ADHD and Dyslexia
February 21, 2022 • AddInstitute •According to research, ADHD and dyslexia commonly coexist. People with one condition are more likely to have the other; however, this does not indicate a causal relationship.
Dyslexia is a unique learning disorder (LD) that affects the brain. Learning to read, spell, decipher, and recognize words becomes more challenging for those who have dyslexia.
It is important to note that both ADHD and dyslexia have many similar symptoms, such as an inability to absorb relevant information and name things quickly, among others. Because of this, even intellectual and verbose individuals have trouble comprehending what they’ve read. Handwriting might be sloppy, and spelling mistakes are common. People with ADHD and dyslexia may find it challenging to achieve their full professional or academic ability because of these issues.
Anxiety and a loss of self-confidence are possible side effects of this. ADHD and dyslexia have many related symptoms, yet the two disorders are distinct. Because they are identified and managed in unique ways, it is critical to understand each. As a result, it can be difficult to distinguish between the two when the symptoms they present are so similar.
ADHD symptoms are typically evident in youngsters as early beginning school. However, dyslexia may not be diagnosed until they are nine or ten, after the goal of reading in school shifts into one of practice to analysis. If a student has dyslexia but has not been diagnosed with ADHD, they are likely to struggle with focus and attention, especially when required to read, but not in other contexts.
Those with dyslexia are often better at processing auditory information than those with ADHD. The attention span of individuals with ADHD is significantly shortened when confronted with monotonous situations or tasks.
More than half of children diagnosed with ADHD have a learning problem such as dyslexia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There is a genetic link between ADHD and dyslexia. Nearly one-half of all children with ADHD have a genetic link. About one-third of the children born to a dyslexic parent will be dyslexic as well, according to research. Dyslexia, despite popular opinion, is not a disorder in which one struggles to read backward.
It takes many forms for all individuals that suffer from it. Phonemic awareness, or the ability to identify and decipher the sounds of letters, may be a problem for people with dyslexia. Skills that require rote memorization, such as learning a foreign language and phone numbers, are often complicated to acquire. Quickly identifying letters, objects, colors, and images may be inhibited. As a result of all of these issues, reading comprehension suffers. These difficulties frequently coexist with spoken or linguistic adeptness.
Children with ADHD and dyslexia share several traits, one of which manifests in difficulty in maintaining focus when reading because of the physical and mental demands of the task. As a rule, people with dyslexia have difficulty reading fluently and accurately, misunderstanding even small words.
A person with ADHD may be a dysfluent reader, although this isn’t defined by their misunderstanding words when reading. The ADHD reader may gloss over punctuation, omit the ending of words or sentences, and get distracted. Comprehending information might be hampered by the dysfluency of the person living with ADHD and the dyslexic reader. Both of these individuals may avoid reading and gain little enjoyment from it. People with dyslexia and ADHD may have difficulty writing. Grammar, syntax, editing, and structure are areas where dyslexic writers struggle.
It is common for ADHD writers to have issues with proofreading and arranging their thoughts into a logical structure. Handwriting problems can also affect writers with dyslexia and those with ADHD.