What are the signs?
Have you ever wondered if you may have dyslexia? Look through the relevant list below and think back to your childhood. Then look at the list for teenagers and adults and work through those too. If this concerns a child or family member, work through the same list, taking into account what you know about them and see how many you tick. Please don’t worry if you tick all relevant or only some. This is just to give you an idea.
Teenagers and adults As well as the problems already mentioned, the symptoms of dyslexia in older children and adults can include:
poorly organised written work that lacks expression (for example, even though they may be very knowledgeable about a certain subject, they may have problems expressing that knowledge in writing) difficulty planning and writing essays, letters or reports difficulties revising for examinations trying to avoid reading and writing whenever possible difficulty taking notes or copying poor spelling struggling to remember things such as a PIN or telephone number struggling to meet deadlines
Pre-school children In some cases, it’s possible to detect symptoms of dyslexia before a child starts school. Symptoms can include: delayed speech development compared with other children of the same age (although this can have many different causes) speech problems, such as not being able to pronounce long words properly and “jumbling” up phrases (for example, saying “hecilopter” instead of “helicopter”, or “beddy tear” instead of “teddy bear”) problems expressing themselves using spoken language, such as being unable to remember the right word to use, or putting sentences together incorrectly little understanding or appreciation of rhyming words, such as “the cat sat on the mat”, or nursery rhymes difficulty with, or little interest in, learning letters of the alphabet Primary school children Symptoms of dyslexia usually become more obvious when children start school and begin to focus more on learning how to read and write. Symptoms of dyslexia in children aged 5 to 12 include problems learning the names and sounds of letters spelling that’s unpredictable and inconsistent confusion over letters that look similar and putting letters the wrong way round (such as writing “b” instead of “d”) confusing the order of letters in words reading slowly or making errors when reading aloud answering questions well orally, but having difficulty writing the answer down difficulty carrying out a sequence of directions struggling to learn sequences, such as days of the week or the alphabet
Associated problems Some people with dyslexia also have other problems not directly connected to reading or writing
difficulties with numbers (dyscalculia) poor short-term memory problems concentrating and a short attention span, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) poor organisation and time management physical co-ordination problems such as developmental co-ordination disorder (dyspraxia)
Getting help... This checklist is just indicative. If you would like to take the next steps following the questionnaire, please read on. Remember, the Neurodiversity Network is here to support you, as well as help you understand more about neurodiversity and its superpower.
Please carry on through the pack to find out more or contact us through the Neurodiversity Network.
slow writing speed poor handwriting
problems copying written language and taking longer than normal to complete written work poor phonological (the study of sound patterns and their meanings) awareness and word attack skills (decoding words)
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