Adult Dyslexia

By definition, adult dyslexia is an impairment of the brain’s ability to translate images taken in by the eyes into understanding. For children, dyslexia (or specific reading disability) is the most common learning disability, affecting roughly 5% of all elementary-age children. In many cases, working adults may have perfectly normal intelligence, vision and speech, but they may have difficulty interpreting writing or the spoken language at times. Treatment for adults with learning disabilities is often a combination of counseling and multi-sensory education training.

Symptoms of dyslexia in adults include the inability to recognize written words and letters, a low reading ability, problems understanding auditory words, difficulty understanding rapid commands and difficulty remembering a sequence. Often times, adults will encounter reversals of letters (like seeing a “b” as a “d”) or reversals of words (“saw” instead of “was”). Sometimes adults with dyslexia have a hard time recognizing the spaces between words and they have a hard time sounding out unfamiliar words. Rhyming words, syllable counting, remembering words, recalling places, distinguishing different sounds, associating words with the wrong meanings, keeping time and organizing are some of the problems that dyslexic male and female adults may encounter on a regular basis.

Currently, there is no treatment that corrects the brain malfunction associated with adult dyslexia, although different teaching methods have proven to help dyslexic adults learn better and overcome reading difficulties. Teachers who use a combination of methods — hearing, vision and touch — find that people grasp words and concepts more effectively. Many dyslexic adults use audio tapes while reading a book at the same time to produce a more complete picture. Adult learning centers often provide vocational training, supply high school drop-outs with GEDs, prepare individuals for college and allow adult students the time they need to read.

Roughly 40 million Americans suffer from adult dyslexia, which is about 15% of the population. Many people are surprised to learn that some of the most brilliant, creative and successful people were diagnosed with dyslexia. Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Tom Cruise, Cher, Orlando Bloom, Anderson Cooper, Jay Leno, Whoopie Goldberg, Anthony Hopkins, Kiera Knightley, Ozzy Osborne, Guy Ritchie and Suzanne Somers all have some form of diagnosed dyslexia. Yet, they have all managed to overcome their struggles to live successful, productive and rich lives.

Beth Kaminski is the co-author of Curing Your Anxiety And Panic Attacks which detailed treating anxiety disorder as well as tips on the various anxiety disorder medication available at anxietydisordercure.com.

Filed under: Health Tips

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