If it’s not dyslexia, why is reading so hard?

At Online Reading Tutor, we know that the following scenario is more common than you might think: You watch your child struggling with reading.  You voice your concern to your child’s teacher.  The school agrees to do testing for dyslexia.  The assessment finally arrives; it’s negative.  Negative.  You try to convince yourself that you should be jumping for joy, your child does not have dyslexia. But your child is still struggling to read.   

So why is reading so hard?

You must understand that dyslexia is not like a light switch with two settings: on and off.  The ability to read comes at all levels from excellent readers to those with pure alexia, the complete inability to read.

Dr. Sally Shaywitz in her book Overcoming Dyslexia puts it like this, “when blood pressure reaches a certain level, a patient is considered to have hypertension.  But individuals just on the other side of the cutoff point, although not labeled as hypertensive, will have many traits in common with those said to have hypertension.  For hypertension, as for dyslexia, there is no natural gap that separates affected people from others, and a decision is made based on an artificial cutoff point. ” She goes on to say, “by not recognizing shades of gray represented by struggling children who haven’t yet failed enough to meet a particular criterion, schools may be under-identifying many children who will go on to experience significant reading problems”.

What does this mean for you?  

Your child does struggle with reading but not to the extent you may have originally thought.  However, not having a diagnosis of dyslexia probably means that your child will not receive remedial help from the school.  Does this mean that your child does not need reading support? No, it just means that it’s up to you to ensure that your child receives the required support.  

Online Reading Tutor is here to help you; you are not alone.  Our program is proven to help struggling readers become proficient readers. We use the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading through frequent training sessions.