Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 04:06 am

Dyslexia Symptoms

Dyslexia Symptoms can differ from person to person, and each individual with the condition will have a unique pattern of abilities, weaknesses and strengths. Some individuals also cultivate a certain level of skill in disguising or hiding their weaknesses over time, which can often lead to the condition being missed in middle childhood years and even right through to adulthood.

Dyslexia Symptoms in Preschool children

In quite a few cases however, it is possible to identify dyslexia symptoms before a child starts school.

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Possible Dyslexia symptoms include:

delayed speech development compared to children of similar age
speech problems, for example mis-pronunciation or inability to pronounce longer words correctly and ‘jumbling’ up phrases – for example, saying ‘ephelant’ instead of ‘elephant’, or ‘patercillar’ instead of ‘caterpillar’
problems expressing themselves using spoken language, such as being unable to remember the right word to use, or putting together sentences incorrectly
difficulty with, or problems understanding or recognising rhyming words, such as ‘one two buckle my shoe” or even simple, or nursery rhymes
difficulty with, or lack of interest in, learning the letters of the alphabet

Dyslexia Symptoms Early School Years

Dyslexia Symptoms in children who are 5-7 years of age include:

problems learning the names and sounds of letters
spelling that is inconsistent and unpredictable
problems copying written language
poor phonological awareness

Dyslexia Symptoms – Poor Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness is the awareness that language is made up of units of sound (phonemes). It includes the ability to understand the relationship of these small sound units in making larger units that are words in language.

An individual with poor phonological awareness may give incorrect answers to questions like:

What are the sounds do you think that make up the word ‘pot’ and are these different from the sounds that make up the word ‘cat’?
What word would you have if you changed the ‘p’ sound in ‘pat’ to a ‘h’ sound?
What words can you think of that rhyme with the word ‘mat’?

Dyslexia Symptoms – Word Attack Skills

Young children with dyslexia also have problems with ‘word attack skills’. This is the ability to gain an understanding of new or alien words by breaking longer words down into shorter bites and searching for shorter words, or letter sequences, such as ‘th’ or ‘ing’, that a child has already learned previously.

For example, a child with good word attack skills may read the word ‘sunbathing’ for the first time and gain a sense of the meaning of the word by breaking it down into ‘sun’, ‘bath’, and ‘ing’.

Dyslexia Symptoms Middle school years

Dyslexia Symptoms in children who are 7-12 years of age include:

slow reading speed
problems with the correct spelling of words
problems understanding and recognising new words – for example, children with dyslexia may have problems with school subjects that introduce them to technical terms, such as science subjects

Dyslexia Symptoms Teenagers and adults

Dyslexia Symptoms in teenagers include:

slow writing speed
poorly organised and inexpressive written work – for example, even though an older child may know his or her subject inside out, they may have problems communicating that understanding of the subject writing
problems with reading fluency – reading fluency is being able to smoothly read text quickly and almost subconsciously with little or no conscious effort.

Dyslexia in adults

It is quite often the case that an individual can reach adulthood without the condition being recognised. Signs that you may have dyslexia include:

avoiding having to read or write whenever possible
seeking to conceal any difficulties that you have with reading or writing from other people
bad spelling ability
being a poor time manager or being badly disorganised
relying on memorising or spoken skills, rather than note taking or referring to notes

Do you think you may be dyslexic? Do you think you would benefit from taking the online adult dyslexia test right now?