What is the Difference Between ADD and Dyslexia

The key difference between ADD and dyslexia is that ADD is a neurological disorder that causes excessive difficulties with concentration while dyslexia is a neurological disorder that causes impaired linguistic ability, making it challenging to read, punctuate, decode, and understand words.

ADD and dyslexia are two neurological conditions due to problems in the brain. These conditions are mainly seen in children. However, they are different conditions with different characteristics.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is ADD 
3. What is Dyslexia
4. Similarities – ADD and Dyslexia
5. ADD vs. Dyslexia in Tabular Form
6. FAQ – ADD and Dyslexia
7. Summary – ADD vs. Dyslexia

What is ADD?

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) is a neurological disorder characterized by inattentive and impulsive traits without the presence of hyperactivity. Some of the characteristics may include being easily distracted, difficulty following directions, difficulty staying on task, forgetfulness, losing personal items such as keys or books, not paying attention to details, problems staying organized, and short attention span. ADD can be caused by brain injury, exposure to environmental risks, alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy, premature delivery, and low birth weight.

ADD can be diagnosed through medical history, medical examination, interviews or questionnaires, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5. Furthermore, treatment options for ADD may include medications (amphetamines and methylphenidates), behavior therapy and counseling, and education services.

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a neurological condition that causes a learning disability that disrupts how the brain processes written language. The typical symptoms of dyslexia may include difficulty spelling simple words, trouble learning the names of letters, problems telling apart letters with similar shapes (d and b), trouble rhyming, reluctance to read aloud in class, trouble sounding out new words, trouble associating sounds with letters or parts of words, trouble learning how sounds go together and mixing up the position of sounds in a word. Dyslexia can be caused by genetics, differences in brain development and function, disruption in brain development and function, toxic exposure, lack of access to reading materials, and learning environment limitations.

Dyslexia can be diagnosed through medical history, physical symptoms evaluation, and neurological examination. Furthermore, treatment options for dyslexia may include educational interventions that can teach effective new ways to learn and read such as a trained specialist to learn new reading skills.

What are the Similarities Between ADD and Dyslexia?

• ADD and dyslexia are two neurological conditions due to problems in the brain.
• Both these conditions are mainly seen in children.
• Genetic changes can cause these conditions.
• Both conditions can be diagnosed through an evaluation of physical symptoms.
• They can be treated through educational intervention.

What is the Difference Between ADD and Dyslexia?

ADD is a neurological disorder that causes excessive difficulties with concentration, while dyslexia is a neurological disorder that causes impaired linguistic ability, making it challenging to read, punctuate, decode, and understand words. Thus, this is the key difference between ADD and dyslexia. Furthermore, ADD can be caused by brain injury, exposure to environmental risks, alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy, premature delivery, and low birth weight. On the other hand, dyslexia can be caused by genetics, differences in brain development and function, disruption in brain development and function, toxic exposure, lack of access to reading materials, and learning environment limitations.

The infographic below presents the differences between ADD and dyslexia in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

FAQ: ADD and Dyslexia

How do you know if someone has dyslexia?

If someone confuses visually similar words such as cat and cot, spells erratically, reads or writes slowly, finds it hard to scan or skim text, finds it hard to listen and maintain focus, and finds it hard to concentrate if there are distractions, you can know that this person is suffering from dyslexia.

What are the red flags of dyslexia?

Some of the signs of dyslexia are confusion between left and right, struggling with tasks like tying shoes, mixing up sounds and syllables in long words, and trouble memorizing important things like their address or phone number.

What is the best treatment for dyslexia?

Currently, no medications treat dyslexia. Instead, educational interventions can teach effective new ways to learn and read.

Summary – ADD vs. Dyslexia

ADD and dyslexia are two neurological conditions that can impede learning in children. Both these conditions cause difficulties with reading and writing. Genetic changes can cause both these conditions. However, ADD is a neurological disorder that causes excessive difficulties with concentration, while dyslexia is a neurological disorder that causes impaired linguistic ability, making it challenging to read, punctuate, decode, and understand words. So, this summarizes the difference between ADD and dyslexia.

Reference:

1.“Attention Deficit Disorder.” Lanc UK.
2. “Dyslexia.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

Image Courtesy:

1. “The ADHD Iceberg” By Bernard Goldbach (CC BY 2.0 DEED) via Flickr
2. “Dyslexia” By Scientificanimations.com –  (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia