These are general signs of
Dyslexia:
- writing letters and numbers backwards, reversing words;
- presenting poor fine motor coordination, awkward pencil grip, clumsy cutting;
- struggling with recognizing phonemes and putting them together;
- experiencing difficulties with processing information, organizing and communicating thoughts;
- indicating difficulties to memorize lyrics, names or directions.
Here is an example.
Michael is 6 years old bilingual
boy; fluent in his mother tongue; English is his second language, but reads and
writes only in that language; presents as a very creative, artistic soul; with
good fine motor skills; gets pleasure from solving mathematic problems; curves
for writing down own thoughts, likes physical activities, acrobatics and
swimming; loves listening to live stories or audio books; recognized by most
people as a quiet, focused, and well behaved child; determined to accomplish
own goal; chooses not to compete if not sure about winning; gets motivated from
verbal price; prefers small groups; shy to speak or perform in public.
In reading:
- Jumps on different word, line, or page.
- Confuses or skips over small words - at, to, said.
- Reads already known words following phonological rules, e.g. door/dur.
- Reverses letters: b/d, p/q, l/i, z/s, words: on/no, was/saw, own/won/one, big/dig, bed/deb and numbers: 5, 7, 3, 5, 17/71, etc. when reading or writing.
In writing:
- Shows size or shape letter inconstancy, e.g. house – Haws, houSe, good – gooD, have – HavE, sleeping – SlePing, disappear - DisiPer.
- Presents with luck of punctuation, e.g. ferst Plan is going todrow it wil be a Parot and his name is going to Be rabaw andorched
- Spells the same word differently, e.g. home - hoem, hame, castle – kastle, kasoll, casul, casol, come – kam, came, care – kar, car, because – becos, becose, bekus.
- Squeezes text in the upper left corner.
He demonstrates confusion with
directional discrimination (right/left,
front/back) or visual trucking fast moving objects, letters or numbers.
He doesn’t mind disorganization
in his surrounding, e.g. room, working place, table, etc.
He needs support with
organization when working on project, a help to make a plan, e.g. that’s what he
wrote down:
- wate to Drow
- wate toDrow
with
- Pick your
klowting
- getting good
luk
- names caracter
He needs an extra time to follow
multi-step directions or routines.
He faces difficulties with memorizing
lyrics, rhyming patterns.
He has difficulties to evoke the
right word or friends’ names.
He gets frustrated when fails in
reading or writing, or when can’t recall a name or place.
He makes more mistakes when
people are watching.
He shows little interest in
learning how to bike or scooter.
The questions are rising. What to
do? Where to start?
Step 1: Assess whether the child displays any, all or several of the
common problem areas of Dyslexia.
Preschool age children:
- May have difficulty pronouncing words;
- May talk later than most children;
- May be unable to recall the right word;
- May have difficulty with rhyming;
- May be unable to follow multi-step directions or routines;
- Fine motor skills may develop more slowly than other children;
- May have difficulty with sequencing;
- Often has difficulty separating sounds in words and blending sounds to make words.
Grades K-4:
- Has difficulty decoding single words in isolation;
- May confuse or skip over small words -at, to, said, and;
- Makes consistent reading and spelling errors including letter reversals, word reversals;
- May have trouble remembering math facts;
- May have trouble telling time;
- May have poor fine motor coordination (trouble tying shoes).
Grades 5-8:
- Is usually reading below grade level;
- May reverse letter sequences-soiled for solid;
- May have difficulty with spelling, spells same word differently on the same page;
- May struggle with long division;
- Poor organization skills;
- May have behavior issues due to frustration and failure.
Step 2: Have your child go through a diagnostic assessment.
This can be done by a clinical or
educational psychologist, school psychologist, learning disabilities psychologist
or a medical doctor provided they have special training and experience in
assessment of learning disabilities.
If you choose to have a school
psychologist test your child, beware that most public schools do not
specifically test for Dyslexia. Rather, they are testing to see if you child
would qualify for special education services. This is not the same as testing
specifically for Dyslexia or another learning disability.
The earlier your child is diagnosed, the more prepared you and your child can be to deal
with the challenges that will arise from Dyslexia.
Dyslexia is Correctable! Turn
Learning Problems into Learning Solutions!
Check my other post for intervention
and tips or mirror writing
Read “When Bright Kids Can't Learn” by John Heath. The book presents an exciting
and fundamentally different approach that can help many children and adults who
struggle with learning. http://www.learningtechnics.com/
The book is available free for a limited time. Click on the link, fill
out the form you’re your name, address and telephone number. This will
automatically make you eligible for a free e-copy of "When Bright Kids
Can't Learn".
