I recently came upon a learning difference called “alexia,” which I have never heard of before and yes, it’s kind of like dyslexia. According to the National Library of Medicine, “Alexia is a rare condition called word blindness or agnosic alexia. Alexia is an acquired disorder where affected patients can spell and write words and sentences but cannot read or comprehend written language. However, writing skills, speech production, and comprehension are retained.” There are three types of symptoms of Alexia: Total Alexia, which is when people are not able to read at all; Verbal Alexia, which is when people cannot read a single word, but they can read single letters. Last but not least, Literal Alexia which is the most severe and is when people cannot even read a single letter but can read complete words. Now, let's compare Alexia to dyslexia.
According to Yale, which has a program for people with dyslexia, “Dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in learning how to read. According to the International Dyslexia Association, “Dyslexia is a language-based disability. Dyslexia is a cluster of symptoms that can lead to difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words.” What a lot of people don’t know about dyslexia is that it can also be caused by the syndrome that I have, Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome or 22q11.2 deletion. Also, people with dyslexia are not stupid; we just learn differently, which is why I call it a learning difference rather than a disability, and that is also why I founded inqludedu.com