Characteristics of Dyslexia
If you suspect that your child has characteristics of dyslexia, please visit with your child’s classroom teacher or school counselor.
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 own name
Kindergarten to First Grade:
Failure to understand that words come apart; for example, that the word batboycan be pulled apart into bat and boy, and later on, that the wordbat can be broken down still further and sounded out like: “b”/”a”/”t”
Inability to learn to associate letters with sounds, such as being unable to connect the letter b and the “b” sound.
Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters; for example, the word bigis 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
Clues to Dyslexia from Second Grade On
Problems in Speaking
Mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar, or complicated words; the fracturing of words –leaving out parts of words or confusing the order or the parts of words; for example, aluminumbecomes amulium
Speech that is not fluent – pausing or hesitating often when speaking, lots of’ um’s’ during speech, no glibness
The use of imprecise language, such as vague references to stuffor 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 tornadoinstead of volcano, substituting lotion for ocean, orhumanity for humidity
The need for time to summon an oral response or the inability to come up with a verbal response quickly when questioned
Difficulty in remembering isolated pieces of verbal information (rote memory) – trouble remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists
Problems in Reading
Very slow progress in acquiring reading skills
The lack of a strategy to read new words
Trouble reading unknown (new, unfamiliar) words that must be sounded out; making wild stabs or guesses at reading a word; failure to systematically sound out words
The inability to read small “function” words such as that, an, in
Stumbling on reading multi-syllable words, or the failure to sound out the full word
Omitting parts of words when reading; the failure to decode parts within a word; as if someone had chewed a hole in the middle of the word, such asconiblefor convertible
A fear of reading out loud; the avoidance of oral reading
Oral reading filled with substitutions, omissions, and mispronunciations
Oral reading that is choppy and labored, not smooth or fluent
Oral reading that lacks inflection and sounds like the reading or a foreign language
A reliance on context to discern the meaning of what is read
A better ability to understand words in context than to read isolated single words
Disproportionately poor performance on multiple choice tests
The inability to finish tests on time
The substitution of words with the same meaning for words in the test that cannot be pronounced such as carfor automobile
Disastrous spelling, with words not resembling true spelling; some spellings may be missed by spell check
Trouble reading mathematical word problems
Reading that is very slow and tiring
Homework that never seems to end, or with parents often recruited as readers
Messy handwriting despite what may be an excellent facility at word processing
Extreme difficulty learning a foreign language
A lack of enjoyment in reading, and avoidance of reading books or even a sentence
The avoidance of reading for pleasure, which seems too exhausting
Reading whose accuracy improves over time, though it continues to lack fluency and is laborious
Lowered self-esteem, with pain that is not always visible to others
A history or reading, spelling, and foreign language problems in family members
Clues to Dyslexia in Young Adults
Problems in Speaking
Persistence of earlier oral language difficulties
The mispronunciation of names of people and places, and tripping over parts of words
Difficulty remembering names of people and places and the confusion of names that sound alike
A struggle to retrieve words: “It is on the tip of my tongue”
Lack of glibness, especially if put on the spot
Spoken vocabulary that is smaller than listening vocabulary, and hesitation to say aloud words that might be mispronounced.
Problems in Reading
A childhood history of reading and spelling difficulties
Word reading becomes more accurate over time but continues to require great effort
Lack of fluency
Embarrassment caused by oral reading
Trouble reading and pronouncing uncommon, strange, or unique words such as people’s names, street or location names, food dishes on a menu (often resorting to asking the waiter about the special of the day or resorting to saying “I’ll have what he’s having” to avoid being unable to accurately read the menu)
Persistent reading problems
The substitution of made-up words during reading for words that cannot be pronounced – for example, metropolitan becomes mitan– and the failure to recognize the word metropolitan when it is seen again or heard in a lecture
Extreme fatigue from reading
Slow reading of most materials: books, manuals, subtitles in foreign films
Penalized by multiple-choice tests
Unusually long hours spent reading school or work-related materials
Frequent sacrifice of social life for studying
A preference for books with figures, charts or graphics
A preference for books with fewer words per page
Disinclination to read for pleasure
Spelling that remains disastrous and a preference for less complicated words in writing that are easier to spell
Particularly poor performance on rote clerical task