Dyslexia is sometimes referred to as specific learning difficulties (dyslexia).  The term specific learning difficulties has been more widely used within education than has the term dyslexia but as there are a number of specific learning difficulties such as Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dyspraxia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Asperger’s Syndrome and Specific Language Impairment it is important that it should be qualified by the addition of the particular specific learning difficulty which dyslexia is.

Dyslexia can be conceptualised as a pattern of difficulties which can include elements of some of the other specific learning difficulties already mentioned.  In other words, it can overlap with a number of these.  A child who is dyslexic can also be, for example, dyscalculic and dyspraxic which will determine that in addition to problems of literacy the child may also have difficulties with number work, mathematics and co-ordination.  All aspects of the child’s’s learning and development should be monitored in order to understand the extent and complexity of the difficulties.