signs of dyelsixa

Signs of Dyslexia

 One of the most common questions about Dyslexia is what are the signs of Dyslexia?  The reality is every child is different and the signs and symptoms vary from child to child. I wrote about the signs I found when my children were diagnosed, but each child has their own journey.

Knowing the signs isn’t the biggest thing you can do to help your child. Remember each child will have their own path and just keep an eye on their development. Spend time with them, show them examples of positive reading and make sure they are still learning and developing skills.  Some kids are just late readers, others enjoy being active, and yes, some have dyslexia.

Below you will find the most common signs for children from preschool age to teens.

Signs of Dyslexia in Preschool

Often mispronounces words, like saying “beddy tear” instead of “teddy bear.”

Was considered by his doctor to be a “late talker” (saying very few words by his second birthday).

Often has trouble naming familiar objects.

Has trouble learning a new word, even after you’ve tried to teach it to him many times.

Has trouble learning nursery rhymes or song lyrics that rhyme.

Has trouble splitting up the sounds in words. For example, when you say a word like bat and tell him you’re taking away the first sound (the buh), he can’t tell which sound is left over (the at).

Has trouble remembering sequences, such as singing the letters of the alphabet or saying the days of the week in the right order.

Often tells stories that are hard to follow; has trouble talking about an event in a logical order.

Has trouble following directions with multiple steps.

Often can’t tell you the name of capital letters (such as if you point to the letter M).

Speaks like a younger child (uses “baby talk”).

Often says general words like “thing” and “stuff” instead of the names of objects.

Can’t point out his own name.

Has trouble writing his own name.

Has a hard time coming up with a group of words, such as if you ask him to say the names of five colors.

Signs of Dyslexia

Signs of Dyslexia in Grades K–2

Struggles to read familiar words (like cat or sit), especially when there are no pictures or other context clues.

Doesn’t seem to know how to approach unfamiliar words, such as focusing on the sound of the first letter.

Often substitutes words when reading aloud, such as saying house when the story uses the word home.

Often skips over or confuses small words like to and as when reading aloud.

Often seems to guess which letters make which sounds.

Has trouble decoding vowels and vowel combinations; often confuses the same vowel sounds over and over again (such as confusing the sound of the short a in bat and the short e in bet).

Has trouble with rhyming tasks, such as coming up with three words that rhyme with had.

Has trouble splitting up the sounds in words and/or blending sounds to make a word.

Often struggles to pronounce words correctly, such as saying “mawn lower” instead of “lawn mower.”

Has much more trouble with spelling than his classmates.

Has trouble quickly coming up with a list of words, such as if you ask him to say the names of 10 colors or 10 fruits.

When reading text with pictures, substitutes a word that makes sense with the picture but that is not spelled similarly to the word written in the text.

When discussing a story, steers the conversation to his own experiences rather than what was written in the story.

Signs of Dyslexia in Grades 3–5

Often confuses small words like does and goes when reading aloud.

Frequently identifies words incorrectly after having just read the same words correctly earlier in the same passage.

Has trouble sounding out new words; if a long word comes up when reading, often gets it wrong or skips over it.

Often can’t recognize common words (sight words) at a glance, such as because and which, and tries to sound them out.

Often has trouble explaining what happened in a story or answering questions about key details of a passage.

Has an easier time answering questions about the text if you read it aloud to him.

Frequently makes the same kinds of mistakes, such as reversing letters (writing bots instead of dots) or mixing up the order of letters (writing nip instead of pin).

Quickly forgets how to spell many of the words he studies.

Spells the same word correctly and incorrectly in the same passage.

Often struggles to pronounce words correctly, such as saying “mazagine” instead of “magazine.”

Has trouble with rhyming, such as completing the last word in a poem or song or thinking of words that rhyme with hoop (even though he’s spent plenty of time working on rhyming).

Has a hard time coming up with a bunch of words, such as if you ask him to say the names of 10 colors or 10 fruits.

Seems confused by or uninterested in books, even books that feature his favorite characters or topics.

Tries to avoid reading whenever possible; may get frustrated or agitated when he is reading.

Seems to take a very long time to complete reading assignments; often has to re-read sentences.

When discussing a story, steers the conversation to his own experiences rather than what was written in the story.

Seems to read at a lower academic level than how he speaks.

Seems to have a smaller vocabulary than other kids his age.

Signs of Dyslexia in Teens

Often skips over small words or leaves out parts of longer words when reading aloud.

Often has an easier time answering questions about a page of text if it’s read aloud to him.

Prefers multiple-choice questions over fill-in-the-blank or other questions with short answers.

Makes lots of spelling errors, sometimes misspelling words in ways that a computer spell-checker doesn’t know how to correct.

Often struggles to remember common abbreviations, including ones that are commonly used on social media, such as “idk” and “cul8ter.”

Often takes a long time to respond to questions and says “Um” or “What?” a lot, even when talking with you or a friend.

Has trouble expressing ideas in an organized way or supporting an argument when doing writing assignments.

Often seems to be searching for the words he wants to say and ends up saying “stuff” or “thing” rather than a more specific phrase; or substitutes related words, like saying “gate” instead of “fence.”

Often struggles to pronounce words correctly.

Often has trouble remembering phone numbers, historical dates and short lists—such as five items he needs to pick up at the grocery store.

Seems totally lost in his foreign language class, especially compared to the rest of the class.

Often doesn’t “get” the joke; has trouble understanding idioms and puns.

Lacks sense of direction; has trouble reading charts and graphs.

Makes frequent errors reading and spelling common words.

Tries to avoid reading whenever possible; gets frustrated or agitated when he is reading.

Seems to take a very long time to complete reading assignments; spends a lot of time re-reading passages.