Our So. Cal. Tri-Counties Branch of the IDA

Dyslexia

Common Symptoms Specific to Age/Grade Levels

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Pre-school
Kindergarten to 4th Grades
5th to 8th Grades
Adolescents
Adults

Common Symptoms of Dyslexia: Pre-School Children
The difficulties noted below are often associated with dyslexia if they are unexpected for the individual's age, educational level, or cognitive abilities. A qualified diagnostician can test a person to determine if he or she is truly dyslexic.

Early recognition of at-risk factors with subsequent intervention may not prevent the development of a later learning difference but can potentially reduce the severity of the difficulty.

• May talk later than most children.
• May have difficulty understanding simple directions or trying to remember what you asked.
• May be unable to follow multi-step directions or routines.
• May have difficulty pronouncing words, i.e., "busgetti" for "spaghetti", "mawn lower" for "lawn mower".
• May struggle to produce intelligible speech to an unfamiliar listener.
• May be slow to add new vocabulary words.
• May not yet be speaking in three- to five-word utterances.
• May be unable to recall the right word for common vocabulary.
• May have difficulty with rhyming or knowing which words begin with the same sound.
• May have trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, shapes, how to spell and write his or her name.
• Fine motor skills may develop more slowly than in other children.
• May have difficulty telling and/or retelling a story in the correct sequence.
• Often has difficulty separating sounds in words and blending sounds to make words.

Sources

• Basic Facts about Dyslexia: What Every Layperson Ought to Know - © 1993, 2nd ed. 1998. The International Dyslexia Association, Baltimore, MD.
• Early Childhood Education – © 2000. The International Dyslexia Association, Baltimore MD.
• Learning Disabilities: Information, Strategies, Resources - © Copyright 2000. Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities, a collaboration of leading U.S. non-profit learning disabilities organizations. Used with permission.

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Common Symptoms of Dyslexia: Kindergarten to 4th Grade Students
The difficulties noted below are often associated with dyslexia if they are unexpected for the individual's age, educational level, or cognitive abilities. A qualified diagnostician can test a person to determine if he or she is truly dyslexic.

Caution: It is developmentally normal for children to reverse letters and words when they first learn to write. This normally disappears by 2nd grade.

• May be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds.
• Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation).
• Has difficulty spelling phonetically.
• Makes consistent reading and spelling errors such as:
  • Letter reversals - "d" for "b" as in: "dog" for "bog"
  • Word reversals - "tip" for "pit"
  • Inversions - "m" for "w," "u" for "n"
  • Transpositions - "felt" for "left"
  • Substitutions - "house" for "home"
• May confuse small words - "at" for "to," "said" for "and," "does" for "goes."
• Relies on guessing and context.
• May have difficulty learning new vocabulary.
• May transpose number sequences and confuse arithmetic signs (+ - x / =).
• May have trouble remembering facts.
• May be slow to learn new skills; relies heavily on memorizing without understanding.
• May have difficulty planning, organizing and managing time, materials and tasks.
• Often uses an awkward pencil grip (fist, thumb hooked over fingers, etc.).
• May have poor "fine motor" coordination and/or struggles to perform sequential motor tasks, such as tying shoes.

Sources

• Basic Facts about Dyslexia: What Every Layperson Ought to Know - © Copyright 1993, 2nd ed. 1998. The International Dyslexia Association, Baltimore, MD.
• Learning Disabilities: Information, Strategies, Resources - © Copyright 2000. Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities, a collaboration of leading U.S. non-profit learning disabilities organizations. Used with permission.

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Common Symptoms of Dyslexia: 5th to 8th Grade Students
The difficulties noted below are often associated with dyslexia if they are unexpected for the individual's age, educational level, or cognitive abilities. A qualified diagnostician can test a person to determine if he or she is truly dyslexic.

• Is usually reading below grade level.
• May reverse letter sequences - "soiled" for "solid," "left" for "felt."
• May be slow to discern and to learn prefixes, suffixes, root words, and other reading and spelling strategies.
• May have difficulty spelling; spells same word differently on the same page.
• May avoid reading aloud.
• May have trouble with word problems in math.
• May write with difficulty with illegible handwriting; pencil grip is awkward, fist-like or tight.
• May avoid writing.
• May have difficulty with written composition.
• May have slow or poor recall of facts.
• May have difficulty with comprehension.
• May have trouble with non-literal language (idioms, jokes, proverbs, slang).
• May have difficulty with planning, organizing and managing time, materials and tasks.

Sources

• Basic Facts about Dyslexia: What Every Layperson Ought to Know - © Copyright 1993, 2nd ed. 1998. The International Dyslexia Association, Baltimore, MD.
• Learning Disabilities: Information, Strategies, Resources - © Copyright 2000. Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities, a collaboration of leading U.S. non-profit learning disabilities organizations. Used with permission.

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Common Symptoms of Dyslexia: Adolescents (High School & College)
The difficulties noted below are often associated with dyslexia if they are unexpected for the individual's age, educational level, or cognitive abilities. A qualified diagnostician can test a person to determine if he or she is truly dyslexic.

• Difficulty processing auditory information
• Losing possessions; poor organization skills
• Slow reading
• Low reading comprehension
• Difficulty remembering names of people and places
• Hesitant speech
• Difficulty finding appropriate words
• Difficulty organizing ideas to write a letter or paper
• Poor spelling
• Inability to recall numbers in proper sequences (as in phone numbers)
• Lowered self-esteem due to past frustrations and failures
• Poor ability to find way around and trouble finding car in parking lot OR excellent ability to find way around

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Common Symptoms of Dyslexia: Adults
The difficulties noted below are often associated with dyslexia if they are unexpected for the individual's age, educational level, or cognitive abilities. A qualified diagnostician can test a person to determine if he or she is truly dyslexic.

• May hide reading problems.
• May spell poorly; relies on others to correct spelling.
• Avoids writing; may not be able to write.
• Often very competent in oral language.
• Relies on memory; may have an excellent memory.
• Often has good "people" skills.
• Often is spatially talented; professions include, but are not limited, to engineers, architects, designers, artists and craftspeople, mathematicians, physicists, physicians (esp. surgeons and orthopedists), and dentists.
• May be very good at "reading" people (is intuitive and sensitive to others).
• In jobs may be working well below their intellectual capacity.
• May have difficulty with planning, organization, and management of time, materials and tasks.
• Often become entrepreneurs.

Sources

• Basic Facts about Dyslexia: What Every Layperson Ought to Know - © Copyright 1993, 2nd ed. 1998. The International Dyslexia Association, Baltimore, MD.
• Learning Disabilities: Information, Strategies, Resources - © Copyright 2000. Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities, a collaboration of leading U.S. non-profit learning disabilities organizations. Used with permission.

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