Dyslexia: Early Testing Could Make A Real Difference

Should dyslexia testing be done early?  Absolutely.  Early testing for dyslexia can make a world of a difference because the earlier you know a child has dyslexia, the sooner you can give that child the multi-sensory, systematic and explicit reading instruction that he or she needs.  One of the myths surrounding  dyslexia is that, “There are no clues that a child has dyslexia before he or she enters school.”  This is simply not true.  According to Sally Shaywitz, M.D. in Overcoming Dyslexia,  there are several clues that a child has dyslexia:

In the Preschool Years

1. They have trouble learning common nursery rhymes such as “Jack and Jill”
2. She or he has difficulty learning and remembering the letters of the alphabet
3. The child seems to be unable to recognize the letters in his or her own name
4. He or she mispronounces familiar words and have persistent baby talk
5. They don’t recognize rhyming patters such as cat, bat, rat

In Kindergarten

1. They show reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters on the page—will say “puppy” instead of the written word “dog” in an illustrated page with a dog shown
2. He or she does not understand that words come apart
3. The student complains about how hard reading is, or they “disappear” when it is time to read
4. There is a history of reading problems in parents or siblings.
5. The student has speaking issues
6. He or she cannot sound out even simple words like cat, map, nap
7. They do not associate letters with sounds, such as the letter b with the “b” sound

Strengths

1. Curiosity
2. A great imagination
3. The ability to figure things out
4. Eager embrace of new ideas
5. Getting the gist of things
6. A good understanding of new concepts
7. Surprising maturity
8. A larger vocabulary for the age group
9. Enjoyment in solving puzzles
10. Talent at building models
11. Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him

Second Grade and Up

Reading

1. Very slow in acquiring reading skills.  Reading is slow and awkward
2. Trouble reading unfamiliar words, often making wild guesses because he cannot sound out the word.
3. Doesn’t seem to have a strategy for reading new words
4. Avoids reading out loud

Speaking

1. Searches for a specific word and ends up using vague language such as “stuff” or “thing” a lot, without name the object?
2. Pauses, hesitates, and/or uses lots of “umm’s” when speaking
3. Confuses words that sound alike, such as saying “tornado” for “volcano,” substituting “lotion” for “ocean.”
4. Mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar, or complicated words
5. Seems to need extra time to respond to questions.

School and Life

1. Trouble with remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists.
2. Has trouble finishing tests on time
3. Extreme difficulty learning a foreign language
4. Messy handwriting
5. Low self-esteem that may not be immediately visible

Strengths

1. Excellent thinking skills: conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction
2. Learning that is accomplished best through meaning rather than rote memorization
3. Ability to get the “big picture”
4. A high level of understanding of what is read to him
5. The ability to read and to understand at a high level overlearned (that is, highly practiced) words in a special area of interest; for example, if his hobby is restoring cars, he may be able to read auto mechanic magazines
6. Improvement as an area of interest becomes more specialized and focused, when he develops a miniature vocabulary that he can read
7. A surprisingly sophisticated listening vocabulary
8. Excellence in areas not dependent on reading, such as math, computers, and visual arts, or excellence in more conceptual (versus fact-driven) subjects such as philosophy, biology, social studies, neuroscience, and creative writing

Source: Sally Shaywitz, M.D. in Overcoming Dyslexia

The idea behind early testing is that if we know the child is dyslexic,  we can give the tools to the dyslexic student as soon as possible.  This means more time with comprehensible text.  And that is exactly what we want.  Without the proper ability to decode text, the student is unable to learn properly.  This leaves students at a tremendous disadvantage.  Without the early learning, a child does not have the background knowledge necessary to build on and more importantly, he or she cannot learn independently.  From grades K-1 children are learning to read.  However at about 2nd grade, children are expected to read to learn.  It is in everyone’s interest to find out if a child is dyslexic.  It cannot hurt to find out, and if you do find out, the rule is “the sooner the better” for the education and well being of your child.