Dyslexia is a learning disability that typically impairs a person's ability to read and comprehend what he is reading. A person with this learning disability may also struggle with writing and spelling. In some cases, he may even have difficulty recalling what he has heard and understanding it fully. It is important to note, however, that these problems are not an indication of the affected person's intelligence. An individual can have a high level of intelligence but still have this type of learning disability.
The most common types of dyslexia problems involve reading. For example, a person with this condition may struggle while learning to read, fail to progress past a fourth-grade reading level, and even see letters and numbers backward or reversed, rather than as they are really positioned. As a result of his reading difficulties, a person with this condition could also have problems comprehending what he reads, which means even if he successfully reads an entire passage, he may not understand the content.
Other problems related to this condition also include those that involve spelling and writing. A person with this learning disability may frequently misspell even common words that most people recognize on sight and forget to include vowels in spelling attempts. He might even misspell words that he copies from a book or chalkboard. In some cases, people with this learning disorder are able to memorize words for a short period but then forget how they are spelled very soon after a spelling test is over. When they write, their problems with spelling are often evident, as they may have signs of multiple erasures on their pages.
Writing difficulties are also among the most common dyslexia problems. A person with this learning disability may know what he wants to say but find it difficult to translate his thoughts into words on paper. When he writes, he might omit important sentences in his paragraphs, which makes it difficult to make sense of his writing. He may also leave important words out of his sentences. These problems can be evident even when the affected person is copying sentences rather than writing from his own thoughts.
Some people with this type of learning disability can also develop auditory dyslexia problems. For instance, a person with dyslexia may hear verbal commands but have trouble processing them if more than one command is given at a time. In some cases, his listening comprehension may seem affected as well.