Facts & Stats

  • 70-80% of people with poor reading skills are likely dyslexic.
  • One in five students, or 15-20% of the population, has a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia is the most common of language-based learning disabilities.
  • Nearly the same percentage of males and females have dyslexia.
  • Nearly the same percentage of people from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds have dyslexia.
  • Percentages of children at risk for reading failure are much higher in high poverty, language-minority populations who attend ineffective schools.
  • In minority and high poverty schools, 70-80% of children have inadequate reading skills.
  • According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 38% of all fourth-grade students are “below basic” reading skills. They are at or below the 40th percentile for their age group.
  • Nationwide 20% of the elementary school population is struggling with reading.
  • National Center for Education Statistics, 5% of all adults are “non-literate”.
  • 20-25% of all adults can only read at the lowest level.
  • 62% of non-readers dropped out of high school.
  • 80% of children with an IEP have reading difficulty and 85% of those are Dyslexic.
  • 30% of children with Dyslexia also have at least a mild form of AD/HD.
  • It is estimated that 1 in 10 people have dyslexia
  • Over 40 million American Adults are dyslexic – and only 2 million know it
  • Dyslexia is not tied to IQ – Einstein was dyslexic and had an estimated IQ of 160
  • Dyslexia is not just about getting letters or numbers mixed up or out of order
  • 80% of people associate dyslexia with some form of retardation – this is not true
  • Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability or disorder that includes poor word reading, word decoding, oral reading fluency, and spelling
  • Dyslexia occurs in people of all backgrounds and intellectual levels
  • Dyslexia has nothing to do with not working hard enough
  • 20% of school-aged children in the US are dyslexic
  • With appropriate teaching methods, dyslexia can learn successfully
  • Over 50% of NASA employees are dyslexic
  • Dyslexia runs in families; parents with dyslexia are very likely to have children with dyslexia
  • Dyslexics may struggle with organizational skills, planning and prioritizing, keeping time, concentrating with background noise.
  • Dyslexics may excel at connecting ideas, thinking out of the box, 3D thinking, seeing the big picture
  • People with dyslexia excel or even gifted in areas of art, computer science, design, drama, electronics, math, mechanics, music, physics, sales, and sports
  • Many famous people are dyslexic including Orlando Bloom, Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Spielberg, Kiera Knightley. Albert Einstein and Patrick Dempsey

SOURCES: American Dyslexia Association, The International Dyslexia Association, The Dyslexia Center, The Dyslexia Foundation, The Child Mind Institute