Originally published 2018-03-03. Dates, ages and announcements in this article refer to March 2018.
I Am Dyslexic is a six-minute animated short from 2016, made at Falmouth University in England by two dyslexic students, Mads Johan Øgaard and Katie Wyman. It follows a small boy alone in a world built entirely of books, who must climb a towering mountain of them on his own. There is almost no dialogue; the film is designed to let viewers feel what reading and school can be like for a dyslexic child, rather than to explain it.
You can watch the whole film below. After it, you will find what the main images mean, what dyslexia is and is not, the myths that still trip up parents and teachers, and practical ways to use the film with a child.
Watch the film
The film runs 6 minutes 22 seconds, with music by Mari Hajem. It is gentle enough for primary-school children but works just as well for adults, many of whom recognise their own school years in it. Because it relies on pictures and music, it is also accessible to people who find subtitles or narration hard to follow.
The story and its metaphors
The boy begins in a landscape where every hill, path and wall is made of books. Learning is literally the ground he stands on, and it keeps shifting under him. The great mountain he has to climb stands for the school system: a single route that everyone is expected to take at the same speed. The climb is steep and lonely, and his effort never seems to bring the top any closer.
The turning point comes when he realises that he is not the only one struggling. The film's own synopsis puts that discovery, that a struggling child is not alone, at the heart of the story. It shifts the message away from "this child is failing" and towards "this climb was built in a way that suits some minds better than others."
That framing is useful because it separates the child from the difficulty. A child who reads slowly is not lazy or slow-witted; he is trying to climb a mountain that has not been shaped for the way his brain handles written language.
Who made it and why
Mads Johan Øgaard is a Norwegian illustrator and filmmaker who made the film as his final-year project on Falmouth's animation course, co-directing with Katie Wyman. Both have dyslexia and drew on their own memories of school. Øgaard has said the aim was for viewers to "feel what it feels like", so that understanding would come from experience rather than explanation.
The film has since travelled far beyond a student showcase. It is used in classrooms, teacher-training workshops and conferences, and Øgaard has screened it in talks at schools, universities and prisons. He has said it gives people with dyslexia a way to express how they feel and to start conversations they might otherwise avoid.
What dyslexia is, and what it is not
Dyslexia is a common learning difference that mainly affects accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. At its core is a difficulty with phonological processing: hearing and manipulating the individual sounds in words, and linking them to letters. It often comes with weaker verbal working memory and slower processing of written language.
Estimates vary with the definition used, but around 3 to 7 percent of people are commonly cited as having dyslexia, with broader estimates going higher. It tends to run in families, and several genes have been linked to it. Crucially, it is unrelated to intelligence. Many dyslexic people are strong at reasoning, storytelling, visual thinking or practical problem-solving, which is one reason the frustration can be so sharp: a child knows what they want to say but cannot get it onto the page.
Dyslexia often occurs alongside other differences. Between roughly 12 and 24 percent of people with dyslexia also have ADHD, and difficulties with handwriting or maths are also common.
Myths that still cause harm
- "Dyslexic people see letters backwards." Reversing letters such as b and d is normal in young children learning to write and is not the defining feature of dyslexia. The main difficulty is with sounds and language, not eyesight.
- "It's a vision problem, so coloured lenses will fix it." Treatments aimed at vision have not been shown to work for dyslexia, and specially designed "dyslexia fonts" have not been shown to improve reading.
- "They just need to try harder." Effort without the right teaching tends to produce exhaustion and shame, exactly what the boy in the film feels.
- "Children grow out of it." Dyslexia is lifelong, but the outlook is good when it is identified early and the child gets support and encouragement.
What actually helps
The best-supported approach is explicit, structured teaching of how letters and sounds connect and how sounds blend into words, started as early as possible and practised often. Alongside that, sensible adjustments make a big difference: extra time in tests, audiobooks and text-to-speech, being allowed to show knowledge orally, and not being asked to read aloud in front of the class without warning.
If you think your child may be dyslexic, start by talking to their teacher or the school's special educational needs coordinator. Schools can often arrange a screening and put support in place. A formal assessment is usually carried out by an educational psychologist or a specialist teacher. A doctor cannot diagnose dyslexia but can check for hearing or vision problems that could be making things harder, so talk to a doctor if you have any concerns about those.
Using the film with children
The film works well as a conversation starter at home or in class. After watching, try a few open questions: How did the boy feel on the mountain? Have you ever felt like that? What changed when he found out he was not alone? What could the other children, or a teacher, have done to help him?
For a dyslexic child, seeing their experience on screen can be a relief: proof that someone else understands. For their classmates, it can build patience and kindness. And for adults, it is a short, honest reminder that the problem is rarely the child, but the single steep path we expect every child to climb.
Sources: Films pour enfants: I Am Dyslexic (credits and synopsis); Falmouth University: Animation alumnus on the impact of I Am Dyslexic; Wikipedia: Dyslexia; NHS: Dyslexia; film on YouTube, by Mads Johan Øgaard and Katie Wyman.
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