Researchers at Yale have been finding out what it’s like to be a student with dyslexia at one of the world’s most prestigious universities.
Finding your feet at uni is a struggle sometimes. If it’s not getting lost, forgetting your roommate’s name, or existing solely on a diet of instant ramen, it’s the endless hours in the library. Even the most enthusiastic reader can feel a little crushed when they’re assigned six chapters of Foucault or Proust.
This is why some parents and guardians worry that many young people could find the transition to university learning difficult.
Concerns like these are normal. However, they may be amplified in the parents of somebody with dyslexia: higher education is based around reading in a lot of disciplines. The thought of spending an evening in with Great Expectations could likely reduce most of us to tears, but students with dyslexia can find it even more difficult or alienating. It’s a natural worry that this could make them feel intimidated or blocked out from the university experience.
But a study by the Yale University Center for Dyslexia and Creativity could indicate otherwise.
Graduates who identified as dyslexic scored just as well on a series of questions designed to assess their academic, social and career progression as students who had no reading difficulties. Indeed, many students with dyslexia found their college experience and post-graduation life more satisfying than the students who didn’t have dyslexia.
What’s also interesting is that less than half of the students with dyslexia reported that, if they had the choice, they’d rather not have the condition. Instead, they opened up about how dyslexia had multiple benefits. “It taught me to take advantage of what I’m good at,” said one. “I take a more creative approach to problems,” said another.
Dyslexia has long been regarded as something that can have an impact on a student’s ability to achieve — but only recently have we started considering that that impact might be a positive one. With universities making use of new technology and becoming more aware of students’ needs every year, it’s a great time for young people with dyslexia to step into higher education.
You can read a more in-depth version of the study and its discoveries in the Journal of Pediatric Neuropsychology.