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A late dyslexia diagnosis but not too late | UNICEF NZ

Living with Dyslexia can effect more areas of your life than just the classroom. This student was able to reach her full potential thanks to a unique teacher that took special interest in her life.

Laura Lurns Last updated February 25, 2025 · 1 min read

Georgia is a young woman who has dyslexia, but it wasn’t diagnosed until she was fourteen years old. Dyslexia is a language-based learning disorder which can affect the way a person reads, understands words and spells. She describes reading as looking like a “giant alphabet soup” with the letters in motion. She recalls being called stupid and told that she should be in the five-year-old’s class.

Georgia was tired all the time and didn’t want to go to school. As a result of this constant stress, she got involved in drugs and alcohol. Many people gave up on her, but not teacher Ms. Sharpe, who helped her get tested for dyslexia. Finding out that she had dyslexia and wasn’t dumb, or alone in her plight, was a huge relief. As such, Georgia advocates early testing for children who are having difficulties in school.

Key takeaways

Dyslexia can be exhausting for the sufferer because of reading troubles. While reading, letters in words can appear to move around or switch places.
Dyslexics can be the target of bullying at school. Intervention and diagnosis is critical to help prevent the sufferers of dyslexia from developing severe problems in life due to educational neglect.
There is no reason that a child will discover that they have dyslexia unless parents and teachers offer a diagnosis.

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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 is the only route to those supports.

Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert Writes about the learning brain for parents who want plain answers. Every article is grounded in current neuroscience and classroom practice.

Key takeaways

Is your child struggling in school?

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