Dyslexia Around the World

“No matter which country — no matter which language — dyslexia is everywhere.” -European Dyslexia Association

To offer a broad worldview, researchers examined the online presence of dyslexia across 195 countries (Mathers, White, & Youman, 2020). Findings revealed that the understanding and practices related to dyslexia are impacted by several factors, including: culture, spelling and writing system variations, policies, dyslexia awareness, teacher training, and assessment/intervention availability.

Some countries have well-established resources to enhance dyslexia awareness and offer support to teachers and families, heightened levels of awareness, valid and reliable assessment tools, and evidence-based interventions. These countries may aspire to collaborate and share with countries with fewer resources, in an attempt to better equip them to understand and support individuals with dyslexia.

Globally, teachers and families may need information and resources about systematic, explicit reading and spelling instruction. They may be underprepared to help students with dyslexia. In addition, there are a number of misconceptions about the characteristics and skills of students with dyslexia. Efforts must be improved to promote universal understanding of dyslexia among both teachers and families, so that children with dyslexia are understood, supported, and helped (Mather, White, & Youman, 2020).