Symptoms of Dyslexia
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In Preschool:
• Delayed speech
• Mixing up the sounds & syllables in long words
• Chronic ear infections
• Severe reactions to childhood illnesses
• Constant confusion of left versus right
• Late establishing a dominant hand
• Difficulty learning to tie shoes
• Trouble memorizing their address, phone number or the alphabet
• Cannot create words that rhyme
• A close relative with dyslexia
In Elementary School:
• Dysgraphia (slow, non-automatic, hard to read handwriting)
• Letter or number reversals (continuing past the end of first grade)
• Extreme difficulty learning cursive
• Slow, choppy, inaccurate reading
- Guesses based on shape or content
- Skips or misreads prepositions (at, to, of)
- Ignores suffixes
- Cannot sound out unknown words
• Extremely poor spelling
• Often cannot remember sight words ( they, were, does)
• Often cannot remember homonyms (their, they’re, there)
• Difficulty telling time on a clock with hands
• Problems in math:
- Memorizing multiplication tables
- Memorizing a sequence of steps
- Directionality
• Difficulty in finding the correct word
- Lots of “whatchamacallit” & “thingies”
- Common sayings come out slightly twisted
• Extremely messy bedroom, backpack & desk
• Dreads going to school
- Complains of stomachaches or headaches
- May have nightmares about school
In High School:
All of the other symptoms plus:
• Limited vocabulary
• Extremely poor written expression
- Large discrepancy between verbal skills and written
• Unable to master a foreign language
• Difficulty in reading printed music
• Poor grades in many classes
• May drop out of high school
As Adults:
Education history similar to above plus:
• May have to read a page 2 or 3 times to understand it
• Extremely poor spelling
• Difficulty in putting thoughts onto paper
- dreads writing memos or letters
• Still has difficulty with right versus left
• Often gets lost, even in a familiar city
• Sometimes confuses b & d, especially when tired or sick
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