Tracy Packiam Alloway, PhD

Dyslexia (also referred to as ‘specific reading disability’) affects around 10% to 15% of children. One size does not fit all when describing dyslexia and different students might manifest quite distinct reading problems.

Type 1: PHONOLOGICAL DYSLEXIA
Try reading these words out aloud:

WOOGLEMIT, BLAZNAK, CRIXGO

Students with Phonological Dyslexia have difficulty sounding out nonsense words, like those you just read out, as well as ‘regular’ real words, like FRIEND or BECAUSE.

However, they can recognize irregular words (ENOUGH, YACHT) on paper.

Why? Students with Phonological Dyslexia have very poor verbal (auditory) working memory and they struggle with remembering the sequence of information that is presented out aloud, such as instructions, new vocabulary words, and even names. Their poor verbal working memory means that they have a hard time saying verbal information that is new or unfamiliar to them. This can make them embarrassed to repeat information in front of others.

Type 2: SURFACE DYSLEXIA
These students have the opposite problem: they find it very difficult to recognize words when they are written down. They usually have poor visual working memory, which means that they struggle with reading. Students with Surface Dyslexia can even have difficulty reading words they regularly use in conversation because they can’t recognize written words very well or quickly.

Evidence from brain imaging supports the idea that these different types of dyslexia are the result of problems in different areas of the brain. Verbal (or ‘auditory’) working memory problems are associated with Phonological Dyslexia and visual working memory problems are linked to Surface Dyslexia.