OT and Dyslexia

Dyslexia is the most common form of neurodivergence.

It affects around 20% of the population, meaning that people with dyslexia are on almost every occupational therapy professional’s caseload. And yet, not enough OT-specific research and resources have been devoted to how we can help this population.

Today, we look at a leading theory of dyslexia that basically reads like a call to action for OTs to re-examine how needed our skills are.

As you’ll see it pushes us to take a strengths-based approach to treating dyslexia, and to regard the condition as rooted in a sensory processing difference (hello, OT!)

To help us unpack what this means for your practice, we welcome to the podcast Penny Stack, OTD, OTR/L. She is the founder of DyslexiaRx.

1. You will be able to identify OT assessments to utilize with people with dyslexia.

2. You will be able to recognize the areas of intervention OT can contribute to a team approach for dyslexia.

• Intro

• Breakdown and analysis of journal article

  • Intro

  • OT Potential Podcast Intro

  • History of dyslexia

  • Challenges of the current state of dyslexia

  • New theories of dyslexia

  • One theory to unite them all?

  • Strengths of people with dyslexia

  • Article conclusion

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs

  1. Intro to Penny Stack

  2. Penny’s journey into working with dyslexia

  3. Article impressions

  4. Describing dyslexia to clients

  5. OT understanding of dyslexia

  6. OT assessments and dyslexia

  7. OT outcomes and dyslexia

  8. OT intervention and dyslexia

  9. Team approach to dyslexia

  10. More dyslexia OT resources

  11. How does OT need to change?

Primary

• Theories about Developmental Dyslexia

Additional

• Comparing the effects of two education-based intervention programs on visual perception processes of children with developmental dyslexia

• The current status of the magnocellular theory of developmental dyslexia

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OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Penny Stack is founder and owner of DyslexiaRx and founder of the Dyslexia Center of Tulsa, both of which provide services for dyslexia — the subject of this course.