What does dyslexia look like?
Dyslexia can be recognized much earlier than one might think, and recognizing the signs early can significantly help with getting a child connected with not only early identification, but early intervention services that are crucial to their academic and social-emotional development. Below, we have outlined some common characteristics of Dyslexia by a child’s grade level. Remember, each child learns and develops at their own pace, but you can help be your child’s greatest advocate by recognizing early signs of learning differences.
Pre-K (4-5 years old)
- Difficulty with learning and remembering names of letters and trouble with sounds and corresponding symbols
- Sight words more difficult to learn
- Some have a history of early language delay
- Difficulty with phonological awareness skills, or manipulating sounds:
-
- Words in a sentence –
- “How many words are in ‘I have a blue car’”
- Difficulty breaking words into syllables:
- Blending compound words (“Put together rain…bow”)
- Segmenting compound words (“Take apart hotdog”)
- How many syllables? (“How many syllables are in piano?”)
- Difficulty Rhyming
- Identify whether words rhyme (“Do big and rig rhyme?)
- Producing a rhyme for the given word (“Tell me a rhyming word for pit”)
- Words in a sentence –
-
Kindergarten (5-6 years old)
- Struggle with skills mentioned in Pre-K level
- May be able to recognize
sight word in a text on one line, but then do not recognize the same word on the second line - Handwriting less legible than peers and difficulty recalling letter formation, frequent reversals
- May have an awkward pencil grasp
- May have math concept difficulties
- May begin to have an emotional impact due to the stress of mismatched ability with academic demands in misaligned instruction
Grades 1-2 (7-8 years old)
- Not connecting words to letters on page (say puppy when the word written is dog)
- Struggling to sound out simple words like cat, map, nap
- Does not associate letters with sounds
- Struggling with alphabet, naming letters
- Reading & handwriting confusion, fatigue, frustration, embarrassment, anxiety, reluctance
- Continue to sound out words they should be able to recognize instantly
- Begin to realize they are behind their peers
- b/d confusion persists
- Omits words in writing and letters in spelling
- Confusing spoken words like tornado/volcano, lotion/ocean, etc
- Hesitations or “ums” when speaking
- Trouble finding the word they want to say
- Messy handwriting and/or poor spelling
- Trouble remembering dates, names, phone numbers, lists
- Low self-esteem
Grades 3-12
- A marked difference in 3 grade is that kids are now expected to read. In Pre-K through 2 grade, kids are “learning to read”. Starting in 3 grade, kids are “reading to learn.”
- Often known as reluctant readers
- Sounds out words that should be recognized instantly
- Omissions, substitutions, transpositions
- Slow deliberate reading or fast scrambled reading
- Continued b/d confusion
- Dropping/Adding/Skipping/Substituting syllables in multisyllabic words
- Poor recognition of base words
- Weak error detection or high number of self-corrections
- Issues with prosody (intonation used or the ups and downs of volume while reading).
- Trouble spelling simple words
- Issues with math concepts, telling time, multiplication tables, word problems
- Reading comprehension is poor relative to listening comprehension
- Difficulty organizing ideas for written expression
- Tells stories in a spiral
Reference: Guillory-Welsh, Gabi. 2024. Orton-Gillingham Associates Coursework. Slides 53-54.
Early Intervention
It is important for Dyslexia to be identified as early as possible, so that the appropriate intervention can be provided. When Dyslexia goes unidentified, children may experience secondary complications such as low self-esteem, negative self talk, or anxiety related to the challenges that they face. When Dyslexia is identified early, adults are able to teach their child about the amazing differences and strengths that their creative brains possess. The focus can be shifted to the child’s areas of strengths and talents while simultaneously providing “direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive ways” of teaching literacy when reading, writing, and spelling does not come easily to them.
Handout Download: Dyslexia by grade level
