Who has dyslexia?
In the book, Overcoming Dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any level, Shaywitz states dyslexia effects "one out of every five children" (2004, p. 6) echoing the statistics from the IDA. Shaywitz goes on to highlight that "In every neighbourhood and in every classroom worldwide there are children struggling to read." (2004, p. 6) Taking this into account there is a need for teachers to be well informed about this condition.
In his book An Introduction to Dyslexia for Parents and Professionals, Hultquist highlights the point that "some studies show that reading problems are much more common in boys" (2006, p. 16) and offers a suggestion that this may be because boys have a tendency to misbehave when they are having trouble and therefore the problem is detected. However, according to the IDA, current research indicates that dyslexia effects as many girls as boys.
People following all kinds of different professions have dyslexia, look at examples on the IDA website.
Famous people with dyslexia
The slideshow below lists a number of famous people who either had dyslexia or showed symptoms of dyslexia. The final slide highlights the stigma that is often associated with dyslexia by asking the viewer to decide if they would class the people mentioned as, "Mentally slow? Lazy? Too stupid to learn? Lack of effort?".
Key points
- Current research suggests 1 in 5 people have dyslexia.
- Dyslexia effects as many girls as boys.
- Many successful and highly creative individuals have dyslexia.
