At least 20% of the population is dyslexic, that’s 1 out of every 5 kids. It is the most common learning disability. Some people are only very mildly dyslexic and others are more severely affected.
74% of kids with reading problems in the first grade will be poor readers in the ninth grade and as adults unless they get the appropriate help they need. It’s not something people grow out of.
Dyslexia is the main cause of reading failure and high school dropouts in the U.S. It is also most commonly shared characteristic of juvenile justice offenders. It’s been estimated that close to 50% of the prison population are people with dyslexia. People with dyslexia have higher rates of substance abuse.
Several genes have now been discovered that are highly associated with dyslexia.
The good news! In fact, really really good news!
That all sounds negative but there is actually lots of good news related to dyslexia too!
– Dyslexia is identifiable, with 92% accuracy, at ages 5½ to 6½.
– Reading failure in dyslexics is preventable with direct, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness.
– People with dyslexia can become excellent readers, spellers, and writers if given the right type of help.
– People with dyslexia have a larger right hemisphere in their brains than those of typical readers.
Likely due to having a larger right brain and some other brain differences, people with dyslexia tend to be better at some things than the rest of the population. These advantages include better artistic skills, athletic, musical and mechanical ability, better people skills and 3-D visual-spatial skills.
In fact there are very many extremely successful people with dyslexia!