There will obviously be different expectations for a student’s abilities depending on their age, but these kinds of symptoms start to appear in the elementary years and can progress in severity as the student gets older.
Avoidance of Reading
If an individual with dyslexia has strong visualization and comprehension skills they may actually like reading because they can understand enough of the story to enjoy it. My question is, can they read something they are not interested in, finish it, and understand it? Difficulty reading directions without pictures or diagrams is also a telltale sign of dyslexia.
Anxiety
Students shouldn’t be anxious about school. A kindergartner shouldn’t get upset when it is time to practice letter sounds. Having to read a book should not cause your 7 year old to crawl under the table and cry. A fifth grader shouldn’t be avoiding reading books of interest and instead pick out books that contain few or no words most of the time. Anxiety about school isn’t just an indication of dyslexia, it can be an indication of several other issues, but it’s always a big clue to me that something is wrong.
Poor Spelling
Some students with dyslexia will be able to read to a point, but dyslexia almost always will show up in spelling. Some students with dyslexia will be able to memorize their spelling list just long enough to pass a spelling test, but the next week will misspell many of the same words. They may also spell the same word differently each time they write it.
Difficulty with Arbitrary Sequences
Students with dyslexia will often have difficulty learning arbitrary sequences like the alphabet, their address, phone number, days of the week, months of the year, and multiplication tables. Many students with dyslexia will have some memory challenges especially for information that does not have imagery or a 3-D component.
Articulation Issues
Dyslexia begins as a deficit in phonological awareness, which is an auditory skill. Difficulty speaking clearly, needing speech services, trouble saying the sounds in the correct order in a word when the word has 3 or 4 syllables, and word finding problems may be an indication of dyslexia.
Challenges Being Organized
Many students with dyslexia tend to have organizational problems. They may be clumsy or have difficulty with small motor skills such as using a pencil to produce legible print. They may have challenges when it comes to keeping their room clean, things neat, turning in their work at school, being on time, and certain kinds of patterns like tying shoe laces. A delay in learning to ride a two wheel bicycle can also be a sign of dyslexia.
Discouraged
Most of the kids I see with dyslexia are discouraged. Some have given up. Some feel betrayed. My son felt betrayed by his teacher and by his mom. When I asked him one day if he read mostly by shape or by sound he became angry. He told me he had tried to read by sound for several years, but it just doesn’t work! Of course it didn’t work for him, he couldn’t hear the individual sounds in a word, he had dyslexia.
Does anything here look familiar to you? For more information on signs and symptoms of dyslexia go to dyslexia – probably not what you think. For help now call us at 253-857-8188.
Next time I will share five things you can do for your child right now!
Kristin Eller says
This is a fantastic article! I finally understand why my child always had to sing the alphabet before she could write it down. I wish I had read this ten years ago. It could have really cut down on the frustration and she would have gotten the help that she needed.