Your child has ADHD.
That diagnosis seemed to explain a lot.
They lose focus during homework. They forget directions. They rush through assignments. They need reminders to get started and have difficulty staying with tasks they do not enjoy.
But there is one problem.
Reading is still much harder than you think it should be.
Maybe your child reads slowly. They guess at unfamiliar words. Spelling is inconsistent. Reading aloud is effortful. They avoid books whenever possible.
You may start wondering:
Is all of this really ADHD? Or could my child also have dyslexia?
The answer is that a child can have both.
ADHD and Dyslexia Can Occur Together
ADHD and dyslexia are different conditions, but they commonly occur together.
That can make it difficult for parents to figure out which difficulty is causing what.
A child with ADHD may struggle to stay focused while reading.
A child with dyslexia may lose focus because reading itself requires so much effort.
And a child with both may experience both problems at the same time.
From the outside, they can look remarkably similar.
“They Don't Pay Attention When They Read”
Imagine watching your child complete a reading assignment.
They read a few sentences.
Stop.
Look around the room.
Lose their place.
Start again.
Skip a word.
Ask how much longer they have to read.
It would be easy to assume:
“This is their ADHD.”
And sometimes it is.
But consider another possibility.
What if reading requires so much effort that your child simply cannot sustain it for very long?
If they have to work hard to figure out individual words, remember what they just read, and keep up with the meaning of the passage, reading can become exhausting.
Avoiding that task can look like an attention problem.
Look at What Happens With the Words
One helpful distinction is to pay attention to your child's actual reading skills.
A child whose reading difficulties are primarily related to attention may read quite well when focused.
A child with Dyslexia may show difficulties even when they are trying their hardest.
You might notice:
difficulty sounding out unfamiliar words
guessing based on the first few letters
slow or effortful reading
difficulty reading made-up or unfamiliar words
inconsistent spelling
difficulty remembering how words are spelled
avoiding reading aloud
reading that seems unexpectedly weak compared with the child's vocabulary or reasoning
Those patterns may deserve a closer look rather than automatically being attributed to ADHD.
Sometimes Dyslexia Gets Blamed on ADHD
This can happen when ADHD is diagnosed first.
Once there is an explanation for school difficulties, every later struggle can start getting filtered through that diagnosis.
They did not finish the reading?
ADHD.
They missed words?
They were rushing.
They cannot remember their spelling words?
They were not paying attention.
They avoid reading?
They have trouble sustaining effort.
Those explanations may sometimes be correct.
But if the same reading and spelling difficulties continue despite ADHD treatment, tutoring, additional instruction, or improved attention, it may be worth asking whether something else is happening too.
The Reverse Can Happen Too
Sometimes dyslexia is identified first.
The child receives appropriate reading intervention and begins making progress.
But parents and teachers continue noticing difficulties that extend far beyond reading.
The child forgets assignments.
Loses materials.
Has trouble getting started.
Needs repeated reminders.
Rushes through work.
Struggles to manage time.
Has difficulty completing multi-step tasks across subjects.
At that point, it may be worth considering whether ADHD or difficulties with Executive Functioning are also contributing.
Why It Matters
If a child has both ADHD and dyslexia, treating only one does not make the other disappear.
Reading intervention cannot directly address all of the attention and organizational difficulties associated with ADHD.
And improving attention does not automatically teach a child how to read more efficiently.
This is why understanding the child's full learning profile matters.
A Neuropsychological Evaluation can look at reading alongside attention, memory, language, processing, executive functioning, and other areas of learning.
The goal is not to collect diagnoses.
It is to determine why this particular child is struggling so that support actually matches what they need.
If your child already has ADHD but reading and spelling remain unexpectedly difficult, you do not necessarily have to choose between the two explanations.
