Dyslexia: Signs and Risk Factors

Who is at Risk for Dyslexia:

•Big risk factor: family history of dyslexia

•Late talker (2.5+) when receptive language is normal

•Significant speech/language delays

•Chronic ear infections

•Difficulty learning to tie shoes

•Directionality confusion (right/left); difficulty telling time

•Mixed hand dominance/lack of dominance by 4 years

Difficulties experienced by people with dyslexia may include the following:

•Learning to speak

•Learning letters and their sounds

•Difficulty learning letter-sound correspondence

•Difficulty learning and remembering the alphabet, names of letters, nursery rhymes, letters in own name, shapes and colors

•Reversals of letters/numbers through 2nd grade

•Organizing written and spoken language

•Persistent mixing of sounds in multi-syllabic words

•Slow, choppy inaccurate reading - guesses

•Reading quickly enough to comprehend

•Comprehending longer reading assignments

•Spelling

•Learning a foreign language

•Correctly doing math operations

•Difficulty with math – memorization

•Memorizing number facts

•May not enjoy looking at or following print when books are read aloud

•Messy room/backpack

•Dreads going to school