Dyslexia Types - Differences Between Dysphonetic and Dyseidetic Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a many-faceted problem. There are dyslexia types and it can be important to know the differences among them...

Dyslexia is a complex problem with many facets. No two dyslexics are exactly alike, have the exact same symptoms. Problems that arise from the condition are highly individualized. There is no such thing as a "typical dyslexia type".

Nevertheless, it is important to note and understand something of the broad classifications of specific forms or aspects of dyslexia. Part of that understanding comes from knowing the dyslexia types and the differences among them.

Let's look at the terms "dysphonetic" and "dyseidetic", words used to describe two different dyslexia types. Each describes a different symptom group of these two different types of dyslexia.

The term dysphonetic applies to people who have difficulties in connecting sound to symbols. For example, they might have problems sounding out words, and mistakes in their spelling would reveal a very poor grasp of phonics in their command of their language.

Dysphonetic dyslexia is sometimes called "auditory" dyslexia, because it relates to how a person hears and mentally processes the sounds of their language(s).

In contrast, the term dyseiditic applies to people who, although they have a good, workable grasp of phonetic concepts, nevertheless have considerable difficulty with whole word recognition and with spelling.

Most commonly, words are spelled in such a way that, although you can easily sort them out phonetically, they are still very far from being correctly presented. For example, the word telephone might be spelled "telafone". There may also be transpositions or even complete reversals in spelling.

Examples could be the word "seen" being spelled as "nees" or "been" being spelled as "neeb". Different, incorrect, but the letters corresponding to the right sounds are all there, just in an incorrect order.

Dyseidetic dyslexia is sometimes called "surface dyslexia" or "visual dyslexia" because it relates to how a person sees and mentally processes the symbols, letters and word concepts of their language into correct written formats.

In current practice different dyslexia types are treated similarly. Most remedial training programs will tend to emphasize the use of phonics. This will help the performance of the dysphonetic dyslexic somewhat but does not deal with his or her underlying problems with dyslexia. 

Frequently, the phonics training will help the person learn to read but reading will still be difficult for the student. Usually with only phonics training they will not progress beyond reading elementary school material and will not go beyond that or read for pleasure.

Phonics based programs will be of little use to the dyseidetic dyslexic and will usually not help at all. The student just gets drilled on something he or she already knows. What they really need is a means to develop whole-word recognition skills and to learn how to recognize words that do not sound the way they are spelled.

There are many dyslexia types and trying to lump them all together and teach all dyslexics the same way is not an effective approach. One size does not fit all. Such an approach might help some but for others it only deepens the confusion, maybe makes the problem worse instead of better.

For additional info about dyslexia types and testing for dyslexia, follow the links below...

For more detailed information about the dyslexia types, the symptoms of dyslexia and how to test for it, visit: Dyslexia Types
For information about adult dyslexia testing (that you can do from anywhere), visit: Adult Dyslexia Test|Home Dyslexia Test
Jorge Chavez is a researcher, analyst and writer at http://overcoming-dyslexia.com