The nature of the English alphabet and language does not help dyslexics:-
There are a huge numbers of the letters and numbers that we use that are either mirror images of each other or have very similar shapes - particularly when hand written:
mirror images - d b; p q; p b; n u; m w; M W.
rotations: 6 9; b q; p d; n c u; a e.
curved/straight - u v; U V; 2 Z, S 5, 8 B.
closure of shapes - C O; c o; G 6; y 9.
similar shapes - I l 1; O 0; T 7 Y; Y V; 9 g: M H (particularly in handwriting).
word reversals - saw was.
The spelling and pronunciation of words in English is full of problems:
Words that are pronounced the same but have different spellings - e.g. their, there, their and they're; weigh, way and whey; one and won; son and sun; time and thyme; principle and principal; peek, peak and pique; slow, slow and sloe; peace and piece; pees and peas; idol and idle; mold and mould; red and read; reed and read; chaste and chased, muscles and mussels, sail and sale; viol, vial and vile; sight, site and cite.
Words which are spelt the same but have different pronunciations and meanings - such as live (noun) and live (verb); reading (pronounced 'reeding') and Reading (place-name pronounced 'redding'); row (to argue), row (... your boat), row (an argument) and row (a line - as in 'a row of cottages').
Words which are spelt and pronounced the same way but have different meanings - mummy (mother) and mummy (preserved dead body); mean (miserly), mean (average), mean (intend); raise (lift up) and raise (burn down).
Words that mean the same and are pronounced the same but have different spellings - jail and gaol.
Words that look very similar when written - such as where and were and wear and weir and we're and ware; sing and sign and singe; diary and dairy.
Words that don't follow logical pronunciation rules - such as cause and because.
Words that don't follow logical spelling rules - such a menu and venue; triple and tipple.
Words that have no logical pronunciation from the way they are spelt - e.g. naive (pronounsed 'ny-eve'), and particularly place names, such as Gloucester (pronounced 'gloster'), Leicestershire (pronounced 'lestersher'), Fowey (pronounced 'foy'), Hessle (pronounced 'hez-all').
Foreign words and names that have not been anglicised: ballet, valet, Siobhan.
The formation of plurals and possessives and plural possessives with s, 's and s' respectively.
Irregular verbs - such as 'to be'.
Irregular plurals - foxes, boxes, and oxen; sheep (singular) and sheep (plural).
Gender spellings for some words and names - blond and blonde; Lesley and Leslie; editor and editrix.
There are differences in spelling in British English and American English - e.g. colour and color; theatre and theater; cheque and check.
There are different words used in British English and American English to describe the same thing e.g. boot (of a car) and trunk (of an automobile) ; pavement and sidewalk; lift and elevator.
Words that are used for different things in British and American English - e.g. fanny, which can lead to all sorts of misunderstandings. An American tourist we met in a food market was amazed that we eat faggots in England. There are similar problems with Australian English - for instance a thong is worn on the feet down-under!
There are some older English words fossilised in American English: such as gotten.
Dates are written differently in American and English forms - American is month/day/year and English is day/month/year.
New words that develop - such as nouns being used as verbs as in "red-carded" and "top-scoring".
Is it really surprising that we make mistakes?
Click here for index of dyslexia pages
updated August 2007