Is Tom Holland dyslexic? How do you know if you are dyslexic?

Watch : Tom Holland Talks To Reporter About His Dyslexia

Tom Holland aka Spiderman talks about his struggles with dyslexia, his accent, & success as an actor

Actor Tom Holland talks to Jazzy about his English accent, overcoming dyslexia as a child, and sacrifices needed in order to become successful.

does Tom Holland have dyslexia

There are unknown facts about Tom Holland that a lot of fans might not know about. One of such is the fact that he is dyslexic.

The fact is, the Spider-man actor suffers from this disease. He got diagnosed with dyslexia at the tender age of just 7. This makes it difficult for Tom to read.

Waht is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, is a disorder characterized by difficulty reading in individuals with otherwise unaffected intelligence.

Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, “sounding out” words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads.

how to know if you have dyslexia

Often these difficulties are first noticed at school. When someone who previously could read loses their ability, it is known as “alexia”. The difficulties are involuntary and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn.

People with dyslexia have higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental language disorders, and difficulties with numbers. Dyslexia is believed to be caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Some cases run in families. Dyslexia that develops due to a traumatic brain injury, stroke, or dementia is called “acquired dyslexia”.

The underlying mechanisms of dyslexia result from differences within the brain’s language processing. Dyslexia is diagnosed through a series of tests of memory, vision, spelling, and reading skills.

Dyslexia is separate from reading difficulties caused by hearing or vision problems or by insufficient teaching or opportunity to learn.

Tom Holland has some advice for the youth out there.

On Wednesday, the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” star was interviewed by Jazlyn “Jazzy” Guerra on the 11-year-old’s “Jazzy’s World” YouTube channel.

The intrepid young journalist got things started by asking about the sacrifices and hard work he put into becoming a successful actor.

“That’s a big question,” Holland said. “You know, making sacrifices for your career is always important, but I think that we should all work to live, rather than live to work. So make sure that those sacrifices are worth it. Pursuing a career is one thing, but living a happy life is another.”

Next, Jazzy asked the actor about how he puts on an American accent to cover up his English one in the movies.

Rather than answer her directly, he described practising for years, all the while transitioning his accent into an American one as he spoke.

The reporter also brought up Holland’s struggle with dyslexia and asked how he’s been able to persevere through it.

“It’s just about taking your time,” Holland explained. “The better prepared you are for anything, the more you will be able to do and accomplish things that are fantastic.”
Speaking to Complex afterward, Jazzy said, “The interview was really inspirational and I think people will learn something from watching it. He’s one of my favourite actors because he’s really enthusiastic with his voice. I love his role in ‘Spider-Man’ and I can’t wait for the new movie.”

She added, “My favourite part of the interview was when he turned his English accent into an American accent, I thought that was really funny how he slowly changed it and I didn’t even catch [on] to it. He’s really awesome. I’m a kid and I got to meet the actor from ‘Spider-Man’? That’s really big and I loved it.”

How do you know if you are dyslexic?

Symptoms of dyslexia usually become more obvious when children start school and begin to focus more on learning how to read and write.

Symptoms of dyslexia in children aged 5 to 12 include:

problems learning the names and sounds of letters
spelling that’s unpredictable and inconsistent
putting letters and figures the wrong way round (such as writing “6” instead of “9”, or “b” instead of “d”)
confusing the order of letters in words
reading slowly or making errors when reading aloud
visual disturbances when reading (for example, a child may
describe letters and words as seeming to move around or appear blurred)
answering questions well orally, but having difficulty writing the answer down
difficulty carrying out a sequence of directions
struggling to learn sequences, such as days of the week or the alphabet
slow writing speed
poor handwriting
problems copying written language and taking longer than
normal to complete written work
poor phonological awareness and word attack skills

Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognise that words are made up of smaller units of sound (phonemes) and that changing and manipulating phonemes can create new words and meanings.

A child with poor phonological awareness may not be able to correctly answer these questions:

What sounds do you think make up the word “hot”, and are these different from the sounds that make up the word “hat”?
What word would you have if you changed the “p” sound in “pot” to an “h” sound?
How many words can you think of that rhyme with the word “cat”?

Word attack skills

Young children with dyslexia can also have problems with word attack skills.

This is the ability to make sense of unfamiliar words by looking for smaller words or collections of letters that a child has previously learnt.

For example, a child with good word attack skills may read the word “sunbathing” for the first time and gain a sense of the meaning of the word by breaking it down into “sun”, “bath”, and “ing”.

Teenagers and adults

As well as the problems mentioned above, the symptoms of dyslexia in older children and adults can include:

poorly organised written work that lacks expression (for example, even though they may be very knowledgeable about a certain subject, they may have problems expressing that knowledge in writing)
difficulty planning and writing essays, letters or reports
difficulties revising for examinations
trying to avoid reading and writing whenever possible
difficulty taking notes or copying
poor spelling
struggling to remember things such as a PIN or telephone number
struggling to meet deadlines