Signs of Dyslexia.

A list of check points the could indicate your child is Dyslexic.

Persisting factors.
There are many persisting factors in dyslexia, which can appear from an early age. They will still be noticeable when the dyslexic child leaves school.
These include:

• Obvious ‘good’ and ‘bad’ days, for no apparent reason,

• Confusion between directional words, e.g. up/down, in/out,

• Difficulty with sequence, e.g. coloured bead sequence, later with days of the week or numbers,

• A family history of dyslexia/reading difficulties.

Pre-school.
Has persistent jumbled phrases, e.g. ‘cobbler’s club’ for ‘toddler’s club’

• Use of substitute words e.g. ‘lampshade’ for ‘lamppost’ ans slow to remember names of objects eg. ‘table’  ‘chair’

• Difficulty with clapping a simple rhythm or  learning nursery rhymes and rhyming words, e.g. ‘cat, mat, sat’.

• Later than expected speech development.

• May have walked early but did not crawl – was a ‘bottom shuffler’ or ‘tummy wriggler’.

• Is often accused of not listening or paying attention.

• Difficulty with catching, kicking or throwing a ball; with hopping and/or skipping, with excessive tripping, bumping into things and falling over.

Primary school age.

• Has particular difficulty with reading and spelling.

• Puts letters and figures the wrong way round.

• Has difficulty remembering tables, alphabet, formulae etc.

• Leaves letters out of words or puts them in the wrong order.

• Still needs to use fingers or marks on paper to make simple calculations.

• Poor concentration.

• Has problems understanding what he/she has read.

• Takes longer than average to do written work.

• Problems processing language at speed.

• Still having some difficulty with tying shoe laces, tie, dressing.

• Has difficulty telling the time,  left from right, order of days of the week, months of the year etc.

• Surprises you because in other ways he/she is bright and alert.  Often has strong recall on things they have seen and heard.

• Has a poor sense of direction and still confuses left and right.

• have a history of delays in speaking, making sentences, or pronouncing words correctly?
• have difficulty in kicking or catching a ball?
• put letters and figures the wrong way round, e.g., confuse “b’s” and “d’s” longer than expected, and “15″ for “51″?

Also: Indications at Pre-School Stage

Intermediate School Stage

• Still reads inaccurately making frequent mistakes.

• Still has difficulties in spelling, often with strange ways of spelling or leave letters out of a word being spelt?

• put letters of a word being spelt in the wrong order?

• Gets ‘tied up’ using long words, e.g. ‘preliminary’, ‘philosophical’.
• Confuses places, times, dates.
• Has difficulty with planning and writing essays.
• Has difficulty processing complex language or long series of instructions at speed.
• Needs to have instructions and telephone numbers repeated.
• have a poor sense of direction, and still confuse left and right?
• still occasionally confuse “b’s” and “d’s” and other letters?
• still find times tables difficult?
• still needs to use fingers, or marks on paper, to make calculations?
• have problems understanding what they have read?
• take longer than average to do a small amount of written work?
• lack self confidence and have a poor opinion of themselves?
• surprise you will their power of recall, speaking abilities, and wide knowledge?

Also: Indications at Primary School Stage

Secondary School Stage and Above

• still read inaccurately?
• low comprehension of reading material.
• still have difficulties in spelling?
• need to have instructions and telephone numbers repeated?
• get “tongue tied” using long words such as “preliminary” and “philosophical”?
• confuse places, times, and dates?
• have difficulty with planning and writing essays?
• lack self confidence and self-esteem?
• Shows signs of being interverted or extriverted with no level playing field.
• Often very quick to anger and frustration.
• surprise you with their wide knowledge, and seems a bright child?

Also: Indications Over Twelve Years Old

If a child has all or a number of these difficulties, parents must do something to help them.

Ask your school if they will administer an assessment, such as the Bangor Dyslexia Test. A full assessment should be done by a registered psychologist using an assessment tool such as the full Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children, version 4 (WISC-IV®) that helps to pinpoint a student’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses (see the article by Lizette Campbell summarising information on WISC-III®).

Read: What Parents Can Do