Signs and Symptoms of Dyslexia - Syllables Learning Center

Adapted from the work of Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity

How do you know if your child has dyslexia? The earliest clues mostly involve spoken language. The very first clue to a language (and reading) problem may be a delayed onset of speech. Once the child begins to speak, look for the following signs and symptoms of dyslexia:

Signs of Dyslexia in The Preschool Years

Trouble learning common nursery rhymes such as “Jack and Jill” and “Humpty Dumpty”
A lack of appreciation for rhymes
Mispronounced words; persistent baby talk
Difficulty in learning (and remembering) names of letters
Failure to know the letters in his or her own name

Signs of Dyslexia in Kindergarten and First Grade

Failure to understand that words can be broken into smaller parts; for example, batboy can be pulled apart into bat and boy, and later on the word bat can be broken down still further and sounded out as “b” “aaaa” “t”
Inability to learn to 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

In addition to identifying speaking and reading problems, look 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
Surprising maturity
A large vocabulary for the age group
Enjoyment in resolving puzzles
Talent at building models
Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him/her

Signs of 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 of the parts of words; for example, aluminum becomes amulium
Speech that is not fluent—pausing or hesitating often when speaking, lots of um’s during speech or glibness
The use of imprecise language, such as vague references to 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, or humanity 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 come close to sounding 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 as conible for 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 of 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 text she can’t pronounce, such as car for automobile
Disastrous spelling with words not resembling true spelling; some spellings may be missed by spell check
Trouble reading word problems in mathematics
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—nimble fingers
Extreme difficulty learning a foreign language
A lack of enjoyment in reading, and the 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 of reading, spelling, and foreign language problems in family members

In addition to signs of a phonologic weakness, students show signs of strengths in the higher-level thinking processes associated with the right hemisphere of the brain:

Excellent thinking skills: conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction
Learning that is accomplished best through meaning rather than rote memorization
Ability to get the “big picture”
A high level of understanding of what is read to them
The ability to read and to understand at a high level overlearned words (that is, highly practiced) in a special area of interest; for example, if their hobby is restoring cars, they may be able to read auto mechanics magazines
Improvement as an area of interest becomes more specialized and focused, when they develop a miniature vocabulary that they can read
A surprisingly sophisticated listening vocabulary
Excellence in areas not dependent on reading such as math, computers, and visual arts, or excellence in more conceptual (versus factoid-driven) subjects such as philosophy, biology, social studies, neuroscience, and creative writing

Observable Signs of Reading Difficulties

May be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds
Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation)
Has difficulty spelling phonetically
Makes consistent reading and spelling errors such as:
- Letter reversals: “d” for “b” as in “dog” for “bog”
- Word reversals: “tip” for “pit”
- Inversions: “m” for “w”, “u” for “n”
- Transpositions: “felt” for “left”
- Substitutions: “house” for “home”
- Omissions: skips word entirely
May confuse small words: “at” for “to,” “said” for “and,” “does” for “goes”
Relies on guessing: “purple for pickle”, ‘wondered for wounded’
Relies on predicting or context
May have difficulty learning new vocabulary
May transpose number sequences and confuse arithmetic signs
May have trouble remembering facts
May be slow to learn new skills; relies heavily on memorizing without understanding
May have difficulty planning, organizing and managing time, materials and tasks
Often uses an awkward pencil grip (fist, thumb hooked over fingers, etc.)
May have poor fine motor coordination

Syllables provides one-on-one reading tutoring in Alpharetta, Georgia. We also work with students worldwide via online teletherapy.