Subject & Study Guides: Access4Success Disability Service: Dyslexia

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) focusing on reading and writing. Dyslexic individuals have vivid imaginations, strong creative and problem-solving skills and engage with the world in a visual way. They may find reading, comprehension, spelling, and writing tasks challenging. They may think in pictures instead of words, and retrieve information in varied ways. Dyslexia is a varied condition and each person will exhibit different traits.

How can I support learners with Dyslexia?

Because Dyslexia affects people differently, there is no "one size fits all" approach you can take when supporting learners with Dyslexia. But there are things you can help not only Dyslexic learners but all learners in a class:

Listen to your student's needs
Provide lecture slides in advance
Use lots of visual imagery
Use Dyslexic friendly Fonts such as Arial, Calibri or Comic Sans
Font size should be between 12 - 14 with good line spacing
Use single-colour backgrounds with fonts in high contrasting colours
Use left-aligning text without justification and avoid columns
Use short, simple sentences with active voice
Encourage the use of Assistive Technology such as Audio Notetakers, Text to Speech and Speech to Text software