Signs of Dyslexia

Try our questionnaire. This will give just a brief pointer but if you/your child scores positively, here are some other factors to consider.

Signs (up to 7 years)

• Speech problems – mispronounciation of words, wrong order of words. However, some dyslexics learn to speak early and are very articulate.
• Rhyming may be difficult. (e.g. book and look).
• Poor sense of left & right.
• Difficulty in hearing and pronouncing sounds such as b, p, d, m, n, u, y, l, f, v, th.
• Attention problems – doesn’t appear to hear when given explanations.
• Lack of progress in reading, writing and spelling, contrary to expectations built up by normal development in other areas.
• Poor fine motor control – e.g. holding a pencil, cutting with scissors.
• Mirror writing and difficulty in forming letters and writing them down in some reasonable state of order. Constant confusion with b, d, p, q, u, y, m, n, s, z.
• No sense of left and right.
• Undecided which hand to use when eating, drawing, playing, throwing balls, etc,
• Clumsiness.
• Difficulty in remembering instructions e.g. “Go upstairs and put on your socks and shoes and bring down your jumper from the wardrobe.
• Difficulty understanding the concept of time. May forget their birth date, their home address.
• Difficulty counting.
• Difficulty in playing sequencing and matching games.
• Problems fastening buttons, zips, tying shoe laces, and with the order in which they put their clothes on.
• Tantrums and signs of frustration at home, and at school for no apparent reason.
• Daydreaming and switching off in class and at home.
• Starts school happy, then becomes reluctant.
• If any literacy problems have already occurred in the family then special attention should be given to the signs given above.

Signs in 7 – 13 years

• Unable to read, or reading age well below chronological age.
• Still having difficulty with sounds of letters.
• Poor, immature handwriting.
• Very poor spelling.
• Letter and sound confusion persist. E.g. writes ‘v’ for ‘th’ etc.
• No idea of punctuation when reading or writing a story.
• Essays and stories may often be brief and to the point.
• They know what they want to write but never know how to start and have great trouble writing their ideas down.
• If they can read they don’t enjoy it and seem to hate books and reading aloud.
• When reading aloud they often misread words such as saw and was and omit and insert words frequently.
• Some children appear to read well but when they get to the end of the text they cannot remember anything they have read, and have to start again.
• Copying from board or book is difficult and inaccurate.
• They may still reverse numbers, e.g. writing 24 for 42 when doing complex arithmetic.
• Great problems in remembering multiplication tables, particularly their sequence. Also, the order of the days of the week, months of the year and the alphabet.
• Musical notation can be a problem, and a lack of feeling for timing can occur. A string, brass or wind instrument is preferable to the piano.
• Clumsiness and lack of co-ordination are still present.
• Some dyslexic children appear to have difficulty in understanding what is said to them and there is a time-lag before they answer. They are slow to process heard information.
• At this stage, frustration, withdrawal and behaviour problems seem to be increasing.
• Extreme reluctance to go to school may cause problems for all the family.

Signs 13 years – Adult

• They have difficulty reading and writing.
• They may have difficulty listening to a series of instructions.
• Problems putting across their ideas to others.
• They dread parties in case word games are played.
• They often pay bills in cash so as not to use a cheque book.
• They may confuse and mispronounce words. e.g. say ‘cistificate’ instead of ‘certificate’ or ‘pacific’ for ‘specific’.
• They may be in a position of authority because they have good verbal skills and have learnt to disguise their poor spelling and/or reading but experience total panic when they have to give impromptu speeches or preside over meetings.
• If they have managed to get to university they may struggle with note taking and organisation of material. Writing essays will take three times as long as other students and organising a dissertation will become a mammoth task.
• They may also experience memory problems and find it exceptionally difficult to memorise lists, facts, and long complicated names.