Signs of Dyslexia

Help! I think my child might be dyslexic!

If you think your son or daughter might be dyslexic, my first piece of advice is…

“Don’t panic!”

Children pick up on anxiety from their parents and worry more if their parents are getting stressed about problems at school.

The British Dyslexia Association gives a useful checklist of early signs of dyslexia. If you recognise any of them, don’t wait. It is always better for your child to have help sooner rather than later.

If a child has several of these indications, further investigation should be made. The child may be dyslexic, or there may be other reasons. This is not a diagnosis.

Persisting Factors

There are many persisting factors in dyslexia, which can appear from an early age. They will still be noticeable when the dyslexic child leaves school. These include:

Obvious 'good' and 'bad' days, for no apparent reason.
Confusion between directional words, e.g. up/down, in/out.
Difficulty with sequences, e.g. coloured bead sequences, later with days of the week or numbers.
A family history of dyslexia/reading difficulties.

Pre-school

Has persistent jumbled phrases, e.g. 'cobbler's club' for 'toddler's club’.
Use of substitute words, e.g. 'lampshade' for 'lamp post'.
Inability to remember the label for known objects, e.g. 'table’, ‘chair'.
Difficulty learning nursery rhymes and rhyming words, e.g. 'cat’, ‘mat’, ‘sat'.
Later-than-expected speech development.

Pre-school non-language indicators

May have walked early but did not crawl - was a 'bottom shuffler' or 'tummy wriggler'.
Persistent difficulties in getting dressed efficiently and putting shoes on the correct feet.
Inability to remember the label for known objects, e.g. 'table’, ‘chair'.
Difficulty learning nursery rhymes and rhyming words, e.g. 'cat’, ‘mat’, ‘sat'.
Later-than-expected speech development.

Please view the above video for a short introduction for your child on their visit to Assessment for Dyslexia.

Primary school age non-language indicators

There are many persisting factors in dyslexia, which can appear from an early age. They will still be noticeable when the dyslexic child leaves school. These include:

Has difficulty with tying shoe laces, tie, dressing.
Has difficulty telling left from right, order of days of the week, months of the year, etc.
Surprises you, because in other ways he/she is bright and alert.
Has a poor sense of direction and still confuses left and right.
Lacks confidence and has a poor self-image.

Aged 12 or over

As for primary schools, plus:

Still has difficulties in spelling.
Needs to have instructions and telephone numbers repeated.
Gets 'tied up' using long words, e.g. 'preliminary', 'philosophical'.
Confuses places, times, dates.
Has difficulty with planning and writing essays.
Has difficulty processing complex language or long series of instructions at speed.