is a malfunction of the brain's electrical system. It interferes with a person's ability to read, write, spell, comprehend, and speak, and affects other areas, such as organization or telling time or understanding the concept of time.

It generally afflicts people with above-average to gifted intelligence, and results in tremendous frustration for students who, for instance, can read but have difficulty writing; can write but have trouble with spelling; can remember what they see but not what they hear; can understand material that's read aloud but not silently; or can write gorgeous sonnets but can't string enough of the right words together to order lunch at Ernie's Greasy Grill.

Dyslexia is infinitely variable: Every kid in a family may be dyslexic, but each in a different way. It tends to run in families, but not necessarily. More likely to occur in boys than girls; more likely to occur in premature babies.

Interesting side-effects of dyslexia are: Marvelous creativity; deviant thinking - the ability to look at particular situations or life in general from unusual angles; exceptional talent in arts, music, athletics, and other areas.

Less-than-helpful attributes: Tendencies toward addictive/ compulsive behavior, inappropriate behavior, problems correctly evaluating tone-of-voice, codependency, inability to see other options, or conversely, inability to make a choice when confronted with too many options.

There's no cure; the best a dyslexic person can do is to learn how he/she learns, be willing to advocate for him/herself in order to receive information in the appropriate way; and nurture the advantages for all they're worth!

--This definition based on experiences of an actual dyslexic.