Characteristic Crosswalk
Characteristics Dyslexia
Oral language -Most people with dyslexia
have ​difficulty with
(phonological awareness, identifying and
Phonics and word manipulating individual
recognition) sounds ​(phonemes). Thus
phonemic awareness is weak​.
- phonological processing is
weak because of ​underlying
issue with speech perception
(Hakvoort et al.,2016).*
speech perception is the
listener’s ability to ​discern
between sounds on a
continuum ​for eg /ba/ and /da/
may sound the same
-Issue lies primarily with
phonological awareness;
decoding​ is the hallmark
problem in Dyslexia. (BBC
06/08)
-some individuals with
d​yslexia display ​allophonic
perception​ ​(inability to
generalize phonemes to their
category) (Hakvoort et al.,
2016).
- This trickles down to
difficulty learning to then
represent those sounds with
letters (graphemes). ​Word
recognition ​is therefore also
very difficult (IDA, 2012).
-despite good language
modelling and instruction at
home and school, ​people with
dyslexia can have t​rouble
expressing themselves
verbally​ ​and/or fully
comprehending others’
speech​-this can be hard to
Other Reading Disabilities
-People with SLD can
experience deficits in
processes​ that underlie their
understanding and
expression of spoken
language. ​Two verbal
memory​ processes​ that
underlie are ​e​xecutive
function (​attention to task,
planning, flexibility) ​ ​and
lexical-semantic knowledge
(long term memory store)
(​Hall, McGregor, & Oleson,
2017).
-Students with Specific
Reading Disability (​SRD)
(*poor readers with average
spoken language) show
deficits​ in neural
representations of phonemes,
phoneme discrimination,
phoneme awareness and rapid
naming whereas those with
Specific Language
Impairment ​(SLI)​(*average
readers with poor spoken
language) were free from
phonological processing
deficits.​ However, both
groups showed ​deficits in
short-term memory
(McArthur & Castles, 2013).
 recognize so often goes
unnoticed by adults around
the child until they are older
- ​foreign languages​ are ​very
difficult to learn
-​affects people ​all their lives
-Not due to lack of
intelligence so ​can affect
anyone ​regardless of
background or IQ​ (Hakvoort
et al., 2016).
-speech perception deficits,
although associated with
dyslexia, don’t ​necessarily
lead to poor reading
(Hakvoort et al., 2016).
-automatic ​word recognition
is difficult because of ​poor
verbal short term memory
(Hakvoort et al., 2016).
-corrective feedback can help
build word recognition skill
(IDA, 2012)
-​neurobiological​ in
origin;manifestations (ie
difficulties with word
recognition, spelling and
decoding) mostly because of
a ​deficit in the phonological
component​ of language
(Eden & Moats, 2002).

Spelling -one of the ​core​ difficulties is -​Difficulty with spelling for

with spelling; ​problems in
spelling are one key marker
of dyslexia​ (Eklund et al.,
2015​)
-​trouble remembering​ letter
symbols and words (IDA,
2012)​. *have to re teach
‘known’ words from the day
before again the next day.
-​genetic​ (​34%–66% of
students with SLD leads to
difficulty in writing​, which
is a complex and difficult
process anyway. ​Students
with SLD may be​ limited​ to
using only words they use
often or that are easy. ​Cover
Copy and Compare ​(CCC)
is an intervention that has had
positive results in helping
 children born to families with
dyslexia (even if not labelled
with dyslexia themselves)
experience severe difficulties
in reading and spelling
especially during first grades
at school. Eklund et. al 2015)
-difficulties with accurate and
fluent word recognition and
poor spelling and decoding
abilities (Eklund et al., 2015)
Reading -reading is ​slow and so not
accurate​ ​(interventions
should include extended time)
-reading is one of the
strongest deficit area
because r​eading fluency ​is
weak (IDA, 2012).
-​mix up​ words that are
similar ​(IDA, 2012).
-​ letters can ​look​ jumbled
(reading backwards is a myth)
because students can’t
remember letter symbols for
sounds (IDA, 2012).
Writing fluency -When studied, students with
dyslexia would pause more
frequently mid word when
writing, suggesting the
students with SLD improve
spelling (Derby, Everson,
Manfred & McLaughlin,
2015).
-The definition of a Learning
Disability ​focuses on basic
psychological process​ ​so
difficulty with academic
skills is evident. There is
usually a ​discrepancy
between ability and
achievement. ​Decoding​ and
comprehension are affected.
(BBC 6-8-17)
-Students with a reading
disability have ​trouble with
rapid automatized naming
(RAN)(Ahonen, Aro,
Heikkilä & Närhi, 2009) *so
testing students in RAN can
highlight students at risk for
SLD
-​perceptual and cognitive
processing difficulties​ are
assumed to be the underlying
reason why students with
learning disabilities
experience reading problems,
(and deficits in
writing)​(Heward, 2006).
-Learning disabilities are
associated with ​problems in
listening, reasoning,
memory​,​ attention​, selecting
and focusing ​on relevant
stimuli, and the perception
and processing of visual
and/or auditory information
(Heward, 2006).
-​Writing is challenging
because it is a complex
process ​that requires the
orchestration of handwriting
 student was ​attempting to use
memory ​to remember how to
spell the word. (Sumner,
Connell, & Barnett, 2016)
This would prove to be
problematic for students who
are participating in writing
activities that are timed.
-The International Dyslexia
Association (IDA)
recommends using ​Structured
Literacy Instruction​, a
systematic and cumulative
direct approach​ that
recognizes the importance of
teaching semantics (meaning
of language) from the
beginning of the curriculum
to assist readers with dyslexia
in strengthening writing
fluency.(IDA, 2015).
-Because students with
dyslexia often have a limited
vocabulary, they have
difficulty mapping internal
words onto written words.
(Lovett et al., 2007)
Vocabulary -​Students with dyslexia use
limited vocabulary when
writing due to a lack of
spelling ability​. (Sumner,
Connell, & Barnett, 2016)
-Interestingly, lexical
diversity on verbally
produced texts was on the
same level as peers. (Sumner,
Connell, & Barnett, 2016)
-Vocabulary instruction is
often overlooked as an
important piece of literacy
(Class Discussion)
-Vocabulary knowledge
requires stored phonological
or typing, spelling, and
sentence construction skills
that are required to get words
onto the paper. (Graham,
Collins, & Rigby-Wills,
2017)
-Students with LD have
weakened memory skills
along with ​difficulties with
executive functioning and
cognitive monitoring skills.
(Graham, Collins, &
Rigby-Wills, 2017) This is
similar to students with
dyslexia as a weakened
memory is tied to the slower
writing due to an attempt to
recall spellings of words as
the student is writing.
-Students with LD have
weakened memory skills
along with difficulties with
executive functioning and
cognitive monitoring skills.
(Graham, Collins, &
Rigby-Wills, 2017)
Vocabulary and writing
fluency are intertwined​ (along
with spelling). The weakened
memory skills are a barrier as
students struggle to recall
vocabulary and how those
words are spelled.
 and semantic representation.
For students with dyslexia,
this means they have fewer
vocabulary words stored
because of their deficits in
phonological processing.
They have difficulty decoding
and then storing words.
(Lovett et al., 2007).

Reading comprehension -Poor reading comprehension -Students with SLD may

Skills and Strategies may be a secondary
consequence for students with
dyslexia because dyslexia
primarily affects decoding
and phonological awareness
(class lecture 6/8/17).
- Based on the​ Simple View
of Reading,​ students with
dyslexia fall into one of two
categories: ​poor word
recognition and good
comprehension or poor word
recognition and poor
comprehension​ (class lecture
Session 2).
-Students with dyslexia may
have a difficult time with
long reading assignments-
both with persistence and
comprehension (IDA, 2012).
-​Students also may struggle
with “reading quickly enough
to comprehend”​ (IDA, 2012).
-Students with dyslexia might
benefit from multisensory
experiences during explicit
and systematic instruction
(IDA, 2012).
-Students would ​benefit from
working individually​ with a
teacher or tutor at a pace that
is best for the student (IDA
2012).
struggle with understanding
what they read.
-As students progress in
school, reading no longer is
about “learning to read”, but
rather “reading to learn” and
students who struggle with
reading comprehension miss
out on content-specific
information (class lecture
Session 1).
-​Direct and explicit
instruction with reading
comprehension strategies can
benefit students with learning
disabilities in reading
(Boardman et al., 2016).
-Some successful strategies
include those that let students
preview the text, question the
text, and connect to their own
background knowledge
(Boardman et al,. 2016).
 Written expression -Students with dyslexia have -Students with learning
a difficult time obtaining and disabilities ​struggle with
utilizing written language written expression​ because
(IDA, 2012). writing is a complex system
-​Written expression becomes made up of many parts:
even more challenging​ when handwriting, spelling, typing,
language becomes more sentence construction,
complex in upper grade levels forming ideas, drafting,
and students are required to revising, editing (Graham,
understand grammar and Collins, & Rigby-Wills,
write longer assignments 2017).
(IDA, 2012). -Because writing is so
-​Organizing​ writing is a complex, students with SLD
challenge (IDA 2012). can ​easily become frustrated,
disengaged, or confused​ when
focusing on one specific part
of writing, e.g. a student
forgetting what his or her
main character is going to do
next because he or she was
trying to spell a word
(Graham, Collins, &
Rigby-Wills, 2017).
-Overall, typically achieving
students master writing
outcomes more regularly than
their peers with learning
disabilities (Graham, Collins,
& Rigby-Wills, 2017).
Fig 1. The ​Characteristics Crosswalk​ document is a comparison / contrast document
highlighting characteristics that impact individuals with dyslexia and/or another reading
disability in the following areas: oral language (including phonological awareness, phonics and
word recognition), spelling, reading, writing fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension skills
and strategies, and written expression.