How to Catch Dyslexia Early!
Children spend their early school years learning to read. Around the 3rd grade, an important shift happens: instead of learning to read, they begin reading to learn. At this point, reading becomes one of the most important modalities of information acquisition across subject areas.
Studies have demonstrated that when at-risk beginning readers receive intensive early intervention, the majority of these children achieve average reading ability. Unfortunately, however, most children are not diagnosed with dyslexia until the end of 2nd grade or later, after they have fallen behind peers not only in reading but in multiple areas of academic content. These children can still achieve great outcomes with intervention, but they have more ground to make up.
Early detection of students at risk for dyslexia is key to providing these learners with the support they need to succeed in their academic journeys. Because dyslexia is a language processing disorder, signs are often present before a child even begins to read and write!
Early Signs of Dyslexia Risk
Difficulty with rapid automatized naming (the ability to quickly and automatically name things like familiar objects, colors, letters, or numbers)
Inability to identify and produce rhyming sounds (e.g., cat and hat)
Trouble imitating pseudowords (nonsense words)
Difficulty identifying sounds in their name or other familiar words (e.g., “dog” starts with /d/)
Difficulty learning sound-letter correspondence (e.g., “a” says /a/ like apple)
Trouble learning or remembering the alphabet song, days of the week, or familiar nursery rhymes
Difficulty remembering instructions with multiple steps
Dyslexia is a unique language disorder, but it may co-occur with other conditions. The presence of the conditions below does not mean dyslexia will occur, but these children may have a greater risk of developing dyslexia:
Conditions That May Co-occur with Dyslexia
Family history of dyslexia or speech and language disorder
Phonological disorder (errors with the sound system of language, e.g., ‘tat’ for ‘cat’, that persist beyond the age of expected elimination)
Developmental language disorder (difficulties with verbal expression or language comprehension)
Attention deficit disorders
Executive functioning disorder (attention, problem solving, task initiation, time management, working memory, cognitive flexibility)
If your child displays one or more of these signs, visit our evaluation hub to request an evaluation and learn how you can support your child’s overall language development.
Virtual and onsite evaluations are available! Email us at tpeadmin@truepotentialed.com or call (515)218-8445.
Sources:
Sanfilippo, J.,Ness, M.,Petscher, Y.,Rappaport, L.,Zuckerman, B.,& Gaab, N. (2020). Reintroducing dyslexia: Early identification and implications for pediatric practice. Pediatrics 146(1). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-3046.
