The word dyslexia is made up of two different parts: dys meaning not or difficult and lexia meaning words, reading, or language. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability in reading. It is the most common learning disability in the United States and it touches the lives of millions. It's a lifelong condition often caused by inherited traits that affect how the brain works. Dyslexia is not a problem of vision or with seeing letters in the wrong direction. 

 

It is also important to know that dyslexia is NOT the result of low intelligence, these kids are smart! 

 

 

Most often, traditional reading programs used in classrooms are not effective for those with dyslexia.  These students require a more specialized instruction that is prescriptive, personalized, multi-sensory, language-based, structured, systematic, cumulative and emotionally sound.  Proper diagnosis, instruction, and support can promote reading and academic success. 

 

 

Symptoms of Dyslexia:

 

 

Before school:

 

 

• Talks later than children their own age     

• Slow to add new vocabulary words

• Trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, shapes

• Difficulty learning the connection between letters and sounds

• Slow to develop fine motor skills (hold pencil, use buttons and zippers)

• Difficulty with multi-step directions

School age:

 

 

• Reads below grade level expectancy

• Reads slowly and often with many errors

• Difficulty seeing and  hearing differences in letters and words

• Doesn’t seem to have a strategy for reading new words

• Rarely reads for pleasure

• Difficulty with reading comprehension

• Difficulty comprehending rapid, multi-step instructions

• Problems remembering the sequence of things

• Difficulty memorizing 

• Difficulty spelling

• Difficulty with handwriting, often messy 

• Trouble expressing thoughts in written form

• Difficulty verbally expressing ideas in an organized way 

• Trouble preparing summaries and outlines 

• Struggles to retrieve words, “It was on the tip of my tongue.”

• Uses lots of “ums” and filler words like “stuff or things”

• Doesn’t get jokes, idioms, puns and proverbs 

• Doesn’t pick up on body language

• Difficulty with time management

• Homework is troublesome, often taking too long to complete

• Trouble learning a foreign language

• Difficulty with math problems, graphs, and charts

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*Margie Thompson is NOT Lindamood-Bell® Learning Processes nor is she affiliated with, certified, endorsed, licensed, monitored, or sponsored by Lindamood-Bell®, Nanci Bell, Phyllis Lindamood or Pat Lindamood.  Lindamood-Bell® - an international organization creating and implementing unique instructional methods and programs for quality intervention to advance language and literacy skills - in no way endorses or monitors the services provided by Margie Thompson.