Literacy, reading and communication pose as a 20 and an 80 problem: – not just the 20% of people with 'hidden differences' and communication but the other 80% of people with communication preferences.
20% of people do have some form of difference, difficulty, or at worst a disability that makes communication a problem. They have real NEEDS that other people don’t have.

• llliteracy
• Dyslexia
• ADHD
• Visual Stress/ Meares Irlens
• Eyesight/Blind
• Physical differences make access difficult
• English as a second language
• Non-English speaking

80% of people may not have NEEDS but they do have PREFERENCES. These are ways they like to receive information. They may be preferences like these;
• Time Preferences - they want to receive information when they want – think of saving to MP3.
• Method – they may prefer auditory rather than visual – think of listening, not reading.
• Colour – 80% of people 'prefer' a background colour to black type on a white background.
• English– they may be able to read English but it is so much easier to listen to it being read.
• Other Languages - They may prefer a website in their own language – or even like to learn by seeing and hearing in another language.

Learning Difficulties Basics

What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia, meaning 'difficulty with words' is found in approximately 10% of the population, and 4% experience severe dyslexia. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) recognises dyslexia as an example of a specific learning disability.
It affects an individual’s ability to process information, and can also affect motor skills, memory, and orientation.
Dyslexics often 'think outside the box' and yet as children they are often labelled as 'thick and stupid'. They tend to learn and to process information in a different way.

Visual Stress
Visual Stress, also known as Merles/Irlen Syndrome, or Asfedia, causes words to jump on the page.
Reading speed can be increased dramatically by using a coloured background instead of white, which creates glare.
Research has suggested that up to 20% of people may suffer from this little known condition. It is often linked with dyslexia. What is Dyspraxia?
Dyspraxia, literally means poor movement. It can affect organisational and time management skills, attention span, and oral communication.
It is often linked with Dysgraphia, literally poor writing, which affects fine motor skills.
About 2% of the population have dyspraxia/dysgraphia, which are recognised as specific learning difficulties under the DDA.
What is ADD?
ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, affects the ability to concentrate and ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has the same impact, linked with over activity.
Both cause difficulties in following instructions, settling down to tasks, and listening and organisational skills.
It can be categorised as a learning disability and is recognised by the DDA as a mental impairment which has a substantial and long term effect on an individual’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day tasks.
What is Asperger's Syndrome?
Asperger’s Syndrome, recently vividly portrayed by author Mark Haddon in his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a form of autism which particularly affects social interaction.
Those with Asperger’s process and integrate information in a different way.
In particular, they have difficulty with abstract concepts, so that language is interpreted literally. Expressions such as 'raining cats and dogs', for example, would be baffling. Asperger’s affects social interaction such as the ability to make eye contact or to empathise with others, and is often linked with obsessive tidiness and the need for routine.
Visual Impairment
Visual Impairment, can differ widely from person to person. It can range from an ability only to perceive light, to a difficulty seeing moving images, or reading in poor light levels. People with low vision represent the majority of the visually impaired.
Those with a substantial visual impairment that has a substantial and long term adverse affect on the ability to perform day-to-day tasks come within the ambit of the DDA.
Hearing Impairment
Hearing Impairment covers a wide range of difficulties from total lack of hearing through to distortion of sound. It is the most common disability after impaired mobility. Some will rely on BSL or British Sign Language, whilst others may depend on lip reading.
Hearing impairment that has a substantial and long term adverse affect on the ability to perform day-to –day tasks is recognised as a disability under the DDA.

Our Solutions to help Adults and Parents combat visual and learning difficulties
The Talklets TEXTplayer offer solutions to bridge these communication problems by listening to text, changing text to speech for you.
Talklets TEXTplayer is a managed service for consumers that enriches an individual’s web browsing experience by making websites talk in lifelike voices.
It also allows the user to control the appearance of the site to suit his or her viewing preferences. Once logged into the Talklets TEXTplayer service, any home or office-based user may experience almost any web page being read out loud. This can be in a range of voices and languages, or users may opt to save text to MP3 for later listening, possibly on a mobile device such as an iPod.
Talklets TEXTplayer control bar act as teaching and hearing listening
aid and learning resource by following steps 1 to 6.
1 Click on and drag your mouse to highlight selected text and press this button to listen to it
2. Download the selected text as an MP3 file for later listening on your PC or on your iPod or other audio device
3. Stop the Talklets voice
4. Just holding your mouse over text will activate the Talklets voice to read it. Turn this facility on or off
5. Magnify the page larger or smaller using the plus (+) and minus (-) icons. Reset size with the middle button
6. Change the text highlight background colour to suit your viewing preference.

The Talklets TEXTplayer can also be used to control the visual appearance of a web page by changes to font and background colours and the use of a screen zoom facility to magnify hard-to-read small text.

USEFUL LINKS for Adults at Let's Talk Learning
For all our Tools and Solutions please visit our shop: – www.textic.com
For Services – www.hiddendifferences.com
For Adults and kids: www.2080kids.com