My Child’s ADHD Came With Dyslexia. Where Do I Start?

Last updated: September 5, 2026

In 2008, a team of researchers went looking for proof that teaching a child in their preferred learning style helps them learn. They found none. Others ran the test again in 2024 and reached the same answer. So when a program promises lessons tailored to your child’s style, it is selling something the science set aside years ago. Here is what actually helps, and why it matters more when your child’s attention already runs in a dozen directions at once. Your child is not broken. Their brain is learning differently.

TL;DR

Matching lessons to a child's learning style was tested in 2008 and again in 2024, and neither time did it improve learning. Real tailoring means teaching the next skill a child has not built, in order.
ADHD often arrives with dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia. A child with one difference is more likely to have another, through shared genetics rather than one causing the next, so a second diagnosis is expected rather than bad luck.
Dyslexia is not a vision problem. Every major pediatric and eye-care body agrees vision problems do not cause it, and the difficulty is connecting sounds to letters.
Extra time is the default school accommodation and often a trap. Asking for less work up front usually helps more than a longer deadline.
You do not have to wait for a formal label to start helping. A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis; for formal accommodations or a suspected vision, hearing, or medical cause, seek a professional evaluation too.

FROM THE VIDEO

Key moments from this ADHD Families Podcast conversation with Michael Shanahan, a specialist tutor who lives with dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD:

The biggest dyslexia myth, busted: it is not a vision problem, it is about processing the sounds of language. Watch at 26:58
Two kinds of tech: the tools that remove a barrier, and the apps that only claim to teach. Watch at 32:00
Why extra time often backfires, and the workload cut to ask for instead. Watch at 36:52

Common questions from parents

Does ADHD mean my child will also have a learning difference like dyslexia?

Not always, but the overlap is real. A child with one of these differences is more likely to have another, and it runs through shared genetics rather than one condition causing the next. So a reading, writing, or math difficulty showing up alongside attention struggles is the expected picture, not a run of bad luck.

Is dyslexia a vision problem, and will vision therapy fix it?

No. Dyslexia is a difficulty connecting the sounds of language to letters, not a problem with the eyes. Four major pediatric and eye-care bodies jointly state that vision problems do not cause dyslexia and that vision therapy is not a dyslexia treatment. Reversing letters is something a great many children do as they learn to read.

Should I ask my child’s school for extra time?

Extra time is the default accommodation, and it is often a trap. If a task takes your child far longer than a classmate, a longer deadline still leaves them doing many times the work. Asking for less work up front, such as the first few problems rather than all ten, often protects the evening better. The question to hold onto is whether a support builds the skill or quietly replaces the expectation that it gets built.

Do I need a diagnosis before I start helping my child?

No. Labels take time, and you do not have to wait to begin. A parent screener points you toward where to start today, in language that builds your child up. A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations at school, an IEP or a 504 plan, or you suspect a vision, hearing, or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too, since that is the route to those supports.

Lessons tailored to your child's "learning style" were tested in 2008 and again in 2024. They did not help. Here is what real tailoring looks like when ADHD comes with a reading struggle. Tweet Now Follow Learning Success

Tailored does not mean matched to a style

When you read the word tailored, your mind reaches for a comforting picture. Find out whether your child is a visual learner or a hands-on learner, then teach to that. It is a lovely idea. It also does not work. Researchers tested it in 2008 and found no evidence that matching lessons to a child’s style improves learning, and a 2024 review reached the same verdict. A 2020 study of educators across 18 countries found nearly nine in ten still believe it (Newton and Salvi). That gap is not a science problem. It is a systems problem, and it has been running for close to two decades.

So what does tailored mean, done honestly? Not matching your child to a type. It means watching the actual child in front of you and teaching the one skill they have not built yet, in the right order. A skilled tutor hears a child say V for B in the word bench and spends two lessons on exactly that. A class of thirty moving at a fast pace never stops for one child. When your child’s attention already runs in several directions, a lesson aimed at the average child in the room moves too fast to land. Responsive teaching slows down at the exact spot your child needs it, and it speeds up where they are already strong. That is also why presenting a lesson in more than one form for every child is the honest version of the idea, not choosing one form to suit one type.

Author Quote "

Tailored was never about matching your child to a type. It is about teaching the one skill they have not built yet, in the right order.

Laura Lurns Learning Success Expert

"Matching lessons to a child's learning style was tested in 2008 and again in 2024. Neither time did it improve how children learn." – Pashler et al. (2008); Frontiers meta-analysis (2024)

The second diagnosis was never bad luck

When ADHD arrives with a reading, writing, or math difficulty close behind, it feels like a pile-on. It is not. A child with one of these differences is more likely to have another, and the overlap runs through shared genetics, not one condition causing the next. In other words, the second diagnosis is the expected picture, not bad luck aimed at your family.

Knowing what each difficulty actually is takes some of the fear out of it. Dyslexia is not about the eyes. Every major pediatric and eye-care body agrees that vision problems do not cause it, and reversing letters is something a great many children do as they learn to read. The difficulty lives in connecting sounds to letters. Dyscalculia is a difficulty with number sense, the instant feel for which amount is bigger, and the help starts by going back to what numbers actually mean. Writing trouble is rarely about a lazy hand. Forming the letters is one of several jobs running at once, which leaves less room for spelling and for holding the thread of an idea. With ADHD in the mix, the brain has often moved three thoughts ahead before the first word lands on the page, so writing feels even heavier.

None of this means your child is stuck. Free tools already built into Word and Google Docs remove the mechanical block between what a child knows and what they get onto the page. And no two children’s profiles look the same anyway, which is the whole reason a one-size answer keeps missing.

Key Takeaways:

Tailored is not a style match: Teaching the next unbuilt skill in order beats matching a supposed learner type.

The second diagnosis is expected: ADHD and reading, writing or math differences ride together through shared genetics, not bad luck.

Ask for less work, not more time: Extra time often multiplies the load, so a smaller task protects the evening.

What to ask the school for tonight

The default help a school offers is extra time. It sounds generous. Look closer. If a task takes one child thirty minutes and yours three hours, a week’s extension still leaves your child doing many times the work. The pile grows until it ends in a meltdown. The more useful ask is often less work, not more time. Do the first two of ten problems. Cap homework at ten focused minutes so the evening does not turn into a battle. The honest question behind every accommodation is this. Is this support building the skill, or quietly replacing the expectation that it gets built?

You also do not have to wait for a formal label to start helping. Labels take time, and your child is struggling now. A parent screener points you toward where to begin today, in language that builds your child up instead of boxing them in. A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations at school, an IEP or a 504 plan, or you suspect a vision, hearing, or medical cause, a professional evaluation is the route to those supports.

One more thing, because desperation is a target. Heal ADHD in 30 days, calming stickers, the fix a doctor will not tell you about: these are built to catch a worried parent at eleven at night. There is no shortcut. The real answer is early, structured, expert help, and a parent who sees how hard this is and takes the pressure down instead of piling it on.

Author Quote "

The second diagnosis is the expected picture, not bad luck aimed at your family.

You want your child to walk into a classroom believing they belong there. What stands in the way is rarely your child. It is an old and tidy idea, sold in classrooms and now in apps, that a child learns best when you match a lesson to their type and hand them a label to explain the rest. That idea was tested and set aside, and nobody watches your child learn as closely as you do. The people who spend the most hours with a struggling child are not the ones writing the textbooks. They are the ones reading this sentence.

A reading struggle rarely travels alone. A child who finds reading hard often also wrestles with attention, with writing, or with the confidence that took a knock somewhere along the way, and each of those needs building in its own right. That is what the full set of Learning Success tools is for, the whole child rather than one worksheet. Start the seven-day All-Access trial and build the skills underneath, in the order your child actually needs them.

Why we use AI, plainly: it writes from a knowledge base our team maintains and audits—we work through it line by line and pull anything the evidence stops supporting. Doing that by hand for every family would take weeks each. This way the roadmap you get on Tuesday reflects what we corrected on Monday, and a human still reads it before you do.

Your school district must evaluate your child free of charge if you ask in writing, whatever your income and whatever the outcome (US, 34 CFR 300.111 and 300.301(b)). That route takes time and answers a different question than you do. This one starts today, from what you already know.

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A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing, or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too—that's the only route to those supports.