Just the Facts about Dyslexia: The Risk Factors

Today’s post continues our blog series “Just the Facts about Dyslexia” by Educational Pathways Academy, a private school for dyslexia in Florida.  The series summarizes findings from many research sources to educate families about dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities.  In our quest to serve students with learning differences by delivering innovative programs that address their academic, social and emotional needs, our school seeks to understand the latest facts, statistics, and trends happening across our nation and world related to literacy in exceptional student education, language-based learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD and neurodiversity.  The blog series shares a cumulative summary of third-party information taken from a wide range of books, published articles and blogs, research studies and websites in this arena. Sources are cited accordingly.  

This is the second post in the “Just the Facts About Dyslexia” series, and we’re talking about the risk factors associated with dyslexia for children and young adults who do not receive support and intervention. (Click here to read our first blog post “Just the Facts about Dyslexia in the Population-at-Large and the Educational System”.)

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The Risk Factors of Dyslexia

Did you know?  According to the National Council on Disabilities (1), “studies show that up to 85 percent of youth in juvenile detention facilities have disabilities that make them eligible for special education services, yet only 37 percent receive these services while in school……These statistics should lead to the conclusion that many disabled youth in the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems are deprived of an appropriate education that could have changed their School-to-Prison Pipeline trajectory.”

In fact, students with learning disabilities are at substantially higher risk for bullying, substance abuse, incarceration, unemployment and suicide, especially if the disability is not diagnosed and intervention activated.

Here are the major risk factors, supported by research studies and statistics:

Dyslexia Risk Factor #1:  Discipline & Penalties

Students with disabilities are more than 2x as likely to be suspended as students without disabilities.  The loss of instructional time increases the risk of repeating a grade and dropping out. (2)  One in two students with learning disabilities experiences a suspension (in or out of school) or expulsion. Only students with emotional disturbance receive more disciplinary removals. (3)

Dyslexia Risk Factor #2:  Dropping out of High School

Students with learning disabilities experience one of the highest drop-out rates among all students with disabilities; only second after those students with emotional disturbance. (3) Students who repeat a grade are at least five times (5-11x) more likely to drop out of school. The probability is even higher for students who repeat a grade two times or more. (4)  

Here are some additional statistics about dropping out of high school:

• Dropouts are 5x more likely to have repeated a grade than are high school graduates. (1)

• Students who repeat two grades have an almost 100% chance of dropping out of school. (1)

• Students with learning disabilities drop out of high school at nearly 3x the rate of all students. (5)

• 19% of students with a learning disability drop out of high school. (1)

Dyslexia Risk Factor #3:  Post Graduation & College Performance

It’s estimated that more than 80% of dyslexics leave school unidentified. (6) Even for those who are identified during the school years, when considering higher education goals after high school, 82% of teachers had lower expectations for students with learning disabilities, predicting that they would achieve no college education, with parent’s expectations being 43% lower. (7)

Only 41% of young adults with learning disabilities complete any type of post-secondary education (within eight years of leaving high school). (8) 

For those who do go on to college, 76% of college students with learning disabilities say they didn’t tell their college that they have a disability — and by law, they can’t ask for accommodations without disclosing their disability. (5)

Looking at these statistics alone, it’s of critical importance that families don’t allow them to become self-fulfilling prophecies!  Interestingly, 52% of students did not consider themselves to have a disability within two years of leaving high school, and that number increased to 69% after eight years. (3)

Dyslexia Risk Factor #4:  Bullying

Children with learning disabilities were two to three times more likely to be bullied than their non-disabled peers. (9)

Dyslexia Risk Factor #5:  Juvenile Justice System

Students with disabilities have a greater likelihood of juvenile justice involvement because of suspensions, repeating a grade and dropping out of school. (1)

Among incarcerated youth, 85% have learning and/or emotional disabilities, yet only 37% receive special education in school. Most were either undiagnosed or not properly served in school. (1)

55% of people with learning disabilities had some type of involvement with the criminal justice system within eight years of leaving high school. (3)

Dyslexia Risk Factor #6:  Substance Abuse

An individual with ADHD is twice as likely as one without ADHD to abuse substances. (10)

The percentage of learning disabled people in residential substance abuse treatment programs has been found to be as high as 60%. (10)

Dyslexia Risk Factor #7:  Suicide

There is a 3x higher risk of attempting suicide by students with learning disabilities. (11)

89% of suicide notes have dyslexic-type spellings in them. (12)

Dyslexia Risk Factor #8:  Unemployment & The Workplace

The unemployment rate of Americans with only a high school diploma is twice that of those with a bachelor’s degree; their weekly earnings are almost half. (3)

Only 46% of working-age adults with learning disabilities are employed.  Adults with these challenges are twice as likely to be jobless. (13)

According to an analysis of 2010 census data, adults with learning disabilities were twice as likely to have dropped out of the labor force completely as compared to their peers without learning disabilities. (13)

81% of young adults with learning disabilities have not made their employers aware of their disability. (5)

Only 5% of young adults with learning disabilities reported that they were receiving accommodations in the workplace. (3)

These statistics are alarming, and for many, can feel enormously discouraging. But, THERE IS HOPE.

Remarkably, dyslexia is identifiable, with 92% accuracy, at ages 5½ to 6½. (14) The research around Dyslexic Strengths also offers incredible hope! Dyslexics are more likely to own two or more businesses (15) and are 4x more likely to be entrepreneurs compared to the general population. (16) Next month, we’ll write more about the Success Factors associated with dyslexia in our final, third blog post of the Facts about Dyslexia series.

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ABOUT EDUCATIONAL PATHWAYS ACADEMY

Educational Pathways Academy (EPA) is a private school that specializes in the academic, social and emotional development of students with language-based learning disabilities, such as dyslexia. At EPA, your child’s journey is about more than just delivering structured literacy or Orton-Gillingham instruction (although we do that, too!) It is about their total academic, social, and emotional success. It’s about helping them overcome and work around their disability, exploring their strengths and talents at every turn. And finally, it’s about preparing them for a successful life and career ahead, with whatever accommodations they may need to survive and thrive.

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Sources:

1. “Breaking the School-to- Prison Pipeline For Students with Disabilities.” National Council on Disabilities. June 18, 2015. Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students with Disabilities | NCD.gov

2. “Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Challenges.” National Center for Learning Disabilities. Social, Emotional and Behavioral Challenges - NCLD

3. “The State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and Emerging Issues (Third Edition, 2014).” National Center for Learning Disabilities. The State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and Emerging Issues (Third Edition, 2014) (ncld.org)

4. Shane R. Jimerson, Sarah M. Woehr, & Amber M. Kaufman. University of California, Santa Barbara. “Grade Retention and Promotion Information for Parents.” National Association of School Psychologists. HCHS section 3 (naspcenter.org)

5. “Learning disabilities by the numbers.” Understood. Learning Disabilities in Children | Understood       

6.  “Connect the Spots Report.” Made By Dyslexia. ConnectTheSpotsReport.pdf (madebydyslexia.org)

7.  Shifrer, D. (2013). “Stigma of a label: educational expectations for high school students labeled with learning disabilities.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. The Effects of Stigma on Students with Learning Disabilities and Inclusive Classroom Practices - Community Psychology

8. Guild Education White Paper “Bridging the Social Mobility Gap for Working Adult Students with Learning Disabilities: https://www.ncld.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GUILD-Whitepaper-LD-v3B-2-1.pdf

9. “Students with Disabilities and Bullying: 5 Important Facts.” Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center. Students with Disabilities - National Bullying Prevention Center (pacer.org)

10. “Substance Abuse and Learning Disabilities: Peas in a Pod or Apples and Oranges?” September 2020. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. ED452630.pdf

11. Suicidality, School Dropout and Reading Problems Among Adolescents. Journal of Learning Disabilities, vol. 39,6: pp 507-514. First published Nov. 1 2006. Suicidality, school dropout, and reading problems among adolescents - PubMed (nih.gov)

12. Learning Disabilities and Adolescent Suicide. Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 30, 6: pp 652-659. Published first Nov. 1, 1997. Learning disabilities and adolescent suicide - PubMed (nih.gov)

13. “Transitioning to Life After High School.” National Center for Learning Disabilities. Transitioning to Life After High School - NCLD

14. “National Institutes of Health (NIH) Summary Report.” 1994. National Institutes of Health. NIH-Study-1994.pdf (readingsuccessplus.com)

15. Julie Logan. “Dyslexic Entrepreneurs:The Incidence; Their Coping Strategies and Their Business Skills.” Cass Business School. 2004. Dyslexic entrepreneurs: the incidence; their coping strategies and their business skills

16. Tulip Financial Group (2003) Study commissioned for a BBC Two series ‘The Mind of the Millionaire’. British Broadcasting Corporation, London. Who wants to be a millionaire? | UK news | The Guardian