The specific signs of dyslexia, both weaknesses and strengths, in any one individual will vary according to the age and educational level of that person. The five-year-old who can’t quite learn his letters becomes the six-year-old who can’t match sounds to letters and the fourteen-year-old who dreads reading out loud and the twenty-four-year-old who reads excruciatingly slowly. The threads persist throughout a person’s life.
The earliest clues involve mostly spoken language. The very first clue to a language (and reading) problem may be delayed language. Once the child begins to speak, look for the following problems:
The preschool years
- Trouble learning common nursery rhymes such as “Jack and Jill” and “Humpty Dumpty”
- Difficulty learning (and remembering) the names of letters in the alphabet
- Seems unable to recognize letters in their own name
- Doesn’t recognize rhyming patterns like cat, bat, rat
- Mispronounces familiar words; persistent “baby talk”
- A family history of reading and/or spelling difficulties (dyslexia often runs in families)
Kindergarten and first grade
- Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters on the page — will say “puppy” instead of the written word dog on an illustrated page with a picture of a dog
- Does not understand that words come apart
- Does not associate letters with sounds, such as the letter ‘b’ with the /b/ sound
- Cannot sound out even simple words like cat, map, nap
- Complains about how hard reading is, or “disappears” when it is time to read
- A history of reading problems in parents or siblings
- Complaints about how hard reading is, or running and hiding when it is time to read
- A history of reading problems in parents or siblings
Strengths: In addition to looking for indications of difficulties in speaking and reading, here are some indications of strengths to look for and applaud in your child:
- Curiosity
- Great imagination
- Ability to figure things out; gets the gist of things
- Eager embrace of new ideas
- A good understanding of new concepts
- Surprising maturity
- A large vocabulary for the age group
- Enjoys solving puzzles
- Talent for building models
- Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him
Many of these indicate strengths in higher-level thinking processes.
Citation
Excerpted and adapted from: Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level
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