Can Dyslexia Be Diagnosed Alongside ADHD or Dyspraxia?

Many adults arrive at this question from the same direction. You have started reading about dyslexia and quite a lot fits. Then you read about ADHD and some of that fits too. Then you come across dyspraxia and recognise the handwriting, the coordination, the sense of being slightly out of step with practical tasks. It is easy to conclude either that you have everything or that you must be imagining it.

Three distinct profiles

All three are developmental, meaning they relate to how the brain has developed and processes information rather than to effort, intelligence or upbringing. They are distinct in what they primarily affect.

• •Dyslexia primarily affects accurate and fluent word reading and spelling, usually linked to phonological processing, with working memory and processing speed often involved.
• •ADHD primarily affects attention regulation, impulsivity and activity levels, with executive functions such as initiating tasks, sustaining effort, managing time and switching between demands often significantly affected.
• •Dyspraxia, or developmental coordination disorder, primarily affects motor coordination and the planning and execution of movement, which can show in handwriting, manual tasks, driving, sport and spatial organisation.

Being distinct does not make them separate in daily life. The research picture consistently shows substantial overlap, and it is more common for these profiles to co-occur than to appear entirely in isolation.

Why they can look so alike from the outside

The reason adults recognise themselves in all three descriptions is that the visible outcome is frequently identical even when the underlying reason differs.

Take an unfinished report. It might be unfinished because reading the source material was slow and exhausting, which points towards dyslexia. It might be unfinished because starting and sustaining the task was the barrier and three other things interrupted it, which points towards attention and executive function. It might be unfinished because the whole day was disorganised and the time was never protected. It might be all three.

Shared features that often appear across profiles include difficulties with working memory, slower completion of routine tasks, disorganisation, losing track of belongings and instructions, mental fatigue and underperformance relative to obvious ability. This is exactly why looking at the whole profile, rather than a single symptom list, matters.

What a specialist dyslexia assessment covers

A full diagnostic assessment with a specialist assessor is broader than a reading test. It typically includes underlying cognitive abilities, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory, processing speed, and attainment in reading, reading comprehension, spelling, written expression and often handwriting speed. It is set against your developmental, educational and occupational history.

From that, an assessor can diagnose dyslexia and can identify other specific learning difficulties such as dyscalculia or a developmental language difficulty where the evidence supports it. Crucially, the report describes your profile, which means the findings remain useful even where a diagnostic label is not given.

Where the boundary sits, and why it matters

Defining Dyslexia does not medically diagnose ADHD, autism or dyspraxia. These are diagnosed through different pathways, usually involving suitably qualified health professionals such as psychiatrists, paediatricians, clinical psychologists or occupational therapists, and they draw on evidence a dyslexia assessment does not gather, including medical history and structured clinical interview.

What an assessment can legitimately do is note where the picture suggests something beyond dyslexia. If attention and executive function difficulties are prominent, if a screening measure or your history points that way, or if motor coordination difficulties are significant, the report can say so and recommend that you consider seeking advice from an appropriate professional. That is a signpost, not a diagnosis, and the report will be explicit about the difference.

Our page on ADHD and autism assessment pathways explains the usual routes in the UK.

Does having one diagnosis rule out another?

No. This is one of the most common misunderstandings, and it causes real problems.

Some adults are told that their reading difficulty is explained by ADHD and therefore cannot be dyslexia. Others are told the opposite. Both can be present, and where they are, addressing only one tends to leave the other unsupported. An adult whose ADHD is well managed but whose reading fluency has never been identified will still find long documents exhausting. An adult with a dyslexia diagnosis whose attention difficulties are unrecognised will still struggle to start and finish work regardless of how good their software is.

The order of assessment is usually practical rather than principled. Many adults start with whichever route is accessible and works from there. Our article on dyslexia and ADHD when they travel together looks at that combination in more detail.

Other explanations that should be considered

Before settling on any of these explanations, it is right to consider others honestly. Prolonged stress, anxiety, depression, disturbed sleep, thyroid and other health conditions, medication effects, menopause, chronic pain, alcohol use and long covid can all affect concentration, memory and speed of processing. So can disrupted education, learning in an additional language and simply not having been taught something.

The developmental question is the most useful one to hold onto. Has this been part of how you function for as long as you can remember, or did it change? If it changed, a medical conversation is the better starting point.

When an assessment may help

A dyslexia assessment may be worth considering if literacy or processing difficulties have been long standing and are affecting your work or study, if you want a clear description of your profile rather than a guess, or if you need evidence for study or workplace support. It is particularly useful when you are trying to work out which parts of your experience are literacy based and which are not, because that shapes what support will actually help.

If ADHD or dyspraxia turns out to be the more relevant question, an honest assessor will tell you so and suggest where to take it next. You can read about adult dyslexia assessments, try the free adult indicator check, or book a free 15-minute telephone call to talk it through. There is no obligation, and working out that an assessment is not the right step is a perfectly good outcome of that conversation.

Related guides

• •I can read, so could I still be dyslexic?
• •What if I cannot remember much about primary school?
• •What reasonable adjustments can a dyslexic employee ask for?
• •Dyslexia and ADHD, when they travel together
• •Browse the Knowledge Centre