What to look for:
Signs of Dyslexia
In Preschool
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Begins to talk at a later age
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Chronic ear infections
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Severe reactions to illnesses
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Gets confused with their left and right
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Struggles memorizing things like the alphabet, their address, and phone number
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Mixes up sounds and syllables in long words
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Can’t create rhyming words
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Has trouble tying shoes
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Tells stories that are hard to follow
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Has trouble following directions with more than one step
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A close relative will have dyslexia
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Has trouble determining which hand is their dominate
In Elementary School
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Handwriting that is hard to read
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Slow at writing
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Letter or number reversals – continuing past the end of first grade
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Very hard to learn cursive
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Reading – slow, choppy, and wrong
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Guessing words based on shape and content
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Skips or misreads words, especially prepositions
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Overlooks suffixes
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Can’t sound out words they don’t know
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Bad at spelling
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Often can’t remember sight words (they, were, does) or homonyms (their, they’re, and there)
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Bad at telling time with a clock with hands
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Trouble with math
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Memorizing & directionality
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Often says things like “thingies” and “whatchamacallits” because they cannot recall the correct words
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Hates school
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May have nightmares about school
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Often complains of stomach aches or headaches
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Avoids reading, especially out loud in class
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Messy bedroom, desk, and backpack
In High School
All of the signs listed above, plus:
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Limited vocabulary
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Incapable of mastering a new language
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Poor grades in many classes
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Has trouble understanding idioms, jokes, and puns
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Struggling to read printed music
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Tremendously poor written expressions
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Sizable discrepancies between verbal skills and written compositions
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They may drop out of high school
In Adults
Education history similar to above, plus:
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Slow, lethargic reader
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Unable to comprehend information right away, typically takes 2 or 3 times to read a page in order to understand it
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Terrible speller
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Often gets disoriented and lost, even in a familiar place
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Can confuse b and d, especially when tired or sick
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Writing does not come easy to them
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Often has “writers block” and cannot put their words on to paper
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Dreads having to write a memo or letter
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