While attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is most commonly discussed in terms of the challenges it poses to both children and adults, it’s important to acknowledge that an attention disorder can come with strengths too ..read more

A guest post by journalist David Hayter. I have dyslexia and have long been aware that the challenges of dyslexia tend to be magnified in the remote workplace. During lockdown, I took the opportunity to change career and study law while. As such, I was given a bird’s eye view of the profound effects the work-from-home landscape can have on both dyslexic employees and learners. Through this experience I developed a repertoire of remote work strategies that helped me overcome the wide array of challenges I faced ..read more

If you are a student who will soon be going into higher education, or if you are already taking a university course and you have dyslexia (or another specific learning difficulty), the Disabled Students’ Allowance can support you in achieving your goals. Its purpose is to help students who have to deal with a disability that affects their university education by removing or reducing the impact of their disability on learning.  ..read more

Parents want their children to do well at school and have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Learning at home can play an important part in this when a child has dyslexia. Reading together and finding kids’ computer programs and apps that support literacy skills development are a good first step. Some parents may want to work directly with their children on phonics, spelling, and homework. Others may be a bit more reluctant to take on the role of teacher. It does take a special set of skills, and it’s not for everyone. Nevertheless, there is still plenty you can do to support ..read more

When reading the words on a page or a screen is difficult, it may not always be because of a learning difficulty. Some people have light sensitivity and visual processing problems, symptoms that affect their ability to read. Irlen Syndrome, also known as Meares-Irlen Syndrome, Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome, and sometimes referred to simply as visual stress, describes a situation in which the difficulty is not with actually seeing the letters on a page, but interpreting the incoming visual information. Ease of visual processing can be affected by changing the color of the text background t ..read more

A guest post by journalist David Hayter. My life and livelihood are entirely dependent on those skills most severely affected by dyslexia. I work as a journalist: reading, writing, editing and organising are my passion, and they are the very things that I was told, as a child, that I would forever struggle with. Rather than holding me back, receiving a dyslexia diagnosis at a young age not only helped me come to terms with and develop strategies to cope with my dyslexia, but to master the very skills that were the source of so much frustration and anxiety in my school years ..read more

Most adult learning programs and libraries offer basic skills computer courses, but is it possible to learn how to touch type on your own? Of course. If you have access to a computer, there are plenty of self-study programs that can help you get started.  One of the first things you need to learn is the home-row position on the keyboard – also known as the home keys ..read more

Students who are confused may quickly become frustrated in the classroom if they are pressured to perform. It may be the case that attention or processing difficulties have prevented a learner from understanding a lesson, or that the instructions for a particular assignment are not clear to them. In some cases motor skills difficulties, such as problems with handwriting, prevent a child from demonstrating their knowledge ..read more

Math facts are basic calculations that children can learn in order to help them do arithmetic more quickly. By committing math facts to memory, they can be recalled fluently so attention is freed for working on higher order math functions. Drills are often the first thing that comes to mind, but the goal for parents and teachers is to help children automatize these facts in as painless of a way as possible - even better if it can be fun ..read more

An auditory processing disorder can cause difficulties with understanding in listening. It is not an indication of hearing loss or impairment, but rather a disruption to how the brain makes sense of sounds, including language. Kids with APD are often labelled ‘poor listeners’ at home and at school. This is because listening comprehension skills and memory for learning auditory information may both be impaired.  ..read more