Dyslexia – Symptoms

Signs of dyslexia vary depending on age. Having  several of the signs listed below may indicate that testing is warranted. King’s Speech and Learning Center uses a variety of standardized assessments, and research based intervention methods to evaluate and treat reading and writing disorders. As license  language specialists we develop a comprehensive treatment program to address phonological and morphological awareness, auditory processing, verbal memory, spelling, oral reading fluency, executive function and  comprehension as they relate to all language modalities. We help school age children with related  study skills, and guide parents on how to best help at home with  daily homework struggles.

Preschool

A preschool-age child may:

  • Difficulty pronouncing words
  • Slow to learn new vocabulary words
  • Trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, and shapes
  • Has difficulty  rhyming
  • Trouble with fine motor skills
  • Difficulty blending sounds to make words
  • Forgets how to sound out words just read

Kindergarten through grade 4

Children in kindergarten through fourth grade may:

  • Difficulty reading sight words and words that need to be sounded out
  • Difficulty learning the connection between letters and sounds
  • Confuse small words such as “at” , “the” , “and”
  • Make consistent reading and spelling errors, including, letter reversals, and whole word substitution

Grades 5 through 8

Children in fifth through eighth grade may:

  • Read at a lower level than expected.
  • Reverse letter sequences
  • Trouble  learning prefixes, suffixes and root words
  • Difficulty spelling
  • Dislikes reading aloud
  • Trouble with word problems in math.
  • Poor  handwriting and pencil grip
  • Slow to retrieve words or facts

High school and college

Students in high school and college may:

  • Read  slowly and dysfluently with many errors
  • Continue to spell incorrectly, or frequently spell the same word differently
  • Procrastinate on reading and writing tasks
  • Work harder than average, and take longer to complete  reading and writing tasks
  • Have poor memory
  • Show reduced vocabulary

How We Can Help

  • Complete a comprehensive speech-language evaluation to diagnose Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and/or Executive Functioning Disorder. Reading and Writing Evaluation.
  • Offer a structured, multi- sensory, multi-modality approach to reading remediation using either Wilson Reading System or Orton Gillingham
  • Provide supplemental tutoring or Occupational Therapy services as needed
  • Improve related language deficits such as weak verbal memory and/or auditory processing disorder through speech-language therapy
  • Collaborate with school professionals through record exchange, phone conference, or PPT meetings
  • Independent School Evaluations upon public school or family request

Click here for more information on language based learning disabilities and how speech pathologists can help

Click here to view the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s position statement on speech-language pathologists treating Reading and Writing Disorders (Dyslexia and Dysgraphia)