The reading/spelling characteristics are the result of difficulty with the following:
• The development of phonological awareness, including segmenting, blending, and
manipulating sounds in words
• Learning the names of letters and their associated sounds
• Phonological memory (holding information about sounds and words in memory)
• Rapid naming of familiar objects, colors, or letters of the alphabet
Secondary consequences of dyslexia may include the following:
• Variable difficulty with aspects of reading comprehension
• Variable difficulty with aspects of written composition
• A limited amount of time spent in reading activities
Pre-school
• May talk later than most children
• May have difficulty with rhyming
• May have difficulty pronouncing words (i.e., busgetti for spaghetti, mawn lower for lawn
mower)
• May have poor auditory memory for nursery rhymes and chants
• May be slow to add new vocabulary words
• May be unable to recall the right word
• May have trouble learning numbers, days of the week, colors, shapes, and how to spell and
write his or her name
Kindergarten through Third Grade
• Fails to understand that words come apart; for example, that snowman can be pulled apart
into snow and man and, later on, that the word man can be broken down still further and
sounded out as /m/ /?/ /n/
• Has difficulty learning the letter names and their corresponding sounds
• Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single wordsin isolation)—lacks a strategy
• Has difficulty spelling phonetically
• Reads dysfluently (choppy and labored)
• Relies on context to recognize a word
Fourth Grade through High School
• Has a history of reading and spelling difficulties
• Avoids reading aloud
• Reads most materials slowly; oralreading is labored, not fluent
• Avoids reading for pleasure
• May have an inadequate vocabulary
• Has difficulty spelling; may resort to using less complicated words in writing that are easier
to spell
Resources:
Common Signs, (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2013, from The International Dyslexia Association Web site.
Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any level. New York: Alfred A Knopf.
