Detecting dyslexia in children from an early age
has become very easy now due to increased awareness. Detecting dyslexia early
helps in its management. Observing children for the warning signs helps in
detecting dyslexia. Dyslexic children have confusions. Dyslexic children have
problems in coordinating and this creates more confusion in spelling the words
and in pronunciations. For detailed knowledge on detecting dyslexia, read on.
Today detecting dyslexia has become much easier due to the abundance of
information and the awareness that parents ought to be keen observers. Dyslexia
can be detected right from its early stages that is, when the kid is at his
Warning Signs of Dyslexia in Toddlers
Have a quick look at the warning signs of dyslexia
Delay in Speech Development - In
most cases children do not speak until they complete their second birthday. But
they can mumble indistinct words much before than taught. If the kid does not
have a clear speech when he completes his third year, it is a cause of serious
Mixing Up - Check whether the
child is prone to mixing up the sounds while uttering multisyllabic words. For
instance you would find him saying â€śaminalâ€ť for â€śanimalâ€ť or â€śmazaginâ€ť for â€śmagazineâ€ť.
You will also find a child who is in the early stages of dyslexia stuttering
and cluttering too much.
Infections - A kid with dyslexia
is prone to frequent ear
infections. This is explained by the physiological composition and
structures in the ear and the brain connection.
Disjointed - You will find that
the child is just not able to tie his shoe laces properly at all in spite of
repeated and serious attempts.
Confusion in Expression and Direction
- He will inevitably confused with his right and left hand side and show
just the opposite while indicating something.
Switching - Then while colouring
his pictures you will also notice that the child is suddenly switching from his
right to his left hand and vice versa while holding his crayons. You will also
notice that he uses one preferred hand for writing and another while playing a
game or picking up objects.
Poor Listeners - Since the
dyslexic kids have a problem in coordinating, they cannot do well in their
phonemic tests due to the basic fact that they cannot just realise the association.
So they cannot memorise or reproduce poems and stories in spite of their
containing a lot of rhyming words.
Due to a similar reason they are also not able to understand order and
sequencing. They therefore are unable to write alphabets and numbers in the
Then they also have a great deal of difficulty in articulating R, L, M, and
N. so they end up uttering â€śwedâ€ť while saying â€średâ€ť or â€śgweenâ€ť while saying â€śgreenâ€ť.
Typical Reading Errors
Another point to note out here, kids having dyslexia do not make random
reading mistakes. While they read aloud they make certain specific kind of
errors. It is again a point of observation that will tell you that the type of
mistakes that they make while reading
is just the same that they make while spelling them.
Although the child will successfully identify and read certain word on one
page he can well not be able to read it when the same word appears in the next
page. This is attributed to their lack of ability to properly associate.
They find it particularly difficult to read single words that are in
isolation. They are mostly inaccurate and they come up with a much laboured
attempt. They basically require a clue through a diagram or picture that will
help them in association.
They are also prone to insert or leave out letters and say â€ścoldâ€ť instead of
â€ścouldâ€ť or â€śstarâ€ť instead of â€śstairâ€ť. They end up substituting letters and
words according to convenience, that is, when they are unable to read a certain
word or cannot remember the term while trying to indicate a certain thing.
In terms of behavior, you will find him being irritated as they are not able
to express readily what they actually intend to, or they understand that people
are becoming impatient. They also have an unusual pencil grip while writing
which can be a sign of dysgraphia.