What are reading disorders? (2024)

FAQs

What are reading disorders? ›

Reading disorders occur when a person has trouble reading words or understanding what they read. Dyslexia is one type of reading disorder. It generally refers to difficulties reading individual words and can lead to problems understanding text.

Usually, reading disorders develop at a young age, although a brain injury can cause a reading disorder at any age. There are also certain medical conditions that can be underlying causes, such as speech and hearing problems.

Basic Reading and Characteristics of Dyslexia

Students may experience skill deficits in any of the following: decoding skills, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, sound/symbol recognition, encoding skills (spelling), and rapid naming (the speed of retrieving known information from memory).

Problems sounding out words. Difficulty recognizing sounds and the letters that make up those sounds. Poor spelling. Slow reading.

Reading disorders cannot be “cured.” But with proper instruction, people with these disorders can overcome specific problems, learn to read, and improve fluency and comprehension. There is no single treatment for reading disorders.

Reading is a struggle for adults and children with ADHD alike. Many children with ADHD have difficulty with reading comprehension,8 while both adults and kids with ADHD tend to lose interest, miss details and connections, lose track of where they are on the page, and become easily distracted.

Reading disabilities — also known as reading disorders — are specific learning disabilities that make reading challenging. The most well-known type of reading disability is dyslexia. But not all reading disabilities are dyslexia.

Dyslexia is the most well-known reading disorder. It specifically impairs a person's ability to read. Individuals with dyslexia have normal intelligence, but they read at levels significantly lower than expected.

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called a reading disability, dyslexia is a result of individual differences in areas of the brain that process language.

These include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and other SLDs.

How are reading disorders diagnosed? ›

Providers usually use a series of tests to diagnose a reading disorder. They assess a person's memory, spelling abilities, visual perception, and reading skills. Family history, a child's history of response to instruction, and other assessments might also be involved.

Reading difficulties occur on a continuum, meaning that there is a wide range of students who experience reading difficulties. There are those students who are diagnosed with a reading-related disability but there is an even larger group of students (without diagnoses) who still require targeted reading assistance.

Reading problems can be rooted in neurological and cognitive fac- tors. Environmental factors include the student's home, school, social, and cultural environments. Difficulty in reading can also be linked with emotional factors. Reading difficulty is often associated with intelligence and intellectual factors.

Reading comprehension deficit is sometimes referred to as specific comprehension deficit or hyperlexia. Hyperlexia can be differentiated from precocious reading, in that individuals with hyperlexia have significant problems in listening and reading comprehension.

Some major causes of poor reading comprehension include ADHD, dyslexia, difficult text, limited vocabulary, working memory deficit, and more. You may also have trouble comprehending what you're reading if you are disinterested or bored.

Internal factors like lack of interest, talent, and motivation to learn can contribute to learning challenges . External factors such as inadequate family support, including limited parental involvement and distractions due to work commitments, can also hinder a child's reading progress .

There is no single known cause at this time. Environmental factors—such as children's experiences in the classroom or whether they were read to often as preschoolers—can play a significant role in reading ability. In addition, research suggests that difficulty with reading may be linked to a person's genes.

Causes of poor reading habits in basic school include lack of confidence, insufficient motivation, absence of pre-reader books, inadequate phonemic awareness skills, and teachers' limited knowledge on teaching reading strategies.

Labels for reading disorders include dyslexia, reading disability, reading disorder, specific reading disorder, and specific reading comprehension deficit. Writing disorder labels also vary, with some being dysgraphia, writing disability, writing disorder, and specific writing disorder.