Dyslexia Definition

Dyslexia is a neurologically based, often inherited, disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language. Varying in degree of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes arithmetic.

Dyslexia is NOT the result of lack of motivation, sensory impairment, inadequate instruction or environmental opportunities, or other limiting conditions, but may occur together with these conditions.

Although dyslexia is lifelong, individuals with dyslexia frequently respond successfully to timely and appropriate intervention.

Definition from the International Dyslexia Association

What are the warning signs?

No two people with dyslexia are exactly alike due to the varying degrees of the disorder. Someone you suspect of having dyslexia may not have all these symptoms but may have some. If someone struggles with spelling, is a slow reader who has a difficult time sounding out unknown words, and has difficulty getting their great thoughts down on paper in acceptable form, and that person has 3 or more of these classic warning signs, it is worth getting a person tested for dyslexia.

Preschool and Kindergarten

Delayed Speech: Not speaking any words by the child's first birthday. Often, they don't start talking until they are 2, 2½, 3, or even older.

Mixing up sounds in multi-syllabic words: For example, aminal for animal, bisghetti for spaghetti, hekalopter for helicopter, hangaberg for hamburger, mazageen for magazine, etc.
Early stuttering or cluttering.
Lots of ear infections.
Can't master tying shoes.
Confusion over left versus right, over versus under, before versus after, and other directionality words and concepts.
Late to establish a dominant hand: May switch from right hand to left hand while coloring, writing, or doing any other task. Eventually, the child will usually establish a preferred hand, but it may not be until they are 7 or 8. Even then, they may use one hand for writing, but the other hand for sports.
Inability to correctly complete phonemic awareness tasks.
Despite listening to stories that contain lots of rhyming words, such as Dr. Seuss, cannot tell you words that rhyme with cat or seat by the age of 4½.
Difficulty learning the names of the letters or sounds in the alphabet; difficulty writing the alphabet in order.
Trouble correctly articulating R's and L's as well as M's and N's. They often have “immature” speech. They may still be saying “wed and gween” instead of “red and green” in 2nd or 3rd grade.

Reading

Can read a word on one page, but won't recognize it on the next page.
Knows phonics, but can't—or won't—sound out an unknown word.
Slow, labored, inaccurate reading of single words in isolation (when there is no story line or pictures to provide clues).
When they misread, they often say a word that has the same first and last letters, and the same shape, such as house-horse or beach-bench.
They may insert or leave out letters, such as could–cold or star–stair.
They may say a word that has the same letters, but in a different sequence, such as who–how, lots–lost, saw–was, or girl–grill.
When reading aloud, reads in a slow, choppy cadence (not in smooth phrases), and often ignores punctuation.
Becomes visibly tired after reading for only a short time.
Reading comprehension may be low due to spending so much energy trying to figure out the words. Listening comprehension is usually significantly higher than reading comprehension.
Directionality confusion shows up when reading and when writing.
b–d confusion is a classic warning sign. One points to the left, the other points to the right, and they are left–right confused.
b–p, n–u, or m–w confusion. One points up, the other points down. That's also directionality confusion.
Substitutes similar-looking words, even if it changes the meaning of the sentence, such as sunrise for surprise, house for horse, while for white, wanting for walking.
When reading a story or a sentence, substitutes a word that means the same thing but doesn't look at all similar, such as trip for journey, fast for speed, or cry for weep.
Misreads, omits, or even adds small function words, such as an, a, from, the, to, were, are, of.
Omits or changes suffixes, saying need for needed, talks for talking, or late for lately.

Spelling

Their spelling is far worse than their reading. They sometimes flunk inventive spelling. They have extreme difficulty with vowel sounds, and often leave them out.

With enormous effort, they may be able to “memorize” Monday's spelling list long enough to pass Friday's spelling test, but they can't spell those very same words two hours later when writing those words in sentences.
Continually misspells high frequency sight words (nonphonetic but very common words) such as they, what, where, does and because—despite extensive practice.
Misspells even when copying something from the board or from a book.
Written work shows signs of spelling uncertainty—numerous erasures, cross outs, etc.

Other Warning Signs

Handwriting issues
Lack of quality in written work
Directionality issues
Trouble executing sequential steps in a given task
Difficulty memorizing non-meaningful tasks
Difficulty telling time on a clock with hands
Extremely messy bedrooms
Math Difficulties
Lack of organizational skills

For additional information in understanding Dyslexia please visit Bright Solutions for Dyslexia at
https://www.dys-add.com/dyslexia.html#anchorSymptomsWarningSigns

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