In Preschool

 
  • Delayed speech
  • Mixing sounds & syllables in long words
  • Chronic ear infections
  • Severe reactions to childhood illnesses
  • Constant confusion of left versus right
  • Late establishing a dominant hand
  • Struggles with learning to tie shoes
  • Difficulty memorizing their address, phone number, or the alphabet
  • Unable to create words that rhyme
  • A close relative with dyslexia
 

In Elementary School

 
  • Dysgraphia (slow, non-automatic handwriting that is difficult to read)
  • Letter or number reversals continuing past the end of first grade
  • Extreme difficulty learning cursive
  • Slow, choppy, inaccurate reading
  • - guesses based on shape or content
  • - skips or misreads prepositions (at, to, of)
  • - ignores suffixes
  • - cannot sound out unknown words
  • Extremely poor spelling
  • Often cannot remember sight words (i.e. they, were, does)
  • Often cannot remember homonyms (i.e. their, they're, there)
  • Difficulty telling time on a clock with hands
  • Math struggles:
  • - memorizing multiplication tables
  • - memorizing a sequence of steps
  • - directionality
  • Difficulty finding the correct word
  • - lots of "whatchamacallit" & "thingies"
  • - common sayings come out slightly twisted
  • Extremely messy bedroom, backpack, & desk
  • Dreads going to school
  • - complains of stomach aches or headaches
  • - may have nightmares about school



In High School

 
  • All of the above symptoms plus:
  • Limited vocabulary
  • Extremely poor written expression
  • - large discrepancy between verbal skills and written
  • Unable to master a foreign language
  • Difficulty in reading printed music
  • Poor grades in many classes
  • May drop out of high school

 

As Adults

 
  • Education history similar to above plus:
  • May have to read a page two or three times to understand it
  • Extremely poor spelling
  • Difficulty in putting thoughts onto paper
  • - dreads writing memos or letters
  • Still has difficulty with right versus left
  • Often gets lost, even in a familiar city
  • Sometimes confuses b and d, especially when tired or sick