I recently came across this article that explains some things about Dyslexia. Dyslexia seems to me to be such an individualized learning disability, but maybe if your family member or you have a few of these it might lead you to testing. Below are the 16 Most Usual Signs of Dyslexia in Children and Adults. I’m going to comment on my seven year old son’s and a little bit of what I’ve seen with my husband’s experiences with these things…
1. Late talking
I don’t remember my son learning to talk late. He’s always been pretty vocal about what he wants and likes. He’s got a wicked sense of humor and tends to use words correctly in context when speaking.
2. Learning new words slowly
Again, reading wise I think it does take him extra time to learn words on sight, but I don’t find this to affect his verbal habits. Although I do remember the testing woman telling me she was surprised with his verbal fluency considering how lagging his reading scores actually were.
3. Problems forming words correctly
I don’t find this to be an issue with my son. Unless he’s reading and then he will mispronounce a word a few times as he searches for the right combination of sounds to make the word sound correct.
4. Reading well below the expected level for age
Yes my son reads probably at a lower level than his peers, but he strangely enough wants to read at his sisters level which is three grades higher than his own. Captain Underpants and Dogman books are big with him. Luckily these cartoon/graphic novels are short bursts of words and lots of pictures so I think he “reads” them and not reads them if you get what I mean.
One strange thing that has come up is that he will read big words correctly, but then somehow will come up with a short common word that he won’t be able to read. It’s baffling. A word like “automatic” will be something he can read, but then he’ll get stuck on a word like “kind”.
5. Problems remembering the sequence of things
Days of the week have become the bane of our existence right now. Not sure if this is a little kid issue or a dyslexic issue but he has a hard time figuring out what day of the week it is and how many days until a certain date in the future. Luckily, my husband, who is also dyslexic is working on this with him. Finding out what days he can go motorcycle riding or golfing on the weekend is important to both of them.
6. Problems spelling
Yes. Definitely needs help. He tends to cut out vowels. So dirt will be spelled drt because he can’t hear the i sound in it when he says it.
7. Avoiding activities that involve reading
I see this so much in my husband more than my son although if given the choice my son leaves his reading and writing work until the last thing he has to do. Some days though he will get it in his head that he wants to get it done and will do it without hesitation. I guess it’s all in the motivation when it comes to anything that we don’t like to do.
8. Trouble learning a foreign language
We haven’t come up against this yet, but I could see how this would definitely be a problem.
9. Difficulty in Finding the Right Words to Answer Questions
Yes. He will tell me a story and describe something in multiple words instead of telling me the exact word for it. If I get the clue and say the word that he means he will tell me right out that’s the word he was looking to say.
10. Problems Processing and Understanding Spoken Language
This hasn’t been an issue for him so far, but I do notice that the does better in school if he has a written sheet of paper in front of him when the teacher is reading something. I don’t know if this is dyslexia or if this is a concentration thing though.
11. Spending Unusually Long Periods on Writing or Reading Tasks
My son takes sometimes a good 15-20 minutes to write 5 sentences. It’s not that he can’t do it from what I’ve seen, but because he hates it, he avoids it like the plague. I finally have clued into this and when he writes his paragraphs for school I leave the room so he can’t talk to me while he does it.
12. Difficulty Summarizing Stories
We haven’t seen this yet with my son. He seems to comprehend what he hears well if he reads and hears it simultaneously.
13. Difficulty with Math Problems
Not a problem for my son. I feel like he’s good with patterns so at 2nd grade level math this seems to not be an issue. He also is really handy with following lego directions so I know he can look at an object and figure out what blocks he needs and where they need to be by using a pattern.
14. Challenges with Memorizing Work
Definitely. Sight words are extremely hard for him to master.
15. Mispronouncing words or Names
Yes and no. Depending on the word he usually can work his way to the correct pronunciation.
16. Difficulty Reading Aloud
While he doesn’t gravitate towards wanting to read I’ve never heard him avoid it during his distance learning. He likes to read and I think he likes to get the “good job” from the teacher at the end of his reading sessions.
I hope that some of these insights help you figure out more about dyslexia. If you ever have a question about it I can give you my take on things!
#dyslexiaawarenessmonth
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