'Dyslexia causes difficulties in learning to read, write and spell. Short-term memory, mathematics, concentration, and personal organisation may also be affected. Dyslexia usually arises from a weakness in the processing of language-based information. Biological in origin, it tends to run in families, but environmental factors also contribute. Dyslexia can occur at any level of intellectual ability. It is not the result of poor motivation, emotional disturbance, sensory impairment or lack of opportunities, but it may occur alongside any of these. The effects of dyslexia can be largely overcome by skilled specialist teaching and the use of compensatory strategies.'(The Dyslexia Institute, 2002)Dyslexia is very common. Research suggests that about one person in fifteen is dyslexic. The effects of untreated or ignored dyslexia can be very destructive to the sufferer, often resulting in feelings of failure and loss of self-confidence. Common features of students with dyslexia include:

• other family members who had difficulty learning to read or spell when they were at school
• reluctance to go to school, or feelings of failure at school
• difficulties with spelling
• missing out words when reading and difficulty reading aloud
• sometimes skipping lines when reading
• difficulty copying from the board
• getting confused about following instructions, for example when playing a game
• unable to count backwards from 100 down to zero
• left-handedness in the family.

• Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) - the 'invisible disability'. Sufferers are randomly unable to process verbal information
• dyspraxia - an underdevelopment of the organisation of movement
• dyscalculia - a specific learning difficulty in mathematics
• dysgraphia - a learning disability caused by difficulty in expressing thoughts in writing and drawing. It manifests itself in extremely poor handwriting.