What were LO's symptoms for dyslexia?

smiling76 · June 2013

I may totally be jumping the gun here--but I have this "gut" feeling that DS1 is dyslexic. He has speech apraxia and sensory issues---and I'm currently trying to work with his school therapists for a stronger DX because I truly feel he's dyspraxic. But his OT doesn't think so--just is calling him clumsy at this point. I truly think there's more to it.

So what's making me think this is that when he writes his name--which he has tons of trouble with--- he was writing a few letters completely backwards---and then he went to actually writing them in different orders--and now he's actually writing his name completely backwards. So he "may" have the write letters written the correct way 60% of the time--but actually writes them in reverse order (like standing in a mirror).

I'm just curious what your early symptoms were for dyslexia and how it was diagnosed. Neurologist??? I don't want to miss something like that--and not sure where to go next.

lite-bright · June 2013

This is something I worry about, too, especially as DD1 starts reading her reversals are becoming more obvious. She really commonly mixes up her b's and d's in sounding out words, and the other day read "I love you a ton" as "I love you a not." It's nice to hear that it's not necessarily something to worry about at this age.

She used to do the mirror writing, but two years of preschool have really helped with that. She still makes backwards S's sometimes, but clearly the practice has sunk in and made a big difference.

AgrippaRidesAgain · June 2013

At a prereading level, is an inability to identify short vowel sounds something to worry about? DS (5 in April) has been "writing" me notes for the past few months, and sounding out the words himself. They generally say "I love you"" spelled, "I wfu". (He is still working on proper L, V, and Th pronunciation). He knows all of his letter sounds but the vowels.

AgrippaRidesAgain · June 2013

-auntie-:
AgrippaRidesAgain:
At a prereading level, is an inability to identify short vowel sounds something to worry about? DS (5 in April) has been "writing" me notes for the past few months, and sounding out the words himself. They generally say "I love you"" spelled, "I wfu". (He is still working on proper L, V, and Th pronunciation). He knows all of his letter sounds but the vowels.
Eh, that could just be being 5 with emerging reading/writing skills.
Is his difficulty with L, V, and TH are phonological rather than pure articulation/developmental? There are some kids with phonological speech disorders who have difficulty learning to read. It's not a universal thing, through the more impaired the speech is the more likely there will be problems learning to read. In a lot of ways, this is similar to what DS's issues with learning to read were- he was delayed around discriminating sounds by ear even though he speech was very articulate. A lot of kids with HFA and AS are born systemizers and find the decoding piece of reading easy- some of these kids are hyperlexic and read at a very early age. Among my friends with kids who have this dx, most were reading/decoding by around 3 1/2.
I'm not sure what the ages are for these letter sounds to be typically mastered. My kid could do "L" by the time he was 3-ish but I know that's unusual because my own name has two and none of my nieces of nephew could pronounce my name until they were in elementary- hence my screen name- Auntie.

I have been using this chart as a guide for whether he is still on track with those sounds, b/c DH was in speech as a kid (neither he nor his mother remember why though). https://www.speech-therapy-information-and-resources.com/speech-sound-development-chart.html So I think he is still on track for forming those sounds. We have been working on them as he sounds out words. His L is still very "round" (if that description makes any sense), but he's getting there. "Th" and "V" are typically just replaced by "D" and "F". When he gets to words with "Th," he doesn't know what to do. But, we're still in the early stages. I don't push him much b/c he gets frustrated easily and he'll be getting it plenty in Kindergarten. He wants to read, but would rather memorize words and guess at the rest by looking at the first and last letters.

I was just struck by your comment about not recognizing short vowel sounds, b/c he never ever remembers the short vowel sounds, and doesn't use them at all when sounding out words.

gimmietimmies · June 2013

Gut feeling told us that our bright kid who could memorize movie dialogue but couldn't recognize the entire alphabet until near the end of grade two was dyslexic. We "knew" before then. As dh says, takes one to know one. DH is, his granddad is, and two uncles. T might be, but she also has selective mutism and can't be tested accurately. They've given her a different label, but she's slightly reading delayed. E, yeah, no issues there.

Signs? I took the list from dyslexia.com (the Davis list) and this is what we noticed. Bolded we especially noticed.

General

Appears bright, highly intelligent, and articulate but unable to read, write, or spell at grade level.
Labelled lazy, dumb, careless, immature, "not trying hard enough," or "behavior problem."
High in IQ, yet may not test well academically; tests well orally, but not written.
hides or covers up weaknesses with ingenious compensatory strategies; easily frustrated and emotional about school reading or testing.
Talented in art, drama, music, sports, mechanics, story-telling, sales, business, designing, building, or engineering.
loses track of time.
Learns best through hands-on experience, demonstrations, experimentation, observation, and visual aids.

Vision, Reading, and Spelling

Confused by letters, numbers, words, sequences, or verbal explanations.
Reading or writing shows repetitions, additions, transpositions, omissions, substitutions, and reversals in letters, numbers and/or words.
Extremely keen sighted and observant
Reads and rereads with little comprehension.
Spells phonetically and inconsistently.

Hearing and Speech

Has extended hearing; hears things not said or apparent to others; easily distracted by sounds.
Difficulty putting thoughts into words; speaks in halting phrases; leaves sentences incomplete; stutters under stress; mispronounces long words, or transposes phrases, words, and syllables when speaking. *We occasionally have a Yoda talker

Writing and Motor Skills

Trouble with writing or copying; pencil grip is unusual; handwriting varies or is illegible.
Can be ambidextrous, and often confuses left/right, over/under.

Math and Time Management

Has difficulty telling time, managing time, learning sequenced information or tasks, or being on time.
Computing math shows dependence on finger counting and other tricks; knows answers, but can't do it on paper.
Can count, but has difficulty counting objects and dealing with money.
Can do arithmetic, but fails word problems; cannot grasp algebra or higher math.

Memory and Cognition

Excellent long-term memory for experiences, locations, and faces.
Poor memory for sequences, facts and information that has not been experienced.
Thinks primarily with images and feeling, not sounds or words (little internal dialogue).

Behavior, Health, Development and Personality

Extremely disorderly
Can be class clown, *want a great Gabriel Iglesias impression, he's your man
Had unusually late developmental stages (talking, crawling, walking, tying shoes).
Can be an extra deep sleeper;.
Unusually high tolerance for pain.

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