SYMPTOMS OF DYSLEXIA  ( TAKEN FROM BRIGHT SOLUTIONS FOR DYSLEXIA )

IN THE EARLY YEARS

Delays in beginning to talk (age 2 or 3 or even older)

Immature Speech (trouble articulating Rs and Ls and maybe Ms and Ns, green = gween, red=wed)

Mixing up sounds in multi syllables words, e.g. bisghetti for spaghetti

Early stuttering

Lots of ear infections

Can't master tying shoes

Late to establish a dominant hand.  May use one hand for writing and another for sports

May switch hands while doing a task

Despite listening to rhymes, will not be able to tell you what rhymes with cat

Difficulty writing the alphabet in order

Difficulty learning the names of the letters and the sounds of the letters of the alphabet

Difficulty with phonemic awareness tasks

IF 3 + OF THESE SIGNS EXIST ESPECIALLY IF THERE IS DYSLEXIA OR AD/HD IN THE FAMILY THE CHILD SHOULD BE TESTED WHEN S/HE IS 5.  PHONEMIC AWARENESS GAMES AND OTHER READING

ACTIVITIES SHOULD BE DONE DAILY IN THE PRESCHOOL YEARS

READING

Can read a word on one page but not on the next

Knows phonics but can't or won't sound out unknown words

Reading is often slow, laboured and inaccurate

Misread words that have the same first and last letter, e.g form-from, trial-trail

May leave out or insert letters, e.g. star=stairs, could=cold

May say a word that has the same letters in a different sequence, e.g. who=how, lots=lost, saw=was, girl=grill

When reading aloud, may read in a slow, choppy cadence, and often ignores punctuation

Become visibly tired after reading for only a short time

Reading comprehension is often low doe to spending so much energy trying to figure out the words

Listening comprehension will often be significantly higher than reading comprehension

Directionality confusion shows up when reading or writing

b-d, n-u, m-w confusion.  Left to right and up and down confusion

Substitutes similar looking words, even if it changes the meaning of the sentence e.g. house for horse.

May substitute a word that means the same thing but does not look similar, e.g. trip for journey

Misreads, omits, or even adds small function words, e.g. an, a, from, to, the, were, are, of

Omits or changes suffixes e.g .need for needed, talks for talking, late for lately

SPELLING

Spelling is far worse than their reading. Extreme difficulty with vowels and often leave them out.

May be able to memorize words for a test, but there is no carry over to daily work

Continually misspell high frequency, non phonetic sight words, e.g. what, where, does.

Inaccurate copiers, misspell when copying from the board or a book

Written work shows signs of spelling uncertainty, numerous erasures, crossing outs etc.

HANDWRITING------------------DYSGRAPHIA

Unusual pencil grip, often with thumb on top of fingers

Young children will often put their heads down on the desk to watch the tip of the pencil

The pencil is gripped so tightly that the hand cramps and the child will shake it

Writing is a slow, laboured, and non-automatic chore

Student prints letter with unusual starting and ending points- letter O will be made clockwise

May have trouble getting the letters to sit on the line

Copying from the board or a book, loses his place , misspells words, and takes an enormous amount of time

Does not use the margin, unusual spacing and placement of words on a page

The student will have difficulty with formation and reading of cursive writing.  This should not be taught to the dyslexic

student, nor should that student be expected to read it from the board or in notes

QUALITY OF WRITTEN WORK

There is a huge difference in their ability to tell you something and to write it down

The student will avoid writing wherever possible

The student will write everything as one very long sentence

Does not understand that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period

The student is confuse about what is a complete sentence versus a fragment

Misspells many words

Takes an unusually long time to write anything

They often have nearly illegible handwriting

Spacing---Odd spacing between words, may ignore margins, sentences tightly packed into one section

Do not notice errors when proofreading

DIRECTIONALITY

Left- right confusion, b-d confusion, will often start math problems on the wrong side

Up - Down confusion --  May confuse b-p, or d-q, or n-u, and m-w

North, South, East, West confusion.  May easily get lost

Difficulty reading and understanding maps

SEQUENCING STEPS IN A TASK

Learning any task that has a series of steps which must be completed in a specific order can be difficult.  That's

because you must memorize the sequence of steps, and often , there is no logic in the sequence.

Tying shoelaces: This task contains both sequence and directionality

Printing letters:  They cannot remember the sequence of pencil strokes necessary to form the letter

Long Division: sequence of five steps that must be completed in the correct order

Touch typing is an essential.  But learning the keys requires rote memory of a random order of letters

ROTE MEMORY OF NON-MEANINGFUL FACTS

Difficulty learning multiplication tables, days of the week, and months of the year in order

Science facts: water bois at 212 degrees F

History facts: dates, names, places,  but will do well with the whys and consequences of the events

TELLING TIME ON A CLOCK WITH HANDS

Can tell time to the hour or half hour, but not smaller chunks

Concepts such as before and after on a clock are confusing, therefore time arithmetic is impossible

Digital clocks help a bit, but they still cannot problem solve with time

EXTREMELY MESSY BEDROOMS-------LOCKERS, DESKS, BACKPACKS, OFFICES etc.

Have a difficult time organizing their belongings.  They pile rather than put them away

MATH DIFFICULTIES

People with dyslexia are often gifted in math.  Three- dimensional visualization skills help them with math concepts.

Difficulties in directionality, rote memory, reading, and sequencing make it difficult to discover their math gift.

Difficulties memorizing addition and subtraction facts and multiplication tables

Difficulties memorizing remembering the sequence of steps in long division and math problems

Reading word problems

Copying numbers down wrongly

Starting a math problem on the wrong side

Ability to solve a problem in their heads, but an inability to show their work

If teachers will work with a dyslexic's problems, they can excel at algebra, geometry, and calculus

CO-EXISTING CONDITIONS

At least 40% or all dyslexics have ADD or ADHD

Scotopic sensitivity in 3% -8% of dyslexics.  Problem seeing black print on white paper.  Coloured plastic overlays

SIGNIFICANT STRENGTHS OF DYSLEXICS

Artistic skills

Athletic skills

Musical Ability

Mechanical Ability

People Skills

3-D Visual spatial skills

Vivid imagination

intuition

creative, global thinking

curiosity