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Clues, Warning Signs, and Symptoms of Dyslexia
Young Children
- Chronic ear infections
- Severe reactions to childhood illnesses
- Delayed speech
- Learning new words slowly
- Problems forming words correctly
- Reversing sounds in words
- Confusing words that sound alike
- Constant confusion of left versus right
- Mixing up sounds or syllables in long words
- Late establishing a dominate hand
- Difficulty learning to tie shoes (remember the Velcro)
- Can’t create words that rhyme
- Difficulty learning nursery rhymes or playing rhyming games
- Trouble memorizing address, phone number
- Problems remembering the names of letters, numbers, and colors
- Trouble singing the alphabet
- Telling stories that are hard to follow
- Trouble following directions with multiple steps
- Saying thing and stuff instead of the name of a common object
Elementary and Middle School age
Starting school may bring another flood of symptoms that could occur.
- Trouble remembering the sounds that individual letters make
- Confusing letters that look similar (like b and d or p and q)
- Flipping letters (like b and p or d and q)
- Confusing letters that sound similar (like f and v)
- Substituting words when reading aloud, like house when the story says home
- Confusing or skipping small words, especially prepositions such as: at, to, of, up. (This can completely change the meaning of a sentence when reading.)
- Slow, choppy, inaccurate reading
- Reading well below the expected level for age
- Inability to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word
- Difficulty separating the sounds in words and blending the sounds that make words
- Terrible spelling
- Problems remembering the sequence of things
- Trouble processing and understanding what is heard
- Spending an unusually long-time completing tasks that involve reading or writing
- Avoiding activities that involve reading
- Often can’t remember sight words
- Extreme difficulty learning cursive
- Difficulty telling time on a clock with hands
- Trouble with math fact memorization and sequence of steps
- Extremely messy bedroom, backpack, and desk
- Dreads going to school
- Dysgraphia (the slow, non-automatic handwriting that is difficult to read.)
Teens and adults
Many of the above symptoms may still be present, but here are some that are common in teens and adults.
- Difficulty reading, especially reading aloud
- Tedious reading and writing
- Problems spelling
- Evading activities that involve reading
- Mispronouncing names or words, or problems retrieving words
- Spending a lot of extra time completing tasks that involve reading or writing
- Difficulty summarizing a story
- Trouble learning a foreign language
- Difficulty doing math word problems unless they are read to them
- Difficulty with True/False tests (one misread word can cause the answer to be the opposite, causing an incorrect response)
- Prefers watching a movie to reading a book
This list could go on and on; however, these are the most common.
On the flip side, Dyslexics have many positives also. Here are just a few:
- Very good at math concepts, even though rote memory problems may be difficult for them
- High learning ability
- Excellence when writing content (don’t look at the spelling)
- Big-picture thinking
- Thinking out of the box
- Very creative in ideas
- Ability to adapt
- Excellence when focused on a highly specialized area such as: medicine, law, finance, public policy, or science
List compiled from:
Bright Solutions for Dyslexia, 2001
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 1998-2022
Shaywitz, M.D., Sally. Overcoming Dyslexia, 2003
Understood for All, Inc. 2020
Beginning Sight Words
I to he
can me look
for some many
have and with
his this where
from says done
the go is
of what good
goes any should
we you little
they help who
Mr. could again
see do she
said put come
your would was
a my does
want has Mrs.
as been there
like are how
hear play walk
Note to Parents:
Remember when teaching sight words to your child, it’s best to put them on 3”x 5” cards and start with 5 at a time. When your child is comfortable with the first 5, add in 2 or 3 more at a time.
I would probably look at the list with a reading book in hand. Start with the sight words that they will need to be able to read fluently in their reader. Since different readers have different sight words, this is the best way to get started.
You can start by having them just read the word. When they are proficient with remembering the word, you can also have them learn to spell it. That is the goal: reading and spelling each sight word correctly.
Important Kindergarten Skills to Practice During the Summer and Beyond
A lot of kindergarten work is oral. There are only a few things on this list that requires writing. Here are some ideas to help you get started:
1. High Frequency and Sight Words: (Put them on flash cards if you can)
a. List 1: I, am, see, a, can, we, the, in, and, go, to, like, said, you, is, it, here, come, up, look, at, me, on, this, my
b. List 2: she, was, he, went, by, out, big, little, yes, with, no, not, going, down, where, are, they, from, have, for, run, his, will, one, of
2. Practice identifying upper and lowercase letters and their sound, including the digraphs ch, ck, sh, th, wh.
3. Practice writing their name legibly.
4. If your child knows his/her sounds, they may practice sounding out CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. To do this say each sound and then put them together to say the word. Here is a list of sample words to start with: mat, bam, map, Sam, fat, tap, cab, pig, rim, ban, tag, gap, nag, bin, am, pin, rat, lip, at, hit, cat, rat, sat, fig, dog, jam, lid, dim, bog, dip, dig, kid, cob, cub, gum, us, wax, quit, wag, ox, cut, yum, path, neck, chin, rock, back, rush, chop
5. Work on Rhyming Words. Examples Set One: mat, bat, sat, cat, etc. Set Two: jump, bump, lump, etc. Set Three: sing, ring, bring, etc. Set Four: run, bun, fun, etc. (Rhyming words are strictly by ending sound and not the spelling such as fun and done.
6. Math Skills:
a. Practice counting from 1 to 100 by 1’s and practice counting by 10’s to 100.
b. Practice writing numbers from 1 to 20.
c. Practice adding numbers reaching 5, such as 1+2=3, 2+3=5, etc.
d. Practice recognizing flat shapes: triangle, square, rectangle, circle, hexagon.
e. Practice 3-D shapes: sphere, cone, cylinder, prism, cube.
7. Besides these academics, working on small motor skills is also critical for kindergarten children. Suggestions include:
a. Practice cutting with scissors – straight lines and curves
b. Coloring – Staying in the lines
c. Playdough – pinching and shaping
d. Any other activity that requires using fingers with small things
Spending 10 to 15 minutes each day practicing some of these things will really help your child excel.
