Patients with Dyslexia

Many people are Dyslexic. Dyslexia means problems with

• Reading
• Writing
• Spelling
• Symbols
• Numbers

Many have been accused of being

• Dumb
• to stupid to learn
• mentally slow
• thick
• no hope

Because the brain misinterprets what it sees (visual) and hears (auditory). Dyslexia does not affect the intelligence of a person. In fact many dyslexic people are highly intelligent. (see link below)

For others they are quite open to tell you than they have Dyslexic. If this is the case ask the person if there is anything you can do to help such as completing forms etc.

If you have a patient that comes to the desk they might not have the ability to read and write, and might not be comfortable sharing this information with you. Many people have grown up without realising that they have got dyslexia. They have often had to struggle though life without help and support that many get these days. For these patients they find it hard to tell people often strangers that they cannot read or write.

If you have to ask a patient to complete a form at the desk and they object please do make an issue out of it.

Patients will often say that they are in a rush and can they “take the form home” which means that someone at home will help them complete the form. If this is possible let the patient take the form away – but give them some guidelines if the form has to be back by a certain time. Quite often letting someone take a form home can result it them not bringing it back again. This often happens when a new patients requests to join the practice.

Patients will often say that they cannot complete the form because they have left their glasses at home. Again, this could be because they have difficulty reading and writing – what you could do in this instance is ask if they would like you to help them complete the form, and if you cannot do it perhaps ask another colleague to come and help. This way the person is not embarrassed and the form gets completed. By doing this you are offering to help without embarrassing the patients.

With the right encouragement, support and strategies many dyslexic people can learn to read and write.

People that have dyslexia are far from being stupid, thick, dump or lazy. Did you know that there are many famous people who are dyslexic – and have gone on and achieve so much in their life – regardless to what they were told when they were younger?

Here is a short clip – did you know how many of these people live with Dyslexia