How Does Dyslexia Affect People's Confidence?

Sitting in the back of the classroom hoping the teachers won't pick you to read, but all of a sudden...... the nightmare begins. As we start reading, the students and teachers begin to correct you on the mistakes that you are making or not giving you a chance to try. They think that they are helping, but they are not it sometimes makes us feel uncomfortable. Just imagine how you would feel if every two seconds, I interrupted you?

Embarrassment is another key emotion all of us feel growing up or while in school.  Just imagine being in a lesson when you come across a word that you don't know how to pronounce or spell. For example, someone who is dyslexic will sometimes struggle to pronounce the word "fundamental" or struggle to spell the word "compliment" - because they put an "E" instead of an "I". Another time when we feel embarrassed is when someone younger than you can spell or read words that you can't. How would you feel if a 7-year-old could spell a word or pronounce it better than you, even though you are older than them?

Another example is a homophone, which is a word that sounds the same as another word, but it spelt differently. People with dyslexia  would struggle to recognise the word when they hear or see it. They therefore quickly learn to rely upon the strategy to spell a word or prounce it by building it up phonetically. This doesn't work for homophones like "their" and "there" because they sound the same but are spelt differently.

Researchers from the last survey in 2019 and the NHS have shown that out of the 8.7 million school children in England, the reports has estimated that about 870,000 of them have dyslexia. I have felt all of this growing up, sometimes I still do because when you are dyslexic you are always worrying about how much of your future it could affect. An example of how you may worry about how much your future dyslexia could possible affect is the idea of spelling in the SPAG tests for English or not having the confidence to read out loud because you fear that you will be judged.

One solution that helps people with dyslexia is that we are entitled to get help and support during lessons who also help you to build confidence. We have certain fonts, size and the colour of the paper or the screen that helps. Over the years apps like "Grammarly" have been created to help people with dyslexia because it corrects punction, grammar and spelling. I know for a fact that grammarly works because I use it myself.

Therefore many people define dyslexia as a disorder that involves difficulty in learning to read, spell, interpret words, letters or other symbols (like grammar or punction). But many people forget that dyslexia can cause someone to have a poor self-image, less peer acceptance or not having a lot of confidence.