Dyslexia is a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence. This difficulty should be be picked up by Parents and Teachers and through assessment, it can then be defined if there is a specific learning disability.
Each Child with Dyslexia will have a unique profile of strengths and weaknesses. The indicators of Dyslexia will differ at different ages. Some children will have all of the indicators whereas some may only have a couple of indicators. Here are some of the indicators which may arise for a child ages between 5-12 years old:
- Has difficulty understanding the connection between letters and sounds
- Has difficulty separating words into sounds, and blending sounds to form words (phonemic awareness)
- Has difficulty repeating multi-syllabic words (e.g. emeny for enemy, pasghetti for spaghetti)
- Word reversals (d for b)
- Letter inversions( m for w)
- Word reversals (tip for pit)
- Word substitutions (house for home)
- Reads slowly with little expression
- May be slower than others to learn new skills, is relying heavily on memorizing without understanding
- Reading comprehension is below expectation of age
- May have trouble learning facts.
- Has difficulty learning or planning
- Poor quality handwriting
- May have an awkward grip of pencil/pen
- May have trouble telling the time
Some children display all signs, where others may only display some of the indicators. If you or your child’s Teacher is having concerns about your child within their school environment, please contact us to organise an assessment.
Please visit www.dyslexia.ie for further details