Symptoms of Dyslexia

Do you suspect your child to have dyslexia? Or are you just curious?

Dyslexia has some specific symptoms which can begin to show in early childhood. The stronger the dyslexia is, the earlier the first symptoms can be noticed.

Common symptoms in reading are difficulties in connecting letters to words, switching syllables, "forgetting" syllables or drawing two or more words together into one word. Children with dyslexia struggle very much when they are asked to read aloud. They are very slow, even for beginning readers, and get easily frustrated. Even if they manage to read something out aloud, they often don't connect the letters and sounds with their meaning.

In writing, dyslexic children mix up the letters of a word, forget letters (e.g. the vowels), write some letters mirrored and others normal, write all words without spaces in between and often have a generally difficult to read handwriting. Writing, as reading, is straining for them. When they get more training in writing, their skills will probably increase, but most dyspexic people have difficulties with spelling and punctuation for their whole life.

Some children manage to hide their problems for several years. They learn words by heart in order to "learn" their spelling and they learn reading texts by heart at home so that no one notices how slow they read. Dyslexic children can become really clever when it comes to hide their difficulties. They don't want to appear dumb. If the child's dyslexia is weak, he might be able to hide it completely. Usually, those people will choose occupations which don't require reading or writing.

If you suspect your child to have dyslexia, go to a specialist to make sure. Sometimes, other problems show similar symptoms, such as a hearing or vision impairment. Once you are sure it is dyslexia, there are ways how you can help your child. Read more about how next Monday.