The Preschool Years:
Trouble learning common nursery rhymes such as “Jack and Jill” and “Humpty Dumpty”
A lack of appreciation of rhymes
Mispronounced words; persistent baby talk
Difficulty in learning (and remembering) names of letters
Failure to know the letters in his own name (S. Shaywitz, 2003).
Kindergarten and First Grade:
Failure to understand that words come apart; for example, that batboy can be pulled apart into bat and boy, and, later on, that the word bat can be broken down still further and sounded out as; “b” “aaaa” “t”
Inability to learn and associate letters with sounds, such as being unable to connect the letter “b” with the “b” sound.
Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters; for example, the word big is read as goat
The Inability to read common one-syllable words or to sound out even the simplest of words, such as mat, cat, hop, nap
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 (S. Shaywitz, 2003).
Kindergarten and First Grade Strengths:
In addition to the problems of speaking and reading, you should be looking for these indications of strengths in higher-level thinking processes:
Curiosity
A great imagination
The ability to figure things out
Eager embrace of new ideas
Getting the gist of things
A good understanding of new concepts.
Surprisingly maturity
A large vocabulary for the age group
Enjoyment in solving puzzles
Talent at building models
Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him (S. Shaywitz, 2003)
Problems in Speaking:
Leaving out parts of words or confusing the order of the parts of words
Speech that is not fluent; pausing or hesitating often when speaking
Imprecise language; stuff or things instead of the proper name of an object
Not being able to find the exact word, such as confusing words that sound alike: saying "tornado" instead of "volcano", substituting "lotion" for "ocean"
When summoned, oral responses do not come quickly
Trouble remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists (S. Shaywitz, 2003).
Problems in Reading:
Very slow progress in acquiring reading skills
The lack of a strategy to read new words
Trouble reading words that need sounding out; taking wild guesses at words.
Inability to read small function words such as that, an, and, in.
Stumbling on multi-syllable words, or the failure to come close to sounding out the full word; failure to decode parts of words, such as conible for convertible.
A terrific fear of reading out loud.
Oral reading that is choppy and labored, not fluent
Oral reading filled with substitutions, omissions, and mispronunciations.
Reliance on context to discern the meaning of what is read.
Avoidance of reading for pleasure.
The trouble with mathematics word problems (S. Shaywitz, 2003).
Signs of Strengths in Higher-level Thinking Processes:
Excellent thinking skills; conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction
Learning that is accomplished best through meaning rather than rote memorization
Ability to get the “big picture”
The ability to read and to understand at a high level overlearned (that is, highly practiced) words in a special area of interest
A surprisingly sophisticated listening vocabulary
Excellence in areas not dependent on reading (S. Shaywitz, 2003).
Problems in Speaking:
Persistence of earlier oral language difficulties
The mispronunciation of the names of people and places and the confusion of names that sound alike
A struggle to retrieve words: “It was on the tip of my tongue”
Lack of careful thought when put on the spot
Spoken vocabulary is smaller than listening vocabulary (S. Shaywitz, 2003).
Problems in Reading:
Childhood history of reading and spelling difficulties
Word reading biomes more accurate over time but continues to require great effort
Lack of fluency
Trouble reading and pronouncing uncommon, strange, or unique words.
Persistent reading problems
Usually, long hours spent reading school or work-related materials
Preference for books with figures, charts, or graphics
Disinclination to read for pleasure
Disastrous spelling
Particularly poor performance on rote clerical tasks (S. Shaywitz, 2003).
Signs of Strengths in Higher-Level Thinking Processes:
Strengths noted in the school-age period
High learning capability
A noticeable improvement when provided additional time on multiple-choice exams.
Noticeable excellence when focused on a highly specialized area, such as medicine, law, public policy, finance, or basic science
Excellence in writing if content and not spelling is important
Big-picture thinking; inclined to think out of the box
Noticeable resilience and ability to adapt (S. Shaywitz, 2003).