In Preschool - Delayed speech
- Mixing up the sounds and syllables in long words
- Chronic ear infections
- Constant confusion of left vs. right
- Late establishing a dominant hand
- Difficulty learning to tie shoes
- Trouble memorizing their address, phone number, or the alphabet
- Can’t create words that rhyme
- A close relative with dyslexia
In Elementary School - Dysgraphia (slow, non-automatic handwriting that is difficult to read)
- Letter or number reversals continuing past the end of first grade
- Extreme difficulty learning cursive
- Slow, choppy, inaccurate reading (guesses based on shape or context)
- skips or misreads prepositions (at, to, of)
- Ignores suffixes
- Can’t sound out unknown words
- Terrible spelling
- Often can’t remember sight words (they, were, does) or homonyms (their, they’re, and there)
- Difficulty telling time with a clock with hands
- Trouble with math (memorizing multiplication tables; memorizing a sequence of steps; directionality)
- When speaking, difficulty finding the correct word (lots of "thingies" and “whatyamacallits”)
- Common sayings come out slightly twisted
- Extremely messy bedroom, backpack, and desk
- Dreads going to school
- Complains of stomach aches or headaches
- May have nightmares about school
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In High School All of the earlier symptoms, plus: - Limited vocabulary
- Extremely poor written expression
- Large discrepancy between verbal skills and written compositions
- Unable to master a foreign language
- Difficulty reading printed music
- Poor grades in many classes
- May drop out of high school
In Adults Education history similar to above, plus: slow reader - May have to read a page 2 or 3 times to understand it
- Terrible speller
- Difficulty putting thoughts onto paper
- Dreads writing memos or letters
- Still has difficulty with right vs. left
- Often gets lost, even in a familiar city
- Sometimes confuses b and d, especially when tired or sick
*Warning Signs reprinted with permission by Susan Barton, Founder of Bright Solutions for Dyslexia. "If a reading problem is caught early and the child receives effective intervention, she or he can catch up; in contrast, a child who is delayed in receiving such instruction has great difficulty in closing the gap." ~Dr. Sally Shaywitz, professor and director of the Yale Center for the Study of Learning and Attention |
