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Dyslexia is a learning disorder that makes it difficult for students to
read letters and symbols. Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder
which, sadly, often goes undiagnosed. As a parent, you are in the best
position to pick up on dyslexia and help your child with techniques especially
formulated to overcome the problem. Children with dyslexia can go on to
have extremely successful academic careers.
There are several factors which help you to identify dyslexia. If your
child displays one or more of these tendencies, have them tested by a
specialist. The earlier you identify dyslexia, the better. When dyslexia
goes undiagnosed, children may fall behind at school or develop negative
attitudes towards education.
Confusing the order of numbers and letters: This is the most common attribute
of the dyslexic child. Children will switch the order of letters, symbols
and numbers. This means that they have trouble recognizing words or solving
math problems. It is completely natural for beginner learners to do this,
but if the problem persists after the first and second grade, it may cause
them to fall behind.
Learning to talk: Children who have dyslexia tend to take longer to learn
to talk. They may mispronounce words or mix them up and usually have trouble
pronouncing R’s and L’s, M’s and N’s. Of course
every child has these issues when learning to talk and this shouldn’t
be seen as a definitive sign, but if the issues continue after most babies
have mastered speech, it may be cause for concern.
Delayed dominance: While most children have a dominant side early on, children
with dyslexia may struggle with this. They can have trouble knowing left
from right, may be clumsy, they may use their hands and feet interchangeably etc.
Copying: Because of the mix up with letters and symbols, children who have
dyslexia may have difficulty with copying text and math problems. This
means that if they are working from a text book, website or from the board,
they may copy things incorrectly.
Slow readers, fast learners: Dyslexia is no indication of intelligence,
so you may see your children lagging behind in reading, but having no
issue in grasping complex concepts or learning new ideas and skills. Reading
skills are especially affected and along with the mixing up of letters
in a word and words in a sentence, dyslexic students will also have trouble
with rhyming words. It will be difficult for them to recognize rhyming
words or provide a rhyming word for a given word. For example; if you
ask them to find a word that rhymes with can, they would struggle to come
up with the right answer.
Many of the early signs of dyslexia can simply be the normal issues that
all children face when learning language, numbers and symbols. If these
issues persist, it may be time for more in-depth investigation. If you
suspect your child may have a learning disorder like dyslexia, seek the
council of a developmental psychologist who can not only test your child
to identify leaning difficulties, but can also help you and your child
to overcome learning problems.
