What to Look For
What are the signs of Dyslexia?
A quick method of determining whether a more detailed investigation of possible dyslexia is sensible is to use an indicator checklist – such as the ones provided below.
Look at the indicators for the age of the person you are thinking about. Also look at the indicators for the younger child. Do these still apply? Did some apply when the person was younger? If several indicators are present, further investigation is advisable. If your family has a history of dyslexia it is more likely that your child also has dyslexia.
Signs of dyslexia in Preschool
- Have a history of delays in speaking, making sentences or pronouncing words correctly.
- Have a history of ‘glue ear’ or similar early childhood difficulties.
- Find it hard to remember the names of familiar objects, e.g. spoon, cup.
- Have difficulty learning nursery rhymes.
- Have other members of the family with similar difficulties
Signs of dyslexia in a Primary School child
A primary school age child may:
- Have particular difficulty learning to read, write and spell.
- Difficulty remembering sequences such as the alphabet and months of the year.
- Have difficulty telling left from right.
- Difficulty copying accurately from the board or a textbook.
- Have difficulty remembering and following oral instructions.
- Persistent and continued reversing of letters and figures, e.g. ’15’ for ‘51’, ‘b’ for ‘d’.
- Take longer than average over written work.
- Experience lack of self-confidence and increasing frustration.
- In other ways be a bright and alert child.
How to spot dyslexia in Secondary School pupils
A secondary school age child may have:
- Inconsistent spelling.
- Difficulty with planning and writing essays.
- A tendency to get ‘tied up’ using long words, e.g. preliminary, philosophical.
- A tendency to confuse verbal instructions, places, times and dates.
- Greater difficulty in learning a foreign language.
- Low self-esteem.
- Frustration which has led to behavioural or emotional difficulties.
- Disorganised at home and school
What are the signs of dyslexia in adults?
In addition to earlier characteristics, some of which may still persist, the following signs may indicate dyslexia in an adult:
- Difficulty with map reading.
- Difficulty filling in forms and writing reports.
- Tendency to miss and confuse appointment times.
- Concerns about training or promotion.
- Difficulty structuring work schedules.
- Low opinion of capabilities.
- Constantly loses and forgets items and information.
DYSLEXIA NEWS
Our latest thoughts
The importance of the brain’s reading circuit in understanding Dyslexic development
Dyslexia isn’t caused by visual problems, flipping letters or reading letters backwards, and it is certainly not related to intelligence. It is the result of a brain with a different organization making reading and writing more difficult. In order to understand what is happening in a Dyslexic person’s brain, it is useful to learn about the four areas in the brain that we use for reading and which must be connected to make reading an effortless process. Together they form a reading circuit that links these different areas of the brain and then runs at a speed so fast it’s practically automatic.
Why Rest Breaks Matter for Dyslexic Students: Unlocking Their Full Potential
As exam season approaches, we look at the importance of rest breaks for dyslexic learners and share our top tips to make rest breaks most effective.
A school’s role in diagnosing dyslexia
In this blog, we’ll be discussing a school’s role in diagnosing dyslexia. The average person spends 15 years in education.1 So, what happens if your child finds school a challenge? What if they have an undiagnosed learning disability that impacts their daily experience? How does your child feel about school? The bell, the classroom, the whiteboard, classmates – school is a