If your child has one or two of these signs, it does not necessarily mean that he or she has dyslexia.
If your child has several of the signs you might consider having your child formally assessed.
A diagnosis of dyslexia (specific learning disorder) must be made by a licensed psychologist.
Grades K-2
- Trouble with rhyming
- Difficulty learning letter names and sounds
- Not learning phonics readily
- Inconsistent memory for words
- Can’t remember lists (days, months)
- Mispronounces words
- Distracted by background noise
- Poor retrieval of names for colours, objects
- Does not spell phonetically
- Frustration, avoidance
Grades 3-4
- Reverses letter sequences (soiled/solid, left/felt)
- Problems with phonic decoding
- Over-reliance on context and guessing to decode words
- Poor spelling
- Difficulty learning new vocabulary
- Symbol confusion ( e.g. arithmetic symbols: =, +, -, x, )
Grades 5-6
- Poor spelling, symbolic errors
- Poor punctuation, capitalization
- Difficulty learning cursive writing
- Over-reliance on context to read; poor decoding
- Dislike and avoidance of writing and reading
Grades 7-8
- Slow reading
- Can’t decode new vocabulary
- Poor spelling
- Difficulty organizing written compositions
- Word confusions
Grade 9+
- Written language skills less developed than reading comprehension
- Poor spelling and ‘mechanics’ of writing
- Difficulty learning a second (or third) language
- Slow, minimal, or disorganized writing