Signs of Dyslexia

The signs of dyslexia can appear as early as preschool. Whether you’re a parent or teacher— or think you might have dyslexia yourself—here’s what to look for, starting in the earliest years through adulthood.

The Preschool Years

• Trouble learning common nursery rhymes, such as “Jack and Jill”

• Difficulty learning (and remembering) the names of letters in the alphabet

• Seems unable to recognize letters in his/her own name

• Mispronounces familiar words; persistent “baby talk”

• Doesn’t recognize rhyming patterns like cat, bat, rat

• A family history of reading and/or spelling difficulties (dyslexia often runs in families)

© Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, p. 122

Kindergarten & First Grade

Difficulties

• Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters on the page—will say “puppy” instead of the written word “dog” on an illustrated page with a picture of a dog

• Does not understand that words come apart

• Complains about how hard reading is; “disappears” when it is time to read

• A history of reading problems in parents or siblings

• Cannot sound out even simple words like cat, map, nap

• Does not associate letters with sounds, such as the letter b with the “b” sound

Strengths

• Curiosity

• Great imagination

• Ability to figure things out; gets the gist of things

• Eager embrace of new ideas

• A good understanding of new concepts

• Surprising maturity

• A larger vocabulary than typical for age group

• Enjoys solving puzzles

• Talent for building models

• Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him

© Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, pp. 122 – 123

Second Grade through High School

Reading

• Very slow in acquiring reading skills. Reading is slow and awkward

• Trouble reading unfamiliar words, often making wild guesses because he cannot sound out the word

• Doesn’t seem to have a strategy for reading new words

• Avoids reading out loud

Speaking

• Searches for a specific word and ends up using vague language, such as “stuff” or “thing,” without naming the object

• Pauses, hesitates, and/or uses lots of “um’s” when speaking

• Confuses words that sound alike, such as saying “tornado” for “volcano,” substituting “lotion” for “ocean”

• Mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar or complicated words

• Seems to need extra time to respond to questions

School and Life

• Trouble remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists

• Struggles to finish tests on time

• Extreme difficulty learning a foreign language

• Poor spelling

• Messy handwriting

• Low self-esteem that may not be immediately visible

Strengths

• Excellent thinking skills: conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction

• Learning that is accomplished best through meaning rather than rote memorization

• Ability to get the “big picture”

• A high level of understanding of what is read tohim

• The ability to read and to understand at a high level overlearned (or highly practiced) words in a special area of interest; for example, if he or she loves cooking they may be able to read food magazines and cookbooks

• Improvement as an area of interest becomes more specialized and focused—and a miniature vocabulary is developed that allows for reading in that subject area

• A surprisingly sophisticated listening vocabulary

• Excels in areas not dependent on reading, such as math, computers and visual arts, or in more conceptual (versus fact-driven) subjects, including philosophy, biology, social studies, neuroscience and creative writing

© Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, pp. 123–125

Young Adults & Adults

Reading

• A childhood history of reading and spelling difficulties

• While reading skills have developed over time, reading still requires great effort and is done at a slow pace

• Rarely reads for pleasure

• Slow reading of most materials—books, manuals, subtitles in films

• Avoids reading aloud

Speaking

• Earlier oral language difficulties persist, including a lack of fluency and glibness; frequent use of “um’s” and imprecise language; and general anxiety when speaking

• Often pronounces the names of people and places incorrectly; trips over parts of words

• Difficulty remembering names of people and places; confuses names that sound alike

• Struggles to retrieve words; frequently has “It was on the tip of my tongue” moments

• Rarely has a fast response in conversations; struggles when put on the spot

• Spoken vocabulary is smaller than listening vocabulary

• Avoids saying words that might be mispronounced

School & Life

• Despite good grades, often says he’s dumb or is concerned that peers think he’s dumb

• Penalized by multiple-choice tests

• Frequently sacrifices social life for studying

• Suffers extreme fatigue when reading

• Performs rote clerical tasks poorly

Strengths

• Maintains strengths noted during the school-age years

• Has a high capacity to learn

• Shows noticeable improvement when given additional time on multiple-choice examinations

• Demonstrates excellence when focused on a highly specialized area, such as medicine, law, public policy, finance, architecture or basic science

• Excellent writing skills if the focus is on content, not spelling

• Highly articulate when expressing ideas and feelings

• Exceptional empathy and warmth

• Successful in areas not dependent on rote memory

• A talent for high-level conceptualization and the ability to come up with original insights

• Inclination to think outside of the box and see the big picture

• Noticeably resilient and able to adapt

Reposted from Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. © Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, pp. 125- 127