What Does Dyslexia Feel Like? Inside a Student's Reading Experience: (Part 1 of 3)
- Kathy Cousineau
- Feb 23
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 24
This is Part 1 of a 3-part series exploring what dyslexia really feels like for students:
Part 1: Inside a Student's Reading Experience (You are here)
Part 2: What Teachers See vs. What Students Feel
Part 3: From Understanding to Action
It's 9:15 AM on a Tuesday morning. The teacher says, "Take out your reading books and turn to page 47."
Around the room, students flip pages. Books open. They start reading.
But for one student with dyslexia, the real work is just beginning.
What does dyslexia feel like in this moment?
It feels like every word requires effort, every sentence requires focus, and keeping up feels impossible.
This is what dyslexia really feels like in a classroom.
Let me take you inside that experience, minute by minute, so you can understand what's actually happening when a student with dyslexia tries to read.
The First 60 Seconds: Just Finding the Place
While other students are already three sentences in, this student is still looking for page 47.
The numbers at the bottom of each page require effort to decode. Was that a 4 or a 9? The 7 gets confused with a 1. Is this 47 or 41? Or 74? The student flips forward, then back, then forward again. Each time, they have to stop and figure out what the number says. Each time, it takes focus and mental energy.
By the time they find the right page, the teacher has already asked a question about the first paragraph. Other students are raising their hands.
The lesson has moved on.
They are already behind.
And the actual reading hasn't even started yet.
Every Word is a Problem to Solve
Now comes the actual reading.
The first word is "Throughout."
The student knows most of these letters. But putting them together in the right order, in the right sequence, with the right sounds? That takes work.
Th... r... o... u... g... h... out.
Wait. Is it thur-ow-ghout? That doesn't sound right.
They try again. Through... out.
The ough part is confusing. Is it like "though" or "tough" or "thought"? English has too many rules, and this student cannot remember which one applies here.
They sound it out slowly, testing different pronunciations in their head. Finally, it clicks: Throughout.
But now they have forgotten what the sentence was even about.
They have to start over.
The second word is easier. "The." They know that one instantly.
The third word is "revolutionary."
Their brain is already tired.
The Constant, Invisible Effort of Dyslexia
This isn't a lack of effort.
It is an exhaustion of effort.
The brain is spending so much fuel on the mechanics of decoding that there is nothing left for the actual meaning of the text.
Every single word requires active work.
The connection between the letters and the sounds they make is not automatic.
The student has to stop, decode, blend the sounds together, and check if what they just said makes sense.
Other students glance at a word and recognize it instantly. For this student, every word is a multi-step process.
And it is not just the decoding. It is the holding.
They decode the first part of the sentence, but by the time they get to the end, they have forgotten the beginning. Their working memory is completely full. They have to go back. Read it again.
Reading feels like juggling while someone keeps tossing you more balls. Eventually, something has to drop.
And everyone else just keeps moving forward.
The Gap That Grows Wider Every Minute
The teacher asks the class to read the next two pages silently and then answer the questions at the end.
Other students finish in four minutes.
This student is still on the first paragraph.
They are trying. They are working as hard as they possibly can. But decoding is slow. Words have to be sounded out.
Sentences have to be read two, three, or four times before they make sense. And even then, comprehension is shaky because so much mental energy went into just getting the words off the page.
They look up. Everyone else is writing answers. The student has not even finished reading the passage yet.
Panic starts to creep in. They start to think, "Maybe if they just skim. Maybe if they guess based on the pictures. Maybe if I copy what the person next to me is writing."
Anything to not be the last one. Anything to not look different.
This happens multiple times throughout every single school day.
Morning: Read the daily schedule off the board. Decode each word. Try to remember what comes first.
Reading block: Decode a two-page story while everyone else finishes and starts their worksheet.
Math: Spend so much time decoding "altogether" and "remaining" that the actual math gets lost.
Science: Get stuck on "evaporation" and "condensation." Miss the big idea entirely.
By the end of the day, this student is exhausted. Not from misbehaving. Not from refusing to work. From the sheer cognitive load of constantly decoding when their brain is not wired to do it quickly or automatically.
What This Actually Is
It's not laziness. It's not a lack of intelligence. It's not a behavior problem.
It's a constant, invisible effort that most people never see or understand.
When you understand what reading actually feels like for a student with dyslexia, everything changes.
You stop seeing a student who won't focus and start seeing a student whose brain is working overtime just to decode.
You stop seeing a student who isn't trying and start seeing a student who is exhausted from trying harder than anyone else in the room.
You stop seeing a behavior issue and start seeing an access issue.
But here's what makes this even more challenging: what the teacher sees happening in the classroom is completely different from what the student is experiencing.
That gap between what teachers perceive and what students actually feel is what we'll explore in Part 2. Because once you understand that disconnect, you'll never look at a struggling reader the same way again.
👉 Continue Reading: Part 2: The Dyslexia Experience Gap: What Teachers See vs. What Students Feel
FAQ: What Teachers Are Really Asking
What does dyslexia actually feel like for a student?
Dyslexia feels like constant mental effort just to decode words that other students recognize instantly. Reading is slow, exhausting, and requires significantly more cognitive energy than it does for their peers.
Is dyslexia about seeing letters backwards?
No. Dyslexia is not a vision problem. It's a language-based learning disability that affects how the brain processes written language. Students struggle with the connection between letters and sounds and the automatic recognition of words.
Why do students with dyslexia get tired so easily?
They expend significantly more mental energy to decode text. While other students read automatically without conscious effort, students with dyslexia must actively work through every word. This constant cognitive load leads to mental fatigue.
Want to Experience What Your Students Feel?
At Level the Learning Field, we help educators experience what it feels like to learn with a learning disability through empathy-based simulations. When teachers feel the frustration and cognitive load firsthand, they see their students differently. And that understanding changes how they teach.
Ready to bring this experience to your school or district? Let's start a conversation