Dyslexia

What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia literally means ‘limited reading’. Dyslexia is characterized by a persistent lag in the area of reading and/or spelling. This means that reading is more difficult and less fluent and smooth than for someone without dyslexia, despite good education and a lot of extra support.

Being able to read fluently is not only important in school, during further education or at a desk job, but we also encounter written language continuously in everyday life. Think for example of the subtitles of a movie, a recipe, or an important letter or agreement. This can be very difficult if you have reading problems.

There are many factors that can play a role in the onset and course of reading problems in dyslexia. This can also vary from person to person. Dyslexia does not, in any case, have anything to do with intelligence. What we do see is that the reading problems often go hand in hand with a different development of brain areas that process language. In our research, we are trying to better understand individual differences in these learning processes during the earlier stages of reading development. With this knowledge we aim to develop tools that can help recognizing children who may benefit from targeted reading support early on.

Want to know more about our research on Reading & Dyslexia? See our project ‘Reading Gains‘

Do I have dyslexia?

If you want to know whether you have dyslexia, you can register with a practice that is affiliated with the Dutch Dyslexia Quality Institute (NKD). You can find an overview by region on the NKD website.