Dyslexia is a learning disability that makes it difficult for children to read. Letters, symbols and even whole words can appear backwards. For years many people were misinformed about dyslexia, believing that children who have the disability just weren’t as smart as their peers.
Of course, now we know better, but that isn’t stopping researchers who are still exploring the link between dyslexia and IQ. A recent study done at Yale University proves once again that children with dyslexia score just as high on IQ tests as do kids who don’t have this disability.
What is more, kids with dyslexia actually tend to do better on tests in certain areas, such as higher-level thinking, abstract thinking, reasoning, logic and conceptualization. Kids with dyslexia were actually stronger than the average in tests on those concepts.
It would be nice if researchers could figure out why this is the case, but at the moment, all that we have are theories. it could be possible that kids with dyslexia have trained themselves to get around their learning disability. Figuring out how to do this may have strengthened the areas of the brain for higher learning. But, kids with dyslexia may simply be born with different abilities. Their brains may have been structured differently from the time that they were born.
Thankfully, there are dedicated scientists and researchers who are continuing to look into dyslexia and other learning disabilities that affect children and adults alike. Perhaps someday we will have a better answers concerning dyslexia.
Meanwhile, if your child has dyslexia, remember to always be an advocate for your child. Do your research and learn about new therapy, information and breakthroughs. Sometimes it is the parent who has to bring new ideas to the professionals.
Do you have a child with dyslexia? What are some things that have worked for your family?