Dyslexia tends to run in families; it is known that there are several genes that contribute to a genetic risk of dyslexia.  Brain scanning studies show that individuals with dyslexia process information in a different area of the brain than do non-dyslexics.  There is a dominant view that phonological processing difficulties are fundamental to dyslexia and can be found to a greater or lesser degree in all individuals with dyslexia.  Views on the underlying causes vary, and research is still on-going as to the causes of dyslexia.

What follows is a set of notable cognitive characteristics that are typically exhibited by children with dyslexia. These particular characteristics are presented as a set because they represent very practical problems that teachers face when working with such persons. Teachers must understand the nature of these learning problems and must know what to teach and how to teach to these problems if they are to be maximally effective.

In considering the following characteristics, remember, for persons with dyslexia, it is language information that is the problem, especially written language. Current evidence suggests that they do not differ significantly from non-dyslexic persons when engaged in non-language based leaming tasks. (The displays following this page, Memory Systems and Multisensory are graphics which help explicate the following propositions.)

• Difficulty getting information to the long-term memory.


• Difficulty retrieving information from memory.


• Difficulty sequencing information.


• Difficulty remembering and understanding abstract concepts.


• Difficulty in recognizing patterns and generalizations.


• Difficulty integrating information.


• Difficulty in transferring information from memory to various activities.