Though it presents many challenges, dyslexia is also a source of many strengths. Many people with dyslexia are excellent problem solvers and are highly creative. Below we have outlined some of the strengths people with dyslexia have in different areas of life.

Reading

  • Can read and understand words used frequently in an area of high interest. For instance, if they love to cook, they will be able to read food magazines and cookbooks with much less difficulty.
  • Exhibit excellent comprehension of stories or articles read to them.

Speaking

  • Have a larger listening vocabulary (the words you must know to understand what you hear) than is typical of most adults.
  • Very articulate (able to communicate effectively and fluently) when expressing ideas, concepts, or, feelings.

Logic-Based Thinking

  • Good at solving puzzles and building models.
  • May find logic-based subjects like Math easier than language or reading-based ones.

Behavior and Personality

  • Empathic (understanding of other people’s feelings).
  • Vivid imagination and deeply curious.
  • “Street smart” (having practical smarts about people and society, able to read people very well) and good at judging what people are like.
  • Intuitive (having a good instinct or gut feeling) and able to sense other people’s moods and emotions.
  • Understand the gist (main idea) of things.
  • Have a good understanding of new concepts and ideas.
  • Mature for their age.
  • Very good at seeing the “big picture”.

At School and During Their Career

  • Have an extreme work ethic; this is only good so long as they can learn how to keep it in check and not burn out (exhaust one’s mental and physical health-related resources following being overburdened with work).
  • Excellent in fields that require visual (relating to sight), spatial (relating to occupying space), or kinesthetic (related to the movement of one’s body parts) talent. Examples include:
         - Spatial: engineering, plumbing and carpentry.
         - Visual: interior decorating.
         - Kinesthetic: acting or music.
         - Other: entrepreneur or business executive.
  • High learning capacity.
  • Show great improvement when given extra time during tests and exams.
  • Skills greatly improve when the subject matter becomes more specialized, e.g. in the fields of medicine, law, finance, or science.
  • Since they have difficulty with rote memorization, they are more likely to learn conceptually and have a better grasp of the main idea.
  • Notice the big picture and come up with unique and original insights (understanding).
  • Excellent thinking skills; grasp abstract concepts (something that exists in thought or as an idea but not in the physical world, e.g. the idea of love is an abstract concept but giving someone flowers is a physical action) very well, have a vivid imagination, good conceptualization, and reasoning.
By visitng our site, you agree to use of cookies to enhance your browsing experience.  I Agree