Dyslexia?

[m0mmaBuck]

What are signs one would look for to determine if their child is dyslexic?

 

My son is primarily an auditory learner from what I've seen. He can read above grade level but cannot spell well to save his life. He spells phonetically or from memory. He can do copywork (although he makes mistakes when he chooses to spell phonetically rather than copy the sentence given). Narrations are a nightmare because of the spelling so I write them out myself.

 

He is good at math but will still switch subtraction problems so he doesn't have to carry (i.e. 72 - 35 will become 75 - 32).

 

Thoughts?

[Perry]

What are signs one would look for to determine if their child is dyslexic?

 

My son is primarily an auditory learner from what I've seen. He can read above grade level but cannot spell well to save his life. He spells phonetically or from memory. He can do copywork (although he makes mistakes when he chooses to spell phonetically rather than copy the sentence given). Narrations are a nightmare because of the spelling so I write them out myself.

 

He is good at math but will still switch subtraction problems so he doesn't have to carry (i.e. 72 - 35 will become 75 - 32).

 

Thoughts?

This is an article I like.

 

Here is a snip

Clues to Dyslexia in Early Childhood

 

The earliest clues involve mostly spoken language. The very first clue to a language (and reading) problem may be delayed language. Once the child begins to speak, look for the following problems:

The Preschool Years

 

 

 

• Trouble learning common nursery rhymes such as "Jack and Jill" and "Humpty Dumpty"

• A lack of appreciation of rhymes

• Mispronounced words; persistent baby talk

• Difficulty in learning (and remembering) names of letters

• Failure to know the letters in his own name

 

Kindergarten and First Grade

 

 

 

• Failure to understand that words come apart; for example, that batboy can be pulled apart into bat and boy, and, later on, that the word bat can be broken down still further and sounded out as: "b" "aaaa" "t"

• Inability to learn to associate letters with sounds, such as being unable to connect the letter b with the "b" sound

• Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters; for example, the word big is read as goat

• The inability to read common one-syllable words or to sound out even the simplest of words, such as mat, cat, hop, nap

• Complaints about how hard reading is, or running and hiding when it is time to read

• A history of reading problems in parents or siblings.

 

In addition to the problems of speaking and reading, you should be looking for these indications of strengths in higher-level thinking processes:

 

 

 

• Curiosity

• A great imagination

• The ability to figure things out

• Eager embrace of new ideas

• Getting the gist of things

• A good understanding of new concepts

• Surprising maturity

• A large vocabulary for the age group

• Enjoyment in solving puzzles

• Talent at building models

• Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him

 

Clues to Dyslexia From Second Grade On

 

Problems in Speaking

 

 

 

• Mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar, or complicated words; the fracturing of words-leaving out parts of words or confusing the order of the parts of words; for example, aluminum becomes amulium

• Speech that is not fluent-pausing or hesitating often when speaking, lots of um's during speech, no glibness

• The use of imprecise language, such as vague references to stuff or things instead of the proper name of an object

• Not being able to find the exact word, such as confusing words that sound alike: saying tornado instead of volcano, substituting lotion for ocean, or humanity for humidity

• The need for time to summon an oral response or the inability to come up with a verbal response quickly when questioned

• Difficulty in remembering isolated pieces of verbal information (rote memory) - trouble remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists

 

Problems in Reading

 

 

 

• Very slow progress in acquiring reading skills

• The lack of a strategy to read new words

• Trouble reading unknown (new, unfamiliar) words that must be sounded out; making wild stabs or guesses at reading a word; failure to systematically sound out words

• The inability to read small "function" words such as that, an, in

• Stumbling on reading multisyllable words, or the failure to come close to sounding out the full word

• Omitting parts of words when reading; the failure to decode parts within a word, as if someone had chewed a hole in the middle of the word, such as conible for convertible

• A terrific fear of reading out loud; the avoidance of oral reading

• Oral reading filled with substitutions, omissions, and mispronunciations

• Oral reading that is choppy and labored, not smooth or fluent

• Oral reading that lacks inflection and sounds like the reading of a foreign language

• A reliance on context to discern the meaning of what is read

• A better ability to understand words in context than to read isolated single words

• Disproportionately poor performance on multiple choice tests

• The inability to finish tests on time

• The substitution of words with the same meaning for words in the text he can't pronounce, such as car for automobile

• Disastrous spelling, with words not resembling true spelling; some spellings may be missed by spell check

• Trouble reading mathematics word problems

• Reading that is very slow and tiring

• Homework that never seems to end, or with parents often recruited as readers

• Messy handwriting despite what may be an excellent facility at word processing-nimble fingers

• Extreme difficulty learning a foreign language

• A lack of enjoyment in reading, and the avoidance of reading books or even a sentence

• The avoidance of reading for pleasure, which seems too exhausting

• Reading whose accuracy improves over time, though it continues to lack fluency and is laborious

• Lowered self-esteem, with pain that is not always visible to others

• A history of reading, spelling, and foreign language problems in family members

 

In addition to signs of a phonologic weakness, there are signs of strengths in higher-level thinking processes:

 

 

 

• Excellent thinking skills: conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction

• Learning that is accomplished best through meaning rather than rote memorization

• Ability to get the "big picture"

• A high level of understanding of what is read to him

• The ability to read and to understand at a high level overlearned (that is, highly practiced) words in a special area of interest; for example, if his hobby is restoring cars, he may be able to read auto mechanics magazines

• Improvement as an area of interest becomes more specialized and focused, when he develops a miniature vocabulary that he can read

• A surprisingly sophisticated listening vocabulary

• Excellence in areas not dependent on reading, such as math, computers, and visual arts, or excellence in more conceptual (versus factoid-driven) subjects such as philosophy, biology, social studies, neuroscience, and creative writing

 

 

Whole article here

[LizzyBee]

 

http://www.dys-add.com also has a good list of what to look for at different stages of development, along with tons of other information about dyslexia.

[songbirdie]

Disgraphia is actually the term for the condition of not grasping spelling. You may want to look into that rather than dyslexia.

 

The thing he's doing with the math problems is highly common at this age. He may need to do some hands-on activities with borrowing/carrying to make that less abstract to him.

[m0mmaBuck]

Thank you all for the information, article, websites, and the mention of dysgraphia. I'm trying to figure out why spelling is such a nightmare for him and this may be a clue.

 

Thanks again.