Dyslexia and learning difficulties

If you have dyslexia or another learning difficulty, you may find lessons and doing your homework difficult. Find out how your teachers can help you with ways of coping. 

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What is a learning difficulty?

Everybody’s brain is unique, it’s natural for there to be differences in how our brains work, this is called neurodiversity. This means that for some people their brain may work in a way where they have difficulties with things like reading, working with numbers or maintaining attention. These are called learning difficulties and they can vary from mild conditions through to more severe difficulties.

Mencap has more info about learning difficulties and other conditions.

If you're dyslexic or have a learning difficulty, you:

  • can get support from school
  • should be getting help at home too
  • shouldn't be treated worse or discriminated against, it's wrong and against the law

 

If you're dyslexic or have a learning disability, you:

  • can get support from your school
  • should be getting help at home too
  • shouldn't be treated differently
  • discrimination is wrong, and it's against the law.

Studying with dyslexia

If you have dyslexia, you should make sure your teachers know about it. They can give you extra support to help you with your work.

If you're not sure but think you may have dyslexia, you should also tell your teacher or an adult you trust. They can give you advice about how to get dyslexia diagnosed and what the next steps are. If you're diagnosed with dyslexia then your teachers and school can support you with this.

Having dyslexia can make learning harder, but there are ways to get help and make things easier. There’s no reason for it to stop you doing whatever you want to in life.

The British Dyslexia Association have loads of helpful information.

having to
work harder
than everyone else

Check out our message boards for support from other people

Knowing your rights

As a person with a learning difficulty, you may have challenges like people treating you differently. This is wrong and is against the law.

You have the same rights as everyone else and there are laws to make sure that your rights are protected. If you are being abused, you deserve to get support.

The Equality Act was put in place to make sure the rights of people with disabilities are looked after. It's all about rights about jobs, education and ways to get help.

You can also check out our page about discrimination, hate crime and equality.

How to get help and support

At school
If you have a learning difficulty or you think you might, it’s important that your school and your teachers also know about it.

Your teachers can:

  • help you find ways of coping. And also support you in your school work
  • give you extra tuition or more time to complete work
  • find ways for you to use your strengths to help you in your work and learning.
  • they may be able to carry out an assessment to see if there is an indication that you might have dyslexia. If there is an indication then they can guide you on how you can get a diagnostic assessment, which will tell you for sure if you have dyslexia.

At home
It’s also really important that you have support and help at home. It’s good if you can talk openly with your parents or carer about your difficulties, so they can help you too.

This is important because:

  • you may find your needs change as time goes on and the amount of support you need will change
  • being able to talk about what you want and need is important in building your confidence and feeling happier about yourself.

Get tips about being assertive to help you say what you want without being rude or aggressive.

You deserve to be supported, but If you find that your parents or carers aren’t being as supportive as you would like, then you can always speak to an adult that you trust, such as a teacher or another family member. You can also always talk to Childline.

Not sure if you've got a learning difficulty?

If you haven’t been told that you’ve got a learning difficulty but you think that you might – or you need extra support – you should speak up about how you feel.

If you need support, the best way to get it is to tell someone you trust. This could be a teacher, a parent or a carer. You could also talk to a doctor for advice.