In searching for more articles related to dyslexia, I came across this post that describes the differences between dysphonetic dyslexia (or known as auditory dyslexia) and dyseidetic dyslexia (or known as surface or visual dyslexia). Individuals with auditory dyslexia have difficulties putting sounds to letters, ie not knowing that the letter "b" makes the /b/ sound. Individuals with visual dyslexia, on the other hand, are unable to recognise irregular words (words that don't sound how they are spelled). For example "school"?

This seems to make dyslexia into two distinct categories, but in my experience, they don't always fall neatly into these two categories. Some children have difficulties both ways and may need years of help before they can read and spell adequately. Given that English also has many borrowed words from other languages, and hence can't always be spelt phonetically, (thus making it even more difficult for the dyseidetic dyslexic to learn), it is little wonder that some children with dyslexia spend years catching up with their peers. Does simple drilling help a child with dyslexia learn irregular words? hmm...