Scottish Government

Dyslexia in adult literacy work - fact sheet

• Dyslexia is a syndrome - meaning that it is a disorder identified by a set or cluster of characteristic features.
• It is a neurological disorder but not a disease; it cannot be cured but its effects can be alleviated - it may be called a learning/cognitive difference rather than a deficit and it may be accompanied by perceptual/cognitive benefits.
• There is good evidence to suggest that dyslexia is an inherited condition.
• There is evidence showing that those with dyslexia have differences in brain function and anatomy.
• It seems that those with dyslexia perform many literacy tasks using the more imaginative, artistic right brain rather than the more organisationally oriented left hemisphere.
• Dyslexia may overlap with other specific learning disorders such as dyspraxia and attention deficit disorder.
• Difficulties with short term memory are typical.
• Generally speaking, dyslexia involves a discrepancy between the global intellect and the ability with literacy development.
• Dyslexia manifests itself in a number of "non-literacy" areas such as organisational ability, visual processing, sequencing and memory abilities.
• Dyslexia affects 10% of the general population.
• The incidence of dyslexia in the adult literacy population has not been established but informed opinion estimates between 30% and 50%, however some literacy practitioners estimate even higher.
• Visual perceptual difficulties seem to be more prevalent in those with dyslexia (in particular, scotopic sensitivity syndrome).
• Dyslexia is often accompanied by unusually acute artistic, imaginative or inventive abilities.