How it Feels to Have Dyslexia

Have you ever wondered how it feels to have dyslexia? If you have a child with this frustrating condition, you know all too well it isn’t a picnic in the park. These bright kids struggle to process information, which usually results in poor grades and a lack of self-esteem. Because of this, they often grapple with their feelings.

Although most of us don’t know how it feels to have dyslexia, we know it’s a term that most people are familiar with. Usually, it’s believed that kids with dyslexia reverse letters or see things backward. This may be true, but dyslexia encompasses more than just reversals.

Dyslexia is a way of processing information and kids with this learning issue struggle with more than just the nuts and bolts of seeing and hearing information incorrectly.

Children with dyslexia are usually very intelligent, yet their world cannot seem to hold still for them. This often causes the child to pause while trying to “stop” the world from moving. This little pause is what makes others think that kids with dyslexia aren’t as smart as other kids.

A Floating or Moving – How it Feels to Have Dyslexia…

Can you imagine your world floating or moving? What if visual information came in at a slant, shaking, or upside down? Or what if every other sound is heard like it’s in a whooshing tunnel? Instances like this are what kids with dyslexia often deal with.

What if your world changed daily, hourly, or by the minute? You might struggle to read and write, too. And yet, we ask these bright kids to sit still in school all day, read out loud in front of teachers and peers, perform intricate math problems, mind the teacher, and follow directions. The list goes on.

It’s amazing that kids who have dyslexia function as well as they do! Most are verbal, fun, creative, expressive, sensitive, and mechanical. But learning in traditional ways is like speaking a foreign language to them.

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine how it feels to have dyslexia? How about what if feels like you to read the word “site” as “sit”? And that you were corrected for it verbally in front of your reading group or the entire class? What if your teacher isn’t patient, perhaps letting out a sigh of frustration or rolling eyes each time you make a mistake? You wouldn’t feel good, that’s for sure!

Can you imagine trying your hardest, but it’s never enough? That you practice reading words in the way your teacher taught you time and again, but it never seems to click?

Can you imagine disappointing your parents with bad grades, even though you work harder than anyone in your class? Your parents never outwardly show how sad they are by your lack of performance, but you pick up on it anyway.

Can you imagine needing to learn through movement, touching, and through creative means, but your teachers continue showing you how to read and spell with traditional methods that simply won’t work for you? You’re a child…it’s not like you get to choose your own curriculum, so you either act up as a way of coping or retreat inwardly.

Failing Shouldn’t be an Option!

Is it any wonder that kids with dyslexia fail academically? These children will often act out or misbehave in class as a way of coping with learning stress. Some kids with dyslexia withdraw into a silent world of misery.

Did you know that most kids with dyslexia are tactile or hands-on learners? This means they need to move to learn. Yet, usually they are forced to sit in a chair for long periods of time and asked to do schoolwork that makes little or no sense to them.

Most adults couldn’t sit for hours on end and then come home to many more hours of homework. And the sad truth is that kids with dyslexia have average or above average intelligence. It’s just that teachers and schools aren’t speaking a language they can understand!

If you are the parent of a dyslexic child, you may have given up or you may think your child isn’t smart because poor report cards tell it all.

But never forget there’s help for dyslexia. It can be treated. There are reading and spelling programs that meet their needs by teaching them to read through movement!

Speaking a Different Language

Having dyslexia can feel like your brain speaks a different language than everyone else’s. You can be smart and curious, but when it comes to reading or writing, everything gets scrambled.

Words might blur on the page, letters can seem to move or flip, and sentences may take forever to understand.

Even if you know what you want to say, it can be really hard to get the words out the right way. This can be frustrating, especially when others don’t understand that your struggle has nothing to do with intelligence or effort.

Left Behind – How it Feels to Have Dyslexia at School

In school, having dyslexia can make you feel like you’re always one step behind. While classmates read aloud with ease or finish writing assignments quickly, you might still be stuck on the first sentence. It’s not because you’re lazy or not paying attention — it’s because your brain processes language differently. Tests and reading assignments can feel overwhelming, and timed tasks may cause anxiety. Sometimes it feels like you’re constantly trying to keep up in a race where everyone else has a head start.

Most parents are relieved when they actually get a diagnosis. However, they must understand that if a student has dyslexia, then he won’t always see a b as a d. It may be a “p” or a “q” another day.

This just seems to drive parents nuts. They had just gone over the b the day before and now the kid is saying it is a “p”! Keep in mind that their worlds are not constant.

Not much is constant in their brains, and yet you will hear some of the biggest bits of wisdom you have ever heard come out of their mouths. There truly is intelligence in there. If you have a problem you can’t seem to find the answer to, find a dyslexic child or adult and ask his opinion. You will be astounded at his insight. These are the most intuitive kids we have ever met, and most have a sense of humor that is so advanced that they are one step ahead of you.

The Emotions of Dyslexia

Emotionally, dyslexia can make you feel isolated or embarrassed. You might avoid reading in front of others or hide your struggles out of fear of being judged.

When people label you as “slow” or “lazy,” it can hurt deeply, especially when you’re trying your best. Over time, this can chip away at your confidence and make you doubt your abilities, even if you’re incredibly talented in other areas like art, problem-solving, or storytelling.

But dyslexia isn’t all negative. Many people with dyslexia are creative, visual thinkers who see the world in unique ways. You might be great at building things, imagining new ideas, or thinking outside the box. It can make you more empathetic, persistent, and strong, because you’ve had to work harder than most just to get through everyday tasks. Those challenges shape you into a person who doesn’t give up easily.

Living with dyslexia means constantly finding ways to adapt. You might use tools like audiobooks, speech-to-text apps, or special fonts to help you learn. It can take extra time and effort, but success is absolutely possible. With support, understanding, and the right strategies, you can thrive. Dyslexia is just one part of who you are — it doesn’t define you, and it doesn’t limit your potential.

So…What if It Really is Dyslexia?

So, how do we still the waters that churn continually in a dyslexic child’s mind? For starters, brain exercises help. In order to learn effectively, the brain should be balanced.

Ear eights, eye eights, cross crawls, magic eights, and bilateral mirrors are exercises that help kids with dyslexia easily access both hemispheres of their brains.

Next, spatial and visual processing skills can be enhanced. Most kids with dyslexia have a difficult time processing visual information. Since eighty percent of what we take in is visual, this only makes sense.

Usually these kids have weak eye muscles, so eye patching with movement exercises can make a huge difference. Spatial skills practice activities can help with spatial skills issues. Word search puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, half-shape activities, same or different comparison games, mazes, Sudoku, origami, and tangrams are all examples of spatial skills activities that can help kids with dyslexia.

Auditory and Fine Motor Skills Make a Difference

In addition, kids with dyslexia usually have auditory and fine motor skills issues.

Kneading play dough, cutting activities, tracing, tearing paper into small pieces, creasing paper, and pinching clothespins are examples of exercises that help kids strengthen fine motor skills.

Once fine motor skills are stronger, one component of writing is easier for them. This at least takes one burden of the language-frustrated learner!

Children with dyslexia will also struggle with auditory processing issues. Simon Says, following oral directions, I Spy, clapping syllables, Freeze Dance (play music and have the child dance; when the music stops, dancing stops as well), and story recall are all examples of fun auditory games that help kids with dyslexia process auditory information.

Getting a Diagnoses Leads to Helping the Feelings of Dyslexia

So, how do you know if your child has dyslexia? Getting a diagnosis will help you help your child. However, these tests can be costly and difficult to find.

If you’d like a free at-home dyslexia test, click here: Dyslexia Test.

Following are some general symptoms of dyslexia:

Slow, labored inaccurate reading of single words in isolation

• Slow, choppy oral reading while ignoring punctuation
• Becomes visibly tired after reading for a short time
• Poor reading comprehension
• When reading, frequently reverses, inverts, or transposes letters or words
• Substitutes similar looking words, even if it changes the meaning of the sentence, such as sunrise for surprise
• Omits or changes suffixes, such as need for needed
• Spelling errors of reversals, inversions, or transpositions
• Continually misspells sight words or misreads sight words
• Written work shows signs of spelling uncertainty
• Misspells even when copying something from the board or from a book
• Unusual pencil grip when writing, often with the thumb on top of the fingers – a fist grip
• May hold the pencil lower or higher than normal
• The pencil grip is so tight that the child’s hand cramps
• Writing letters is a slow, labored, non-fluent chore
• Has great difficulty getting letters to sit on horizontal lines
• Unusual spatial organization of the page. Words may be widely spaced or tightly pushed together. Margins are often ignored
• Has an unusually difficult time learning and using cursive writing
• Writes extremely short sentences
• Takes an unusually long time to write
• Displays very poor mastery of punctuation as well as grammar, syntax, and suffixes
• Misspells many words
• Uses space poorly on the page
• Disorganized personal space
• Concepts of time and calendars are difficult
• Learning science and history facts is difficult
• Has nearly illegible handwriting
• Misses many errors in written work even when proofreading has been attempted
• Touch typing is difficult
• Left-right confusion, mainly showing up in handwriting and math
• Difficulty in directionality – confuses north and south or the meaning of words such as right – left
• Tying shoelaces is difficult
• Difficult time writing capital cursive letters
• Long division, fractions, and memorizing multiplication tables are difficult