Written by Heidi Stoffel, Dyslexia Practitioner, Executive Director, Aspire Academy
It is important for parents to know about the overlap of Dyslexia and ADHD. Both disorders can occur together, and they share 16 symptoms in common. Students with both disorders will progress more slowly in their academic endeavors.
ADHD and Dyslexia occur together 40% of the time (Mather, 2020). A new study from the University of Edinburgh and 23andMe, Inc. found that Dyslexia and ADHD share genetic traits in common including deficits in working memory and attention. They studied 51,800 people with dyslexia and compared them to 1,000,000 individuals without it. This article link from ADDitude Magazine summarizes the research findings. https://www.additudemag.com/what-is-dyslexia-genetic-adhd-study/
At Aspire, we see children with both diagnoses. The ADHD and Dyslexia overlap makes it harder for these children to learn to read, write and spell and their progress is slower. Some of our students must constantly move to keep their focus on their lesson. We incorporate gross movement into our tutoring sessions and brain breaks to help these students focus.
Talk of Iowa, an Iowa Public Radio Show, interviewed three adults who were diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. I highly recommend listening to this podcast because these adults talk about how their childhoods would have been different had they learned they had ADHD sooner, and how much receiving treatment changed their lives. It is an interesting, quick podcast that is very eye-opening. I encourage all parents who suspect their child has attention issues to listen to it. https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk-of-iowa/2023-09-12/understanding-the-unique-challenges-of-adult-adhd