HOW TO RECOGNIZE
DYSLEXIA
IN CHILDREN

If you answer yes to three or four of the questions below for each age group, it is possible that the children concerned are dyslexic to some extent.

Children ages 8 or less:

Were they late in learning to speak?

Do they still have particular difficulty with reading or spelling? Does this surprise you?

Do you have the impression that in matters not connected with reading and spelling, they are alert and bright?

Do they write letters and figures the wrong way around?

When doing calculations, have they needed the help of blocks, fingers, or marks on paper for longer than others of their age? Do they have unusual difficulty remembering multiplication tables?

Do they have difficulty in telling left from right?

Are they unusually clumsy? (Not all dyslexic children are clumsy.)

Children ages 8 to 12:

Do they make unusual spelling errors? Do they sometimes omit letters from words or put them in the wrong order?

Do they make apparently careless mistakes in reading?

Does reading comprehension seem slower than expected for children of their age?

Do they have difficulty copying from the blackboard at school?

When reading aloud, do they leave out words or a line altogether, or do they read the same line twice? Do they dislike reading aloud?

Do they still find multiplication tables difficult to remember?

Do they have a poor sense of direction, confusing left and right?

Do they lack self-confidence and have low self-respect?

—Awareness Information, published by the British Dyslexia Association, and Dyslexia, produced by Broadcasting Support Services, Channel 4 Television, London, England.