logo
menu

Home » Blog » What Is Developmental Dyslexia?


What Is Developmental Dyslexia?

Is it just dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a language-based disorder affecting reading.  The underlying cause of dyslexia is a weakness that lies in the phonological part of the language system.  Our phonological skills allow us to hear and understand the sounds that make up our spoken language.  They let us manipulate these sounds and then relate the sounds to the letters or symbols that make up our written language.  This is a lifelong condition that is not acquired and is present from birth.  Since dyslexia is a localized weakness in the phonological system in the brain, children who have dyslexia have difficulty because the phonemes of language are less sharply defined. While this difficulty with phonological skills interferes with decoding, it does not interfere with the other language skills.  This is why bright children with strong language comprehension can be dyslexic.  The language skills needed for comprehension are not impacted.  Intelligence is not affected by dyslexia; many individuals with dyslexia also have IQ scores in the superior or gifted ranges.  

The term developmental dyslexia is also used as a term for what we think of as dyslexia: where the phonological weakness is the primary weakness.  This affects decoding, our ability to sound out words using letter-sound knowledge and letter pattern-sound knowledge, when we try to read single words accurately.  This can continue to affect a child or adult with dyslexia after the single word decoding has been remediated in the form of weak reading fluency.  Fluency is the ability to read with proper phrasing and expression at an appropriate rate.  Individuals who have dyslexia often have difficulty with reading fluency and can benefit from fluency instruction and practice.  

Of the other disorders that affect reading, one similar to developmental dyslexia is a language-learning disability.  A language-learning disability affects both the phonological system and the semantic language system.  This is also a disorder present from birth but it differs in that it affects scores of verbal intelligence.  Due to the difficulty with language, a child with a language-learning disability has difficulty with both the decoding and comprehension.  A child with a language-learning disability will also have difficulties with some other language skills, such as receptive language (understanding), expressive language (communication), retrieval (word finding), or articulation (speech and pronunciation).  

Posted on 10.Oct.21 in Dyslexia

Money back

Our 90 day money back guarantee

30 Minutes a Day + 5 Days a Week + 3 Months = GUARANTEE your child’s independent reading level will improve.*

* Measured by Lexile® level after completing the Power Challenge and by then reading Power Texts on LightSail's Platform.

Why Children Love LightSail

Come see what parents of struggling readers have to say about LightSail.

We're here to help!

Find answers to frequently asked questions or contact us for more support.

You can email us at

[email protected]

How many parent accounts are included with a childs license?

Every family account includes 2 parent accounts

I am part of a homeschool group and we share teaching responsibilities. How can I access those accounts?

LightSail has created a Teacher/Coach role that can connect with multiple accounts. This is available as an add-on purchase. This account acts as additional parent with full teacher control to all connected accounts.

Is your platform only Faith-Based?

LightSail is available for both Faith-Based and Non Faith-Based families. A parent can choose to allow Faith-Based content or hide Faith-Based content including Library Collections and Lesson Plans. LightSail has created hundred of Faith-Based and non Faith-Based Library Collections, Bookmarks, Quotations, and Lesson Plans.

If I want to purchase a book with your E-Commerce store, do I have to buy a copy for each license I purchased?

No, when you purchase a book using our E-Commerce store you only need to purchase 1 copy for your entire family. Your purchase includes unlimited checkouts.

How does LightSail’s childsafe protection work?

At LightSail, a parent’s ability to oversee their child’s online experience and align it with their faith and values is of the utmost importance. To this end, LightSail contains an entire suite of parental control features and never-before-seen ChildSafe Content Controls giving parents ultimate peace of mind.

These content controls contain dozens of nuanced subcategories for potentially objectionable material based on both maturity and religious factors. Then, it shows parents if a book contains a reference to any of those subcategories and allows them to block or allow single titles or entire subcategories for each child individually. Our ChildSafe Content Controls offer unprecedented insight into and control over the content your children consume without the need to read every book in advance.

  • Block or allow individual pieces of content.
  • Block or allow entire subcategories of content.
  • Require a child to request parental approval before opening entire subcategories of content.
  • Block, allow, or require requesting parental approval for all Classics library content.
  • Block or require requesting parental approval for all unrated content.

Click here to learn more about all of our parental controls.

About Us

We are LightSail for struggling readers - a complete language arts platform built on the shoulders of LightSail Education, advancing the literacy skills of struggling readers through individualized, evidence-based strategies and content.

Contact us