Dyslexia Early Indicators

Dyslexia Early indicators include the following:

• Speaking later than other kids his age.
• Your child adds new words very slowly to her vocabulary.
• Rhyming may be difficult for your child.
• Difficulty identifying and recognizing printed letters and words.
• Mispronouncing words
• Your child’s reading ability is below the standard level expected for the age group.
• Difficulty understanding instructions
• Your child may have difficulty processing and understanding auditory remarks and may find it hard to follow more than one set of commands at a time.
• He or she may not recognize differences and similarities between letters, words, and numbers.

Some children also display these Dyslexia Early Indicators:

• clumsiness or awkwardness in large muscle activities (running, hopping, skipping, playing games, sports)
• difficulty with or avoidance of holding a pencil, coloring, learning to write, working puzzles, or with any small muscle coordination activity
• uncertainty of preferred handedness
• avoidance of or difficulty with recognizing or recalling own name, letters of the alphabet, or words that are taught
• lack of desire or outright avoidance of learning to read or write or to listen to stories read to them

School-age children also display some or all of the following Dys:

• difficulty learning to read, despite being verbal and interested listeners
• confusion with sequencing letters in words or in spelling
• unreliable sense of direction: left/right, up/down, before/after; confusion sequencing days of week, months of year, etc.
• mispronunciation or transposition of syllables for reading or spelling
• guessing at words when reading aloud, or skipping over them with
• inability to sound words out
• difficulties with comprehension

Written expression

• inability to express complexity of thought in writing
• illegible writing or misformed letters
• difficulty spelling
• below grade level in language skills: reading, spelling, writing, and verbalizing; succeeding in reading but still misspelling
• miscall words: thing for night, procession for processing, achieve for archives, etc.
• avoidance of reading for pleasure
• continued performance below grade level
• failure to measure up to academic progress commensurate with intelligence or possibly to attain no more than grade level achievement

Math

• difficulty with mathematics, reversal of digits, transposition of numbers: 41 for 14, 325 for 523, etc.
• inability to recall sequential steps in mental arithmetic or follow written directions

Other associated issues

• development of negative emotional, behavioral and/or attitudinal problems due to inadequate academic performance
• loss of self-esteem and self-confidence due to various problems associated with difficulties in acquiring language skills
• family history (parents, siblings, other family members) of difficulty reading, writing, and/or math