Dyslexia is described as which of the following?

• A. A reading impairment that affects all cognitive tasks
• B. A learning disability that primarily affects reading
• C. An auditory processing disorder
• D. A language development issue with speech delay

Answer: (B)

Dyslexia is a learning disability that primarily affects reading skills. It stems from difficulties with recognizing and decoding written words, often tied to phonological processing, which can make reading, spelling, and decoding tasks challenging even when intelligence and educational opportunities are normal. It is not a broad impairment of all cognitive tasks, nor is it primarily an auditory processing disorder or a language-development issue with speech delay. Understanding this helps explain why interventions focus on targeted reading and decoding strategies, such as explicit phonics instruction, rather than addressing overall intelligence or unrelated cognitive functions.