Dyslexia and ADHD

Learners with dyslexia and/or ADHD are considered by many leading psychologists, researchers and educators to think differently and are often referred to as neurodivergent. Both dyslexia and ADHD are neurological in nature and can be traced to one’s genetic makeup, meaning if you have a parent with dyslexia or ADHD then there is a higher chance that you will also have it. Although dyslexia is a language-based neurological disorder , ADHD is not, but it can often interfere with the learning of reading, spelling and writing. Additionally, dyslexia can occur alongside an ADHD diagnosis and both can present with delayed or underdeveloped executive functions, which can result in things like poor organization and prioritization skills, and the inability to regulate emotions. 

Executive Functions

Executive functions is the airport controller of your brain. It allows you to manage daily tasks like eating, sleeping, emotional regulation and breathing automatically, allowing us to give our attention to other tasks of our choosing. When executive functions in a student are delayed or underdevelopment, it can cause a lot of chaos in their daily lives, much of what many of us can do without thinking.

Executive functions are a set of processes that are required to manage behaviours and involve the following areas: working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive inhibition, attentional control and cognitive flexibility.

Orton-Gillingham Approach

The OG Approach is a prescriptive way to teach literacy when reading, writing, and spelling is not easily learned. Students with dyslexia and/or ADHD benefit from a direct, explicit, multisensory approach that is structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive in teaching literacy. It is based on time-tested knowledge and practice of over 80 years, as well as scientific evidence on how individuals learn to read and write.

Lessons are always focused upon the learning needs of each student. Instruction and the introduction of new material is paced and always at the level of the individual student. Students with a delay in reading, spelling and/or writing need more help in working with the raw materials of language and it must be taught to them directly and systematically.

Learning Resources