Unidentified Dyslexia Takes Heavy Toll

In Kyle Redford’s article, “Unidentified Dyslexia Takes Heavy Toll,” he wrote about unidentified dyslexia, that dyslexia affects more than just reading, that early identification is important, and the characteristics teachers should know to identify a student with dyslexia. Redford started off by writing how common unidentified dyslexia is and the research that supports it. Many students that are struggling with school, have some type of learning disability and more times than not, it’s some form of dyslexia. He explained how some students that have not been identified as having dyslexia may appear as lazy, disruptive, or struggles with school. On the other hand, there are some students that can play it off enough that it hides their difficulties.
The earlier the student with dyslexia is identified the more time they have to receive the support they need to succeed in their learning. A few of the different accommodations students with dyslexia can receive are reading groups, extra time on standardized tests, and programs that use text and audio when students are reading. Another reason why early identification is important is that the students that have dyslexia and are not identified as having it often think of themselves as stupid or unintelligent. According to Redford, ‘these students spend most of their school day focused on learning how to use basic skills. They look around the classroom and see their peers having an easier time with these same skills.’ Students with dyslexia spend a lot more time trying to achieve the same results as a student without dyslexia and that can start to take a toll on them. A number of students try to avoid school work or skip the work instead of struggling with it. Also, there are some students with dyslexia that try really hard to blend in because they don’t want anyone to know how hard it is for them to do the simplest of tasks. They fear that if someone did find out, that the person would think they are