Signs of Dyslexia:

Preschool

A Toddler or Preschooler with dyslexia:

• May talk later than most children
• May have difficulty pronouncing words such as busgetti for spaghetti, mawn lower for lawn mower, etc.
• May be slow to add new vocabulary words
• May be unable to recall the right word
• May have difficulty with rhyming
• May have trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, months of the year, colors, shapes, how to spell and write his or her name
• May have trouble interacting with peers
• May be unable to follow multi-step directions or routines
• Fine motor skills may develop more slowly than in other children
• May have difficulty telling and/or retelling a story in the correct sequence
• Often has difficulty separating sounds in words and blending sounds to make words

K – 4th Grade

A child with dyslexia:

• Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation)
• May be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds
• May confuse small words: at – to, said-and, does-goes.
• Makes consistent reading and spelling errors including:
  - letter reversals – d for b as in dog for bog
  - word reversals – tip for pit
  - inversions – m and w for u and n
  - transpositions – felt and left
  - substitutions – house and home
• May transpose number sequences and confuse arithmetic signs
• May have trouble remembering facts
• May be slow to learn new skills; relies heavily on memorizing without understanding
• May be impulsive and prone to accidents
• May have difficulty planning
• Often uses an awkward pencil grip (fist, thumb hooked over fingers, etc.)
• May have trouble learning to tell time
• May have poor fine motor coordination

5th Grade- 8th Grade

A child with dyslexia:

• Is usually reading below grade level
• May reverse letter sequences – soiled for solid, left for felt
• May be slow to discern and to learn prefixes, suffixes, root words, and other reading and spelling strategies
• May have difficulty spelling; spells the same word differently on the same page
• May avoid reading aloud
• May have trouble with word problems in math
• May write with difficulty with illegible handwriting; pencil grip is awkward, fist-like, or tight
• May avoid writing
• May have slow or poor recall of facts
• May have difficulty with comprehension
• May have trouble with non-literal language (idioms, jokes, proverbs, slang)
• May forget to hand in homework or to bring in homework
• May have difficulty with planning and time management

9th Grade – 12th Grade

A young adult with dyslexia:

• May read very slowly with many inaccuracies
• Continues to spell incorrectly, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing
• May procrastinate reading and writing tasks
• May avoid writing
• May have trouble summarizing and outlining
• May have trouble answering open-ended questions on tests
• May not adjust well to new setting or to change
• May have difficulties with foreign languages
• May work slowly
• May have poor grasp of abstract concepts
• May pay too little attention to details or focus too much on them
• May misread information
• May not complete assignments; may complete them and not hand them in
• May have an inadequate vocabulary
• May have an inadequate store of knowledge from previous reading
• May have difficulty with planning and time management

The Dyslexia Resource