How To Recognize Early Signs Of Dyslexia
Recognizing signs of dyslexia is the first step toward identifying who is dyslexic and how you are going to treat their problem. Dyslexia was discovered in the late 1800s, but has affected people long before that. Characterized by difficulty reading, recognizing sounds of letters and words, difficulty spelling, and often difficulty with math, dyslexia affects much of the United States population and the world. There are dozens of famous people who have been diagnosed with dyslexia at a late age, but had they been able to recognize the signs of dyslexia when they were younger they would have been able to create a program for treatment.
Dyslexia Signs in Children
Dyslexia in children is not too difficult to treat if caught at a young age and given proper attention. Early signs of dyslexia in children include; late learning to talk, difficulty pronouncing words, difficulty acquiring vocabulary or using age appropriate grammar, difficulty learning the alphabet, nursery rhymes, or songs, and difficulty with word retrieval. Because all of these signs are oral in nature, they can be caught as young as three years old. Other signs include; difficulty learning to read, difficulty counting syllables in words, and difficulty with phonemic awareness and phonological processing, slow laborious oral reading. Also, many children with dyslexia will often stumble through longer words. These signs are just a few of the possibly detected early signs of dyslexia.
Other common symptoms associated with dyslexia include difficulty recognizing colors, objects, and letters rapidly in sequence. Many dyslexic children need to hear and see concepts several times in order to understand. Sometimes teachers may misdiagnose a child as lazy or inattentive when, really, they are simply dyslexic and frustrated.
Dyslexia Signs in Adults
Dyslexia signs in adults are sometimes different than those in children because they tend to change over time as adults are able to adapt to the disorder. Some signs of dyslexia in adults are; difficulty following a lengthy discussion, difficulty reading quickly and coherently, poor spelling, and difficulty with numbers (mixing up numbers like 26 and 62).
Treatment of Dyslexia
Treatment of dyslexia can range between each school. Dyslexic children respond well to different types of instructions. It is advised that people with dyslexia are instructed in a specific manner in order to help their reading and learning skills. Intensive instructions which will be given frequently in order to remind the child or adult of what they need to be doing in order to strengthen their skills. Explicit instructions, which are thorough, clear and concise, help alleviate frustrations with not understanding what the teacher wants.
Systematic and cumulative instructions allow dyslexics to build on each lesson in order to slowly progress. By building in review, the dyslexic will be practicing using their memory and retrieval skills. Structured instructions are step-by-step approaches to practicing concepts, and proven to help dyslexics learn. And finally, multisensory instructions which link listening, speaking, reading and writing together in an attempt to promote hands on learning. This method of teaching is often referred to as the most effective way to combat the obstacles of dyslexia.
