YORKSHIRE WOLDSDyslexia Service

Related conditions

Dyslexia and related conditions

Dyslexia belongs to a family of conditions that professionals call "Specific Learning Difficulties", shortened to SpLD. They rarely travel alone, so it helps to see the full picture.

What are Specific Learning Difficulties?

A Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) is a difference or difficulty with particular aspects of learning. It affects how someone receives, processes and recalls information. The term covers four conditions:

  • Dyslexia

    Affects reading and spelling.

  • Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) / dyspraxia

    Affects movement and coordination.

  • Dyscalculia

    Affects numbers and maths.

  • ADHD

    A neurodevelopmental condition affecting attention and activity levels. It is often grouped with the SpLDs.

A child may have one SpLD or show signs of more than one. SpLDs are not connected to intellectual ability, or to social, economic or cultural background. A child with a SpLD can achieve academically, but it will be harder and take greater effort. Understanding their strengths and needs helps them build a "toolkit" of strategies that suit how they learn.

Neurodiversity and SpLDs

Neurodiversity recognises the normal variations in brain function across the human population. Every one of us has a unique brain. It takes in all the SpLDs, many of which co-occur or overlap.

  • Autism
  • Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Tourette's Syndrome
  • Anxiety
  • Speech, language and communication needs
Under the neurodiversity "umbrella", these may also co-occur alongside a SpLD.

Dyslexia and speech, language and communication needs

Many children with dyslexia do not have speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). A child with SLCN has a broader difficulty with understanding language or using spoken language. There is, though, a higher rate of SLCN among children who have dyslexia.

14% to 50%

of children with dyslexia also show signs of additional speech and language difficulties, depending on age and a range of other factors.

Expert estimates: McArthur et al., 2000; Catts et al., 2005

Dyslexia and mental health

Dyslexia is not a mental health condition. But living with it can cause stress, anxiety and low mood, because learning can be difficult, frustrating and sometimes exhausting. Children with dyslexia are at higher risk of developing mental health difficulties, and the link runs both ways (NIHR, 2020).

Reading difficulties can lead to mental health difficulties, particularly depression and anxiety, through low self-esteem, stigma and bullying.

Mental health difficulties can make existing reading difficulties worse, through avoiding reading and expecting to fail.

Source: NIHR, 2020.

Finding the right support locally

Many of the difficulties described on this page are supported by services outside school, from occupational therapy and speech and language therapy to mental health support teams. I have gathered the East Yorkshire ones into a single list, with a short note on what each does.

See local SEND support