June 20, 2010

Successfully Working Despite Dyslexia

Dyslexia in adults can show up in a number of manners. There are a number or symptoms associated with dyslexia such as problems reading and writing, spelling, and information processing. Nevertheless, these problems don’t always necessarily signify dyslexia. It really depends on the intensity of the condition, its re occurrence, and at what level it occurs. On the other hand, someone with dyslexia might live out their entire life and never even know they had the condition.

How Can Dyslexia Affect Work Performance?

Whether we like it or not, no matter what we do we are always judged on how well we do something. We might be known as over achievers or someone who does just enough to get by. It is often the case that those who don’t perform well in the workplace are labeled as lazy, careless and even stupid. No one ever thinks that they might actually have a medical condition that limits their abilities. In fact, there are many that believe that these so called medical conditions such as dyslexia don’t even exist! If a person is suffering from adult dyslexia, it can almost be certain that it will be seen in their performance. It obviously matters what type of job it is when determining how much dyslexia will affect the person’s ability, but almost every job requires visual processing of some kind and dyslexia will affect that task. Nevertheless each person deals with the condition differently and may have different symptoms. Different symptoms can even coexist in different combinations.

Even though medical conditions exist that inhibit work performance, employers should take on the responsibility to do the necessary testing to understand what kind of condition their employee has, or if the employee really is just lazy or careless and has no medical condition. For example, for dyslexia there are a number of adult dyslexia tests that can be performed on the person to understand if that person is suffering from dyslexia and how severe their symptoms might be. Unfortunately there are those that will exaggerate their symptoms to make up for poor work performance. Because of those people, it has become necessary for this type of testing to make sure they are not taking advantage of their employer. If an employee is found to have dyslexia there are a number of treatment options available and a psychologist can work with the employee to better their work performance.

Although debatable, some psychologists claim that persons with dyslexia have other hidden strengths from the condition and not just disabilities. Some psychologists may work with the person to bring out their strengths in addition to treating their weaknesses.

Employers must work hard to understand the employee who has dyslexia. Often, persons with dyslexia attempt to hide their disabilities because they usually develop a range of compensatory strategies. For example, they might be rude to you when you talk about something they don’t understand to try to hide the fact that they don’t understand it.

In summary, adult dyslexia in the workplace can be handled effectively if the employer develops strategies that will help dyslexic employees enhance their performance and treat their weaknesses.

Bart Icles is an accomplished writer and desires to help those that suffer from adult dyslexia. For more information on adult dyslexia symptoms, visit www.the-dyslexia-center.com.

Dyslexia in Adults: Taking Charge of Your Life

Overcoming Dyslexia: Library Edition

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