Dyslexia Characteristics

Dyslexia Characteristics

Preschool-Kindergarten

• Delayed speech

• Mixing up sounds and syllables in long words

• Late establishing a dominant hand

• Difficulty learning to tie shoes

• Trouble memorizing

• Confusion with word play & songs

• Difficulty with directionally-based words

Elementary Age (Grades 1-5)

• Spelling difficulty

• Poor handwriting/dysgraphia

• Letter and number reversals after two years of handwriting instruction (age 8 & above)

• Difficulty remembering sight words or homophones

• Difficulty telling time on a traditional clock

• Trouble with math; math facts, sequencing, multiple steps, directionality, order of operations

• Word retrieval issues

• Slow, choppy, inaccurate reading:

  • Guesses based on shape (house/horse, breakfast/basket)

  • Correct letters, incorrect sequence

  • Inserts or omits letter (could/cold, stream/steam)

  • Skips or misreads prepositions

  • Ignores suffixes

  • Poor decoding skills

  • Confuses vowel sounds

Middle and High School

• Must reread multiple times for understanding

• Difficulty with comprehension & higher vocabulary

• Poor memory for facts, dates, & names

• Trouble summarizing

• Struggles with foreign languages

• Poor written expression

• Spends hours on homework

• May have trouble reading printed music

• Trouble expressing ideas in an organized way

• Struggles with pronunciation

• Trouble understanding idioms or puns

• Poor sense of direction

• Avoids reading

(Retrieved from: Understood.org and dys-add.com)