Signs of Dyslexia

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Preschool 

• Trouble learning common nursery rhymes

• Difficulty learning (and remembering) the names of letters in the alphabet

• Seems to be unable to recognize letters in his/her own name

• Mispronounces familiar words

• Doesn’t recognize rhyming words

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Kindergarten/First Grade 

Reading

• Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters on the page—will say “puppy” instead of the written word “dog” in an illustrated page with a dog shown

• Does not understand that words come apart

• Complains about how hard reading is, or “disappearing” when it is time to read

• A history of reading problems in parents or siblings

Speaking

• Cannot sound out even simple words

• Does not associate letters with sounds

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Second Grade and Up

Reading

• Very slow in acquiring reading skills 

• Reading is slow and awkward

• Trouble reading unfamiliar words, often making wild guesses because he cannot sound out the word.

• Doesn’t have a strategy for reading new words

• Avoids reading out loud

Speaking​

• Pauses, hesitates, and/or uses lots of “umm’s” when speaking

• Confuses words that sound alike

• Mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar, or complicated words

• Seems to need extra time to respond to questions

School and Life

• Trouble with remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists

• Has trouble finishing tests on time

• Extreme difficulty learning a foreign language

• Messy handwriting

• Low self-esteem that may not be immediately visible

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Young Adults and Adults

Reading

• A childhood history of reading and spelling difficulties

• While reading skills have developed over time, reading still requires great effort and is done at a slow pace

• Rarely reads for pleasure

• Slow reading of most materials—books, manuals, subtitles in films

• Avoids reading aloud

Speaking

• Not fluent

• Often anxious while speaking

• Pausing or hesitating often when speaking

• Using lots of “umm's” during speaking

• Using imprecise language, for example, “stuff,” “things,” instead of the proper name of an object

• Often pronounces the names of people and places incorrectly; trips over parts of words

• Difficulty remembering names of people and places; confuses names that sound alike

• Struggles to retrieve words

• Rarely has a fast response in conversations and/or writing

• Spoken vocabulary is smaller than listening vocabulary

• Avoids saying words that might be mispronounced

• Earlier oral language difficulties persist

School & Life

• Despite good grades, will often feel "dumb."

• Difficulty with multiple choice tests

• Sacrifices social life for studying

• Suffers extreme fatigue when reading