If your child is lagging behind others, it’s up to you to find out why. Don’t only say that your child is “lazy” as a reason. All children set out with the desire to learn. But somewhere along the way they lose their confidence. The most likely reason for this is that they have dyslexia and that they have already realised they can’t learn as fast as other children. Nobody wants to do things they’re not good at, but every child wants to believe they can succeed. The good news is that these kids may be successful but it will be a more challenging journey for them. If your child is showing some of these warning signs below, you need to take action.

Warning Signs

The National Institute of Health found that dyslexia was identifiable from age 5.5 with 92% accuracy.

1. Read

  • Forgetting what they read immediately.
  • Slow reading speed.
  • While reading, skip words or miss the end of a word.
  • Forget what’s just been read.
  • Get tired quickly while reading.

No wonder all this has led children to be reluctant to read!

2. Spelling

  • Mix the order of letters when reading words.
  • Forgetting how to spell a word learned a few days ago.
  • Skip letters or the end of a word.
  • To say a word exactly as he/she hears it
  • Mix the letters b and d. For example, write d where the letter B should be used.
  • Experiencing difficulty with sound words and sight words. For example, Their and there.
  • Adding an ‘e’ to the end of words frequently.
  • Slow response in some activities (such as word games).

These are commonly made mistakes but the challenges will differ.

3. Writing

  • Having too many ideas but not being able to put them in writing.
  •  Writing for longer than other students but being less productive.
  •  Writing long sentences without punctuation.
  • Not knowing where or how to start.
  •  Making mistakes while taking notes.

Difficulty remembering instructions. For example, the phrase “go upstairs, put on your socks and shoes, and bring your sweater down ” is quite confusing for them.

4. Other challenges

  • Not being able to learn how to tie shoelaces.
  • Difficulty in rhyming.
  • Inability to remember phone numbers or home address.
  •  Inability to remember timelines.

Mixing left and right.

What can you do?

1. Learn as much as you can about dyslexia.

2. Tell your child about dyslexia.

3. Because early diagnosis and intervention are very important, start using a structured training program designed to help with dyslexia.