Characteristics of Dyslexia in Children

The symptoms of dyslexia in children change as the child grows up.

Signs of future learning disabilities often show up even when toddlers are just beginning to talk.

These characteristics of dyslexia in children also vary greatly from child to child - no two dyslexic children are alike.

Below, you'll find the common symptoms of childhood dyslexia for a child in preschool, kindergarten and first grade, second and third grade, intermediate grades: 4th - 6th, middle and high school. (See adult dyslexia symptoms here.)

Dyslexia in Children - Preschool

Even as early as when a child is learning to walk and talk, signs of future reading difficulties will often show up. In a preschooler, you may see some or all of these signs of dyslexia:

• Late learning to talk; uses nonverbal gestures instead of words
• Slow to learn new vocabulary; trouble remembering names of common items
• Mixed up pronunciation of words (aminal for animal, busketti, for spaghetti)
• Trouble with sounds such as th, r, s, l, w
• May not enjoy looking at books or following along when being read to
• May not want to learn letter names or the alphabet; may have trouble remembering the letters in her own name
• Trouble rhyming; cannot tell which words start with same first sound
• Difficulty understanding simple questions or directions; has a hard time remembering what was just said
• Trouble sequencing words in a sentence
• Clumsy; difficulty with motor skills; difficulty hopping, running around obstacles, catching a bounced ball, throwing a ball overhead, riding a tricycle, walking downstairs

Dyslexia in Children - Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Jazzy and I started working together when she was in 1st grade. At first when writing, she printed real letters, but they didn't match the sounds in her words. Jazzy eventually became a strong reader and her spelling improved dramatically.

When a child is in kindergarten or first grade, beginning to read, you might see these dyslexia symptoms:

• Slow to learn the alphabet

• Difficulty learning letter names and sounds
• Begin to show frustration and anxiety, as he realizes he is lagging behind his peers
• May exhibit health or behavior problems, emotional difficulties or want to avoid school
• Difficulty recognizing and making rhymes
• Lack of phonemic awareness (understanding that letters represent speech sounds in words)
• Difficulty recognizing common words by sight, or automatically (i.e. family names, names on common signs on cereal boxes)
• Difficulty spelling words phonically, so they can be figured out by the reader

Remember that even with these difficulties, the child may have great strengths in other unrelated areas. This discrepancy is a blessing - AND it can cause confusion to the child, her teachers and family.

Dyslexia in Children - Second and Third Grade

In an ideal school setting, children with learning disabilities are identified early and given adequate amounts of intervention by highly qualified teachers using programs proven to be effective with dyslexic students.

Unfortunately, this is often not the case.

Dyslexic children in 2nd or 3rd grade typically continue to have difficulties with reading, spelling and writing.

In addition, they have often developed some negative and limiting habits of emotional and mental responses when faced with school work relating to reading and writing.

These negative thoughts and emotions can become great hindrances to remediation, even when remediation is given with an optimal environment, program and teacher.

Dyslexia in Children creates a special challenge for parents and teachers. Providing teachers, parents and students methods of reducing and even transforming these related limiting beliefs and emotions are the subject of Integrated Teaching and the main reason I created this website.

EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and Educational Kinesiology, such as Brain Gym activities can be quickly and surprisingly effective at eliminating the negative emotional charge around learning, even when learning doesn't come easily.

EFT and Brain Gym don't take away the dyslexia, but they do make learning with dyslexia much easier.

Liz had all the symptoms described here. And, she is unusually gifted in her physical abilities! She's a natural dancer and athlete, able to pick up the correct form, just by watching.

Here are some predictable symptoms of dyslexia in 2nd and 3rd grade:

• Lack of reading fluency (reading with natural-sounding phrasing, expression and ease)
• Inability to recognize common words automatically (by sight)
• Difficulties with sounding out words; unsure of correct letters sounds
• Poor spelling
• Increasing symptoms of school anxiety and distressing emotions: headaches, stomach aches, not wanting to go to school, lethargy or depression, disruptive or avoidance behavior, "boredom," frustration and anger

If a dyslexic child is given high quality intervention that strengthens her weaknesses, she can begin to feel and be more successful in the areas of reading, writing and language.

These are the areas that are incredibly demanding for the dyslexic child.

If, simultaneously, she is given opportunities to demonstrate her strengths - perhaps in verbal expression, artistic or athletic areas, she will be much more likely to continue to like school and feel good about herself as a capable learner.

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Dyslexia in Children - Intermediate Grades - 4th, 5th and 6th

If the child has not had expert instruction specifically targeting the needs of the learning disabled student, all of the previously noted difficulties will likely still be occurring and to nearly the same degree as before.

However, even with expert instruction, many of the same difficulties will persist for the severely dyslexic student.

Here are some common, persistent indicators of dyslexia in the intermediate grades:

• Poor reading fluency (unable to read quickly and naturally in general and as measured on timed oral reading fluency tests)
• Difficulty reading lists of words
• Even greater difficulty reading lists of nonsense words
• Poor spelling
• Possible difficulties with comprehension when reading (but not when being read to)
• Difficulty organizing thoughts for speaking and writing assignments

When Mark was first evaluated for a possible learning disability, the psychologist was amazed, and qualified him for the gifted program instead. Mark is so intelligent and articulate, his teachers always had a hard time believing and understanding how incredibly difficult reading, writing and note-taking was for him. Sometimes dyslexia in children is hard to diagnose.

Dyslexia in Children - Middle and High School

Many new challenges arise due to the standard format of middle and high schools.

Students change classes and teachers many times a day.

Middle and high school students are expected to be increasingly independent in note-taking, organization of materials and assignments, independent study habits, time management and homework completion.

This may all be more than the student can handle.

Most middle schools and high schools no longer offer remediation of the basic language skills of reading and writing.

Instead, special education staff are more likely to focus on academic accommodations than continuing to build core skills.

Furthermore, if reading and writing remediation courses are offered, they are usually not for credit.

These challenges can exacerbate the student's sense of frustration and hopelessness and can lead to apathy, frustrating and dropping out of school.

Even though accommodations do not help build the skills required for students to become independent, accommodations are still important.

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Helpful Accommodations for Older Dyslexic Students:

• Extra time on tests
• Shortened assignments
• Help with keyboarding and editing written work
• Note-taking
• Recorded tests

Dyslexia in Children - Summing it Up

Children with dyslexia face challenges the majority of students don't have. For the dyslexic child, explicit, systematic instruction in reading and writing is necessary.

In most schools and classrooms, that type of instruction is not provided (although with recent federal legislation in the US, more and more schools are providing it).

High quality instruction helps a student strengthen his weaknesses, build on his strengths AND helps him identify and collapse the limiting emotions and beliefs related to his challenges.

Two methods that are effective, easy to learn and fun to do are Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and Brain Gym movements.

When learning includes the mind, body and emotions, that is the highest quality Integrated Teaching and the goal of Learning Inside-Out.

Check out Natalie's other websites!

AttractLife.com Transformation from the inside out.

Learn more body mind and soul techniques to attract a life of abundance in all areas of your life.

MilagroCohousing.org Interested in moving to an oasis in the desert?

I'm selling my lovely adobe home in a beautiful Tucson eco-community, Milagro Cohousing (so I can move to Latin America).

Sources

Moats, Louisa Cook and Dakin, Karen E., Basic Facts About Dyslexia and Other Reading Problems, International Dyslexia Association, 2008.

International Dyslexia Association, Finding the Answers... Realizing the Potential.

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