Is this dyslexia? How to support DP?

[Sami32]

Looking for advice....if I'm vague it's because I don't want it to be outing.

Background: DP is from a war-torn country, came to the UK as a refugee several years ago. Had due to the situation in his home country not the same access to education we have in the UK, was forced to leave school early.

He is a smart and intelligent person, happy to learn and explore new things, tries to soak up information about various topics, and absolutely lovely. He's open about the fact that he is from a low education background. He works full time and his boss is very pleased with him.

He struggles with reading and writing in English. He does read news in his own language, but how he puts it, reading a book would take him a long time and he's a slow reader. He has no problem texting, using a combination of auto-fill and google translate from his own language into English.

He couldn't even spell the most basic things in English, such as 'How are you', although he is in the country for a long time now. When I show him the spelling of a word, he would have forgotten it again next time. He misspelled my surname yesterday. When he gives me a handwritten card, the letters look very clumsy, like written by a child.

He has no trouble speaking or understanding English (save some grammatical errors when speaking). He never attended any English classes, only learned by listening. I've tried to suggest English classes to him, but he flat out refuses and says that he wouldn't be able to keep up with a class due to his low education. I suggested 1-to-1 teachings, but still a firm no from him. I talked with him about dyslexia and how dyslexic people are very smart and that dyslexia doesn't mean he's not intelligent or anything like that. He says he doesn't care whether or not he has dyslexia and refuses to discuss the topic further. I suggested 'reading for adults' classes which support people who have difficulties in reading for whatsoever reason, again a straight refusal.

Does this sound like dyslexia, or a deficit in reading and writing in general due to low education? What could I do to support him? He is a lovely, caring and intelligent man.
Should I leave the topic completely (It's up to him in the end to seek the help if and when he thinks he needs it), and see if I can navigate the relationship around this, e.g. by supporting him when he needs to write an email (he would ask me to write it for him)?

I think it's more likely to be language barrier and low education. How are you - none of those words are spelt phonetically, you can't guess them. If he's not been formally taught spellings and he's not wired his brain to retain academic info like spellings, I'm not surprised he's getting them wrong.

Does he do anything like form letters backwards or read a word mixed up (in his own language), do words 'swim' or wiggle on a page when he reads? Does a different coloured paper make it easier for him to read?

I think it’s English as an additional language. You have to read English/go to classes re writing. It isn’t something that you automatically pick up just through being able to speak the language.

I am an English teacher (as in curriculum rather than eal) and have had Chinese students who have not had a full grasp of reading/writing in their first language and so they found this very difficult in English and in Chinese as there is no baseline for learning.

There are probably some online courses that they could attempt initially?

@MuggleMe thanks for your reply. He said that words don't swim on paper for him. But I once heard him read 'no' as 'on'. He also occasionally switches two letters of a mid-length word when he tries to read something, usually two letters towards the end of the word.

Could be or dysgraphia which often presents as some one who is verbally very quick and articulate and comes across as highly intelligent but as soon as they have to write anything it all goes out the window!
some signs for this and dyslexia are being cross lateral. Ie left handed but right eyed, playing some sports left or right handed etc. Dysgraphics tend not to be very decisive.

Another thought about the 'How are you' example - even though one wouldn't know how to spell it initially without any English classes, wouldn't this be something that sticks eventually when a person is NOT dyslexic, after using it hundreds of times in texts (with help of autofill), and reading it in 100s such texts you get?

Thanks @Michellexxx - I also suggested online classes, or even BBC bitesize classes which he can listen to in his own time, but he doesn't like that either. I suspect he doesn't want to confront this topic at all out of fear of being/feeling stupid.

Thanks @Wherearemymarbles I didn't know much about this!

You can present as less dyslexic in one language than another. If dyslexia is caused by a visual processing problem you could likely be just as dyslexic in both languages. If it was more (or also) due to phonological awareness perhaps not- this doesn’t cause as many problems in languages with transparent orthographies. English unfortunately is opaque.

Dyslexia can also involve problems with the working memory and storing or accessing things from the long term memory ie struggle remembering learned spellings.

Regarding the handwriting, dysgraphia can be a common co-occurring issue with dyslexia.

I’m not sure what you can do about it if he does not want to address it and feels upset about it. Do you have or would you like children? Supporting their education may be something that would make it feel more pressing.

He doesn't sound dyslexic (and I do diagnose this). He has not had proper teaching of the English language. He is trying to pick it up as he goes along. The English language is tricky as there's so many phonological irregularities. If after formal classes and intervention (using a response to intervention model) he still isn't able to grasp reading and writing then that would be more evidence that he was dyslexic.

Btw dyslexia occurs across the 'intelligence' range which is a common misconception. The discrepancy model is fairly outdated, though still used.

Not an expert, but some friends with dyslexia. My understanding is partly in this Guardian article, that the "treatment" is largely the same whether it is dyslexia or difficulty with spelling etc. So it isn't necessarily worth worrying about whether they're dyslexic.

With that in mind and my experience of friends, can they just focus on use of English rather than writing it down? Make use of text-to-speech to read news or articles in English. Use podcasts or audiobooks. When he does need to type, use text-to-speech with headphones to check his work. And maybe even try speech-to-text when writing. Focus on the use of language rather than writing skills, which he may ultimately not need so much in the modern world.

Thanks all, that's really helpful! Just read this Guardian article, lots of new information here for me!

Regardless of the diagnosis, which I realise might not even be that important after reading comments and resources, would it be best to not address this topic anymore with him?

I think when you're dealing with another adult, it's very personal and down to individual approach. Gentlest approach is maybe to repeatedly offer suggestions, but without trying to tell him what to do?

You don't ultimately want to spend substantial time being his PA, but I'm not sure if that's what you're worried about yet.