Signs of Dyslexia in Preschool

• Trouble learning common nursery rhymes, such as “Jack and Jill”,
• Difficulty remembering the names of letters and sounds in the alphabet
• Mispronounces familiar words; persistent “baby talk”
• Doesn’t recognize rhyming patterns like cat, bat, rat
• A family history of reading and/or spelling difficulties; highly hereditary
• Severe reactions to childhood illnesses
• Chronic ear infections
• Constant confusion of left versus right
• Late establishing a dominant hand
• Difficulty learning to tie shoes
• Trouble memorizing their address, phone number, or the alphabet
• Skips or misreads prepositions (at, to, of)
• Can’t sound out unknown words
• Trouble remembering sequences, such as singing the letters of the alphabet or saying the days of the weeks
• Cannot sound out even simple words like cat, map, nap especially when there are no pictures or context clues.
• Does not associate letters with sounds, such as the letter b with the “b” sound

Signs of Dyslexia in Grades K–2

• Confuses letters that look similar (b, d, p, q) and letters that have similar sounds (d/t; b/p; f/v).
• Letter or number reversals continuing past the end of first grade
• Slow, choppy, inaccurate reading: guesses based on shape or context
• Ignores suffixes. Omits the end of a word when reading and writing (for example, leaving off the s in cats or the ed in jumped).
• Slow, choppy, inaccurate reading: guesses based on shape or context
• Difficulty telling a story in a logical order
• Has trouble remembering and following directions with multiple steps.
• Often substitutes words when reading aloud, like saying the word house when the story uses the word home.
• Doesn’t seem to know how to sound out unfamiliar words
• Confuses vowel sounds.
• Can’t remember how words are spelled and apply spelling rules in writing.
• Frequently, reads a word incorrectly, even after having just read the same word correctly earlier in the same text.

• Difficulty understanding individual sounds in words and/or blending sounds to make a word.
• Difficulty telling time on a clock with hands.

Signs of Dyslexia in Grades 3–5

• Skips over it unfamiliar words.
• Often can’t recognize common words or sight words, at a glance, such as where and there, and tries to sound them out.
• Trouble explaining what occurred in a story or answering questions about details.
• Frequently makes the same kinds of mistakes, such as reversing letters (writing bots instead of dots) or mixing up the order of letters (writing stop instead of spot).
• Has trouble with spelling, such as quickly forgetting how to spell many of the words he studies or spelling the same word correctly and incorrectly in the same exercise.
• Takes a very long time to complete reading assignments and becomes frustrated and agitated. Avoids reading whenever possible.
• Seems to read at a lower academic level than the one at which he speaks; may have a smaller vocabulary than other kids his age because he doesn’t like to read
• Trouble with math – memorizing multiplication tables – memorizing a sequence of steps – directionality
• Extremely messy bedroom, backpack, and desk
• Dreads going to school – complains of stomachaches or headaches

Signs of Dyslexia in Teens and Tweens

• Often reads slowly, omitting small words and suffixes when reading aloud.
• Makes lots of spelling errors.
• Often struggles to remember common abbreviations, Mr., Mrs., including ones that are used on social media, such as idk and cul8ter.
• Has trouble expressing ideas in an organized way when doing writing assignments.
• Uses words like stuff or thing rather than a more specific phrase
• Often doesn’t get the joke; has trouble understanding idioms and puns.
• Does better hearing information audibly.
• Avoids reading whenever possible or becomes frustrated or agitated when reading.
• Seems to read at a lower academic level than the one at which he speaks; may have a smaller vocabulary than other kids his age because he doesn’t like to read.
• Rarely has a fast response in conversations; struggles when put on the spot
• Suffers extreme fatigue when reading
• Performs rote clerical tasks poorly
• Limited vocabulary
• Extremely poor written expression
• Large discrepancy between verbal skills and written compositions
• Unable to master a foreign language
• Difficulty reading printed music
• Poor grades in many classes
• May drop out of high school

Strengths

• Great imagination
• Ability to figure things out; gets the gist of things
• A good understanding of new concepts; eagerly embrace new ideas
• Surprising maturity
• Enjoys solving puzzles
• Talent for building models
• Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him
• Has a high capacity to learn
• Shows noticeable improvement when given additional time on multiple-choice examinations
• Demonstrates excellence when focused on a highly specialized area, such as medicine, law, public policy, finance, architecture or basic science
• Excellent writing skills if the focus is on content, not spelling
• Highly articulate when expressing ideas and feelings
• Exceptional empathy and warmth
• Successful in areas not dependent on rote memory
• A talent for high-level conceptualization and the ability to come up with original insights
• Inclination to think outside of the box and see the big picture
• Noticeably resilient and able to adapt

Sources:

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/signs-symptoms/could-your-child-have/checklist-signs-of-dyslexia-at-different-ages?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign

https://bartonreading.com/

www.dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/signs-of-dyslexia/

Shaywitz, Sally. (2002) Random House, New York, Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/dyslexia/dyslexia-what-youre-seeing-in-your-preschooler

https://www.thereadingcenters.com/dyslexia.html

By Sally Betters, Certified Life Coach