Diagnosing Dyslexia

The earlier a child with dyslexia is diagnosed, the more effective his/her treatment could be.

Identifying dyslexia

In practice, identifying dyslexia in younger children can be very difficult for both parents and teachers because the signs and symptoms are often subtle. However, early continuing difficulties with differentiating sounds, particularly at the beginning or end of a word, can be a sign of possible difficulties in the future.

Many children, including younger children, also develop ways to compensate for their dyslexia, such as relying on their long-term memory more than usual or by ‘picturing’ the whole word.

Signs and symptoms of dyslexia you need to be looking for:

  1. Directional confusion- for example, writing 69 instead of 96
  2. Sequencing difficulties- for example, reading the letters in a word in a wrong sequence
  3. Difficulties with small words- for example, replacing “a” for “and”
  4. Late talking
  5. Difficulties with handwriting

This is a partial list of dyslexia signs. In any case you think there is a problem with your child,  take him/her to a professional diagnostics.

Famous Adults with Learning Disabilities.

Nelson Rockefeller – at the age of 9 he did not know the letters of the alphabet.

He was thought of as dull and backward.  He entered Davidson College, but he had to withdraw because of illness.  Later he went to Princeton, but his grades were mediocre.

Thomas Edison – His head was large at birth.  His mother did not agree with those who felt that the child was abnormal. He was sent to school, but the teacher thought him to be mentally ill.

The mother withdrew the child from school and taught him herself.

As it turned out, he might have done well in vocational education.

Frank W. Woolworth – was labeled slow as a child.  He clerked in a village grocery store.

He suggested putting slow-merchandise on a counter and selling it at a reduced rate.  It turned out to be an excellent idea.

Greg Luganis – had extreme difficulty in reading; some people used to say that he was clumsy.

He has been high up in his field for many years.  Because of his background, he might be labeled both learning disabled and disadvantaged.

George Patton – When he was twelve years old, he could not read, and he remained deficient in reading all his life.  However, he could memorize entire lectures, which was how he got through school.  That never stopped him from marching ahead.

Walt Disney – as a child he was slow in school work.  About the only thing this apparently right-brained individual had gone for him was his vivid imagination, which used to bother his teachers, especially when he doodled.

Winston Churchill – failed grade eight, did terrible in math, and generally hated school.  Still, he was upset by people who were “inebriated by the exuberance of their own verbosity”.

Woodrow Wilson –  had great difficulty in reading; in fact, throughout his life, he was unable to read well.  Despite this, he was extremely successful in politics.

Albert Einstein – did not learn to read until he was nine.  His teachers considered him mentally slow, unsociable and a dreamer.  He failed the entrance examinations to college but finally passed them after an additional year of preparation.  He lost three teaching positions and then became a patent clerk.

Hans Christian Anderson – had difficulty in reading and writing, but for years people have cherished his wonderful stories, all of which had to be dictated to a scribe.

Tom Cruise – despite being a success in his chosen field, this entertainer can learn lines only by listening to a tape.  He is formally diagnosed dyslexic.

Agatha Christie – had a learning disability called dysgraphia, which prevented any understood or legible written work.  As a result, all material had to be dictated to a typist/transcriptionist.
 

Dysgraphia Signs and Symptoms

The symptoms to dysgraphia are often overlooked or attributed to the student being lazy, unmotivated, not caring, or having delayed visual-motor processing.

To diagnose Dysgraphia, one must have more than one of the following symptoms:

  1. Cramping of fingers while writing short entries
  2. Odd wrist, arm, body, or paper orientations such as creating an L-shape with your arm
  3. Excessive erasures
  4. Mixed upper case and lower case letters
  5. Inconsistent form and size of letters, or unfinished letters
  6. Misuse of lines and margins
  7. Inefficient speed of copying
  8. Inattentiveness over details when writing
  9. Frequent need of verbal cues
  10. Referring heavily on vision to write
  11. Poor legibility
  12. Handwriting abilities that may interfere with spelling and written composition
  13. Having a hard time translating ideas to writing, sometimes using the wrong words altogether
  14. May feel pain while writing

It’s very difficult to Diagnose Dysgraphia; therefore, parents and educators need to be aware of Dysgraphia signs and symptoms and ask for professional diagnostics. Different types of dysgraphia require different approaches to their treatment; please, look at our blog devoted to Dysgraphia Types and Treatments.