Expert answer
The most important clues in a preschool child are:
- A family history of reading problems
- Delayed speech
- Lack of appreciation and enjoyment of rhymes — e.g., not appreciating the rhymes in a Dr. Seuss book
- Not being able to recite rhymes by age 3
- Continuation of baby talk
- Trouble pronouncing words
- Trouble learning the alphabet — (not the alphabet song, but knowing the individual names of the letters of the alphabet)
It is important to keep in mind that you are looking for a pattern of these clues — ones that keeping occurring often. Not knowing a rhyme or a the name of a letter once or twice is not what we are looking for. A pattern that occurs over and over again is what to look for.
— Dr. Sally Shaywitz