Dyslexia therapy program
for kids and adults

The Australian Dyslexia Association (ADA) says, “Dyslexia is best understood as a persistent difficulty with reading and spelling.” That can make life more difficult, affecting learning and self-esteem.

At Neurofit, we use a number of evidence-based therapies to strengthen the brain and help people with dyslexia to move forward.

What is dyslexia?

A person with dyslexia may:

  • Struggle to learn letter sounds for reading and spelling
  • Find it difficult to read single words, such as on flash cards and in lists (decoding)
  • Read slowly with many mistakes
  • Spell poorly
  • Not comprehend what they are reading as well as their peers.

As the ADA notes, “A student with dyslexia will have a particular difficulty with single word reading networks that are brain based (neurological).”

The central difficulty is converting letter symbols to their correct sound (known as decoding) and converting sounds to their correct symbols (known as encoding or spelling). 

Examples include difficulties in:

  • Identifying individual sounds in words – like the first sound in ‘bit’, the middle sound in ‘book’
  • Sounding out words – e.g. sounding out the word ‘hat’ as h-a-t
  • Putting sounds together to make words, e.g. knowing that the sounds h-a-t create the word ‘hat’.

Dyslexia does not mean a lack of intelligence – people with dyslexia are often just as smart as their peers. Indeed, individuals with dyslexia may have many strengths such as:

  • Inquiring minds
  • Solving problems
  • Grasping new ideas quickly
  • Analytic and creative thinking
  • Seeing the big picture.

They may also have higher level language skills (like listening and speaking) that help them read and understand stories by gleaning clues from the context. That can mask their difficulties with reading individual words alone (decoding). 

How does dyslexia affect kids?

Like their peers, children with dyslexia want to do well at school and may become frustrated and discouraged when they don’t succeed despite trying hard. Because dyslexia isn’t always picked up quickly, children may have been told to try harder or be more careful when they’re doing their level best.

Children with dyslexia may feel:

  • Anxious – afraid of being called upon to read in front of the class, for example
  • Frustrated and angry
  • Depressed or struggle with low self-esteem
  • Unsure of themselves in social situations.
How does dyslexia affect kids
How does dyslexia affect adults

How does dyslexia affect adults?

Adults with dyslexia may experience similar difficulties to kids with the condition but are usually juggling more responsibilities. 

As an adult with dyslexia, you may: 

  • Confuse words that look similar such as cat or cot
  • Read and write slowly
  • Have poor self esteem
  • Find it hard to maintain focus
  • Feel overwhelmed, anxious and frustrated
  • Get confused when given several instructions at once
  • Forget conversations or important dates
  • Struggle with personal organisation, time management and prioritising tasks.

Dyslexia undeniably makes life more difficult and can complicate further education and workplace advancement. That said, many adults with dyslexia go on to enjoy successful adult lives by developing personal resilience and accessing the right support.

Dyslexia therapy program at Neurofit

As noted above, dyslexia is a brain-based condition. At Neurofit, we believe that brain activity makes an active difference.

The brain is a marvellously adaptive organ. It can change and develop new neural pathways in response to the right stimulus. It works best when there’s a balance between its two sides and good communication between them.

That’s what we focus on at Neurofit Brain Centre. We use evidence-based therapies designed to stimulate the chosen area of the brain. Often, we’ll use several of these at once (co-activation) giving your brain the maximum opportunity to form new neural pathways and strengthen itself.

For adults and children with dyslexia, we begin with a thorough assessment of your condition and discuss the ways in which it is affecting your life. Then we recommend a therapy program program – most often with dyslexia, we focus on stimulating the left side of your brain.

That may include: 

Digital therapy

Electrical Stimulation Therapy

We now offer Electrical Stimulation Therapy for existing patients with dyslexia, which harnesses Quantitative EEG (qEEG) technology. Often referred to as “Brain Mapping,” qEEG captures a digitised analysis of your brain’s electrical activity. This allows us to tailor brain-based therapies that target and stimulate the specific areas involved in reading and processing.

Acoustic therapy

Sound therapy

One study found that rhythm-based interventions may help language processing in children with developmental disorders of language learning

Brain-based video games to strengthen the left side of the brain.

If you’d like to see how we can help you or your child, please contact us today.