis of our writing system—and dyslexia emerges as one of the most common learning disabilities reported in the U.S. today.

Dyslexics who are not thoroughly discouraged by standard literacy instruction growing up will find a way to read and write and succeed even in literacy-obsessed realms such as academia. But it makes sense for them to be tested at key life stages to determine which neurological differences are affecting their ability to read and write at the moment. College-level instructors should take the time to update their understanding of dyslexia, especially when overseeing complex writing tasks. A first stop should be at this resource which focuses on how dyslexia affects adult student writing and reading. The information presented quickly resets writing expectations, covers the related problem of dyscalculia, and offers detailed advice on how to teach and alternatively assess dyslexic adults.  

There are also authoritative, current overviews and resources available online from The International Dyslexia Association and the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Because dyslexic adults have dealt with reading and writing challenges for years, they too can teach faculty a lot about dyslexia, if asked.