Dyslexia Signs and Symptoms

Dyslexia is estimated to affect some 20-30 percent of our population. This means that more than 2 million school-age children in the United States are dyslexic!

Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties with accurate and fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. Dyslexia varies in degrees of severity and is highly hereditary. It is not uncommon for a child with dyslexia to have an immediate family member who also has this condition. Also, it is not unusual for two or more children in a family to have dyslexia.

Although children with dyslexia typically have average to above average intelligence, their dyslexia creates problems not only with reading, writing and spelling but also with speaking, thinking and listening. Many times these academic problems can lead to emotional and self-esteem issues throughout their lives. Low self-esteem can lead to poor grades and under achievement. Dyslexic students are often considered lazy, rebellious or unmotivated. These misconceptions cause rejection, isolation, feelings of inferiority, and discouragement.

The central difficulty for dyslexic students is poor phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to appreciate that spoken language is made up of sound segments (phonemes). In other words, a dyslexic student's brain has trouble breaking a word down into its individual sounds and manipulating these sounds. For example, in a word with three sounds, a dyslexic might only perceive one or two.

Most researchers and teachers agree that developing phonemic awareness is the first step in learning to read. It cannot be skipped. When children begin to learn to read, they first must come to recognize that the word on the page has the same sound structure as the spoken word it represents. However, because dyslexics have difficulty recognizing the internal sound structure of the spoken word to begin with, it is very difficult for them to convert the letters of the alphabet into a phonetic code (decoding).

Although dyslexia can impair spelling and decoding abilities, it also seems to be associated with many strengths and talents. People with dyslexia often have significant strengths in areas controlled by the right side of the brain. These include artistic, athletic and mechanical gifts. Individuals with dyslexia tend to be very bright and creative thinkers. They have a knack for thinking, "outside-the-box." Many dyslexics have strong 3-D visualization ability, musical talent, creative problem solving skills and intuitive people skills. Many are gifted in math, science, fine arts, journalism, and other creative fields.

Dyslexia is a persistent learning difference that one does not outgrow. With early detection, proper intervention, and certain accommodations, dyslexics can improve their reading and spelling skills significantly and succeed academically.

Symptoms

Preschoolers

Late talking, compared to other children

Pronunciation problems, reversal of sounds in words (such as 'aminal' for 'animal' or 'gabrage' for 'garbage')

Slow vocabulary growth, often unable to find the right word (takes a while to get the words out)

Difficulty rhyming words

Trouble learning numbers, the alphabet, days of the week

Poor ability to follow directions or routines

Does not understand what you say until you repeat it a few times

Enjoys being read to but shows no interest in words or letters

Has weak fine motor skills (in activities such as drawing, tying laces, cutting, and threading)

Unstable pencil grip

Slow to learn new skills, relies heavily on memorization

School Age Children

Has good memory skills

Has not shown a dominant handedness

Seems extremely intelligent but weak in reading

Reads a word on one page but doesn't recognize it on the next page or the next day

Confuses look alike letters like b and d, b and p, n and u, or m and w.

Substitutes a word while reading that means the same thing but doesn't look at all similar, like "trip" for "journey" or "mom" for "mother."

When reading leaves out or adds small words like "an, a, from, the, to, were, are and of."

Reading comprehension is poor because the child spends so much energy trying to figure out words.

Might have problems tracking the words on the lines, or following them across the pages.

Avoids reading as much as possible

Writes illegibly

Writes everything as one continuous sentence

Does not understand the difference between a sentence and a fragment of a sentence

Misspells many words

Uses odd spacing between words. Might ignore margins completely and pack sentences together on the page instead of spreading them out

Does not notice spelling errors

Is easily distracted or has a short attention span

Is disorganized

Has difficulties making sense of instructions

Fails to finish work on time

Appears lazy, unmotivated, or frustrated

Teenagers

Avoids reading and writing

Guesses at words and skips small words

Has difficulties with reading comprehension

Does not do homework

Might say that they are "dumb" or "couldn't care less"

Is humiliated

Might hide the dyslexia by being defiant or using self-abusive behavior

Adults

Avoids reading and writing

Types letters in the wrong order

Has difficulties filling out forms

Mixes up numbers and dates

Has low self-esteem

Might be a high school dropout

Holds a job below their potential and changes jobs frequently

Treatment

The sooner a child with dyslexia is given proper instruction, particularly in the very early grades, the more likely it is that they will have fewer or milder difficulties later in life.

Older students or adults with dyslexia will need intensive tutoring in reading, writing and spelling using an Orton-Gillingham program. During this training, students will overcome many reading difficulties and learn strategies that will last a lifetime. Treatment will only "stick" if it is incorporated intensively and consistently over time.

The best learning environment for a student with dyslexia is always one-to-one. Students who have severe dyslexia may need very intensive specialized tutoring to catch up and stay up with the rest of their class. This specialized tutoring helps dyslexic students become successful in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. It also will help them with math, and word problems. Fortunately, with the proper assistance and help, most students with dyslexia are able to learn to read and develop strategies to become successful readers.