What is Dyslexia?
RRISD dyslexia and dysgraphia identification policies and practices were developed in accordance with the guidelines stated in the updated Texas Dyslexia Handbook, 2021.
Dyslexia is defined by both the Texas Education Code (TEC)38.003 and the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) as a difficulty that affects an individual’s ability to read and/or write despite the provision of conventional classroom instruction. The difficulty is not due to a lack of intelligence or lack of sociocultural factors such as language development, educational history or linguistic background. (The Dyslexia Handbook, 2021 Update, p. 1)
Round Rock ISD recognizes that dyslexia may manifest itself differently in students. Some students may exhibit typical characteristics while others may reveal a different pattern of abilities that reveal unique strengths and weaknesses.
Fact Sheets
Sometimes families and parents have questions about dyslexia. TEA’s Special Education in Texas provides valuable resources to share to ease their concerns and answer questions. Feel free to share!
Dyslexia as defined by the Texas Education Code (TEC) 38.003
“Dyslexia” means a disorder of constitutional origin manifested by a difficulty in learning to read, write, or spell, despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and sociocultural opportunity.
“Related disorders” include disorders similar to or related to dyslexia, such as developmental auditory imperception, dysphasia, specific developmental dyslexia, developmental dysgraphia, and developmental spelling disability.
Dyslexia as defined by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA)
Primary Difficulties & Associated Difficulties
Primary Difficulties: Difficulties with phonological awareness, including phonemic awareness and manipulation of sounds (phonological memory). Difficulty reading words in isolation, difficulty accurately decoding unfamiliar words, difficulty with oral reading (slow and inaccurate) and spelling. Individuals demonstrate differences in the degree of impairment and may not exhibit all the characteristics listed above.
Associated Difficulties: Difficulty with the rapid recall of the names of familiar objects, colors, or letters of the alphabet (rapid naming).
Consequences of Dyslexia
Consequences of dyslexia: Difficulties in reading comprehension and/or written expression that is unexpected for the student’s age and educational level, and are not primarily the result of language difference factors. There is also often a family history of similar difficulties.
Risk Factors
Source: The Dyslexia Handbook 2021 Update, p. 3-4
Pre-School
- Delay in learning to talk
- Difficulty with rhyming
- Difficulty pronouncing words(e.g, “pusgetti” for “spaghetti”)
- Poor auditory memory for nursery rhymes and chants
- Difficulty adding new vocabulary words
- Inability to recall the right word(word retrieval)
- Trouble learning and naming letters and numbers and remembering the letters of his/her name
- Aversion to print (e.g.’ doesn’t enjoy following along if a book is read aloud)
Kindergarten - 1st Grade
- Difficulty breaking words into smaller parts or syllables (e.g., baseball can be pulled apart into”base” “ball )”
- Difficulty identifying and manipulating sounds in syllables (e.g.,”man” sounded out /m/ /a/ /n/)
- Difficulty remembering the names of the letters and recalling their corresponding sounds.
- Difficulty decoding single words(reading single words in isolation.
- Difficulty spelling words the way they sound or remembering letter sequences in very common words seen often in print(e.g.,”sed” for “said’)
2nd - 3rd Grades
- Difficulty recognizing common sight words
- Difficulty decoding single words
- Difficulty recalling the correct sounds for letters and letter combinations in reading
- Difficulty connecting the speech sounds to appropriate letters or letter combinations in words for spelling
- Difficulty reading fluently
- Difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in sentences using knowledge of phonics
- Difficulty with written expression
- Reliance on picture clues, story theme or guessing at words
4th - 6th Grades
- Difficulty reading aloud (e.g., fear of reading aloud in front of classmates)
- Avoidance of reading (particularly for pleasure)
- Difficulty reading fluently (e.g. reading is slow, inaccurate, and/or without expression)
- Difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in sentences using knowledge of phonics
- Acquisition of less vocabulary due to reduced independent reading
- Use of less complicated words in writing that are easier to spell than more appropriate words (e.g., “big” instead of “enormous”)
- Reliance on listening rather than reading for comprehension
Middle & High School
- Difficulty with the volume of reading and written work
- Frustration with the amount of time required and energy expended for reading
- Difficulty reading fluently (e.g. reading is slow, inaccurate, and/or without expression)
- Difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in sentences using knowledge of phonics
- Difficulty with written assignments
- Tendency to avoid reading (particularly for pleasure)
- Difficulty learning a foreign language