Below is a checklist with signs your child or student may have dyslexia. Parents, if you identify three or more of these signs in your child, please discuss them with your child’s teacher or school administrator.

 

Teachers, if you identify three or more of these signs in a student, please discuss them with the student’s parents or guardians and your student/teacher assistance teams (SAT/TAT).  

 

Preschool 

At this stage, students are developing the underlying oral language base necessary for learning to read. Signs that indicate possible difficulties with reading acquisition include: 

• Delayed speech    
• Mixing up the sounds and syllables in long words    
• Difficulty pronouncing words (e.g., “pusgetti” for “spaghetti”, “mawn lower” for “lawn mower”  
• Difficulty in adding new vocabulary words  
• Inability to recall a particular word (word retrieval)  
• Constant confusion with left vs right  
• Can’t create or recognize words that rhyme  
• Poor auditory memory for nursery rhymes and chants  
• A close relative with dyslexia  
• Difficulty learning and remembering the names of letters in the alphabet

 

Kindergarten and First Grade (K-1) 

At this stage, children are developing basic word recognition skills both through the use of word attack strategies and contextual cues. Students with dyslexia will show some of the following characteristics:   

Difficulty remembering names or forms of letters   

• Difficulty breaking words into smaller parts (syllables)  (e.g. “baseball” can be             Pulled apart into “base” “ball”     
• Inability to learn to associate letters with sounds; such as being unable to connect the letter “b” with the “b” sound   
• Right/left confusion  
• Confusion of visually similar letters (b/d/p, w/m, h/n, f/t)   
• Confusion of auditorily similar letters (d/t, b/p, f/v)   
• Difficulties remembering basic sight words  
• Problems with segmenting words into individual sounds and blending sounds to form words   
• Reading and spelling errors that involve difficulties with sequencing    
• Leaving off grammatical endings (suffixes) in reading and/or writing (-s, -ed, -ing)  
• Difficulty remembering spelling words over time and applying spelling rules   
• Inability to read common one-syllable words or to sound out even the simplest of words, such as mat, cat, hop, nap   
• Monitoring sounds/symbol correspondence such as reversal of letters (past/pats), omissions (tip/trip), additions (slip/sip), substitutions (rip/rib) and transpositions (stop/pots)

 

Second and Third Grade (2-3)

 Many of the previously described behaviors remain problematic along with the following:  

• Difficulty recognizing common sight words (e.g. to, said, been)  
• Difficulty decoding single words  
• Difficulty recalling the correct sounds for letters and letter patterns in reading  
• Difficulty connecting speech sounds with appropriate letter or letter combinations and omitting letters in words for spelling (e.g. “after” spelled “efter”)  
• Difficulty reading fluently (e.g. slow, inaccurate, and/or without expression)  
• Difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in sentences using knowledge of phonics  
• Reliance on picture clues, story theme, or guessing at words  
• Difficulty with written expression  
• Difficulty with spelling  
• When speaking, difficulty finding the correct words (e.g. uses “whatyamacallits” and “thingies”)
  

Fourth through Sixth Grade (4-6) 

At this stage, children who have mastered basic reading skills are now expected to learn new information from reading. Many students with dyslexia continue to have significant difficulties with developing word recognition skills and therefore have trouble coping with more advanced reading activities necessary to succeed in the upper elementary grades and beyond.   Many of the previously described behaviors remain problematic, along with the following:

• Difficulty following multi-step directions  
• Difficulty reading aloud (e.g. fear of reading aloud in front of classmates)  
• Avoidance of reading (e.g. particularly for pleasure)  
• Acquisition of less vocabulary due to reduced independent reading  
• Use of less complicated words in writing that are easier to spell than more appropriate words (“big” instead of “enormous”)  
• Reliance on listening rather than reading for comprehension

 

Middle School and High School    

Students at this stage are expected to analyze and synthesize information in written form as well as acquire factual information. Although many individuals with dyslexia may have compensated for some of their difficulties with reading, others may continue to have problems with automatic word identification. Many of the previously described behaviors remain problematic, along with the following:

• Continued difficulties with word recognition, which significantly affect acquisition of knowledge and ability to analyze written material   
• Frustration with the amount of time required and energy expended for reading  
• Difficulty with written assignments  
• Difficulty learning a foreign language  
• Limited vocabulary  
• Poor written expression  
• Continued difficulties with spelling and written composition   
• Difficulty with note taking in class 

 

Postsecondary and Adulthood

Education history similar to those listed above and:

 

• Difficulty with note taking  
• Difficulty remembering sequences (e.g. mathematical and/or scientific formulas)  
• Slow reader  
• Difficulty putting thoughts to paper  
• Often gets lost even in familiar city  
• Difficulty pronouncing names of people and places, or parts of words  
• Difficulty remembering names of people and places

As stated in The Dyslexia Handbook  for Teachers and Parents in South Dakota