One of the biggest worries that any parent faces is the fear that their children have something "wrong" with them. Life is already difficult without the extra burden of dealing with a physical, emotional, or learning disability. Every parent wants their kid to be given the best tools to lead a perfect and successful life. Sometimes parents even have a difficult time coping with a disability, some may not even admit that there is something "different" about their child. Some disabilities are very easy to detect while others take a few years to really pin-point what is going on. There are many disabilities that cannot be seen by the outside such as ADD, ADHD, Autism, and Dyslexia.
While Autism can be diagnosed as early as 9 months, Dyslexia takes a bit more time to really diagnose. Children are typically officially diagnosed when they get into grade school and start learning how to read and the phonics of reading. One of the main signs of being dyslexic is having a difficult time putting letters and words into the correct position. It is extremely hard to check to see if your child has a difficult reading if they are three years old because it is obviously age-appropriate to not know how to read. In some cases, a pediatrician may diagnose dyslexia in a preschool-aged child but it is rare.
However, there are actually signs that your child may be dyslexic and might be showing some of the symptoms of dyslexia as early as three years old. Some of the possible signs of dyslexia in toddlers:
- Delayed speech
- Having a difficult speaking: You might notice that your child can't say long words properly and they are continuously flipping words around. For example, Beddy tear.
- Putting sentences together incorrectly or having a difficult time expressing themselves. They might get frustrated while they are talking.
- Rhyming words: Children who are dyslexic have a difficult time understanding rhyming words.
- Alphabet/numbers/colors/days of the week: Learning letters, numbers, days of the week, or colors may be very challenging. Children with dyslexia will have a difficult time understanding the past, present, and future tense. Their ability to understand tomorrow, next week, and next month are frustrating for them.
- Making friends: Children who have dyslexia may have a difficult time interacting with their peers.
- Toddlers with dyslexia have a difficult time re-telling or telling a story. They might get frustrated trying to come up with a storyline.
- Too many steps: They might have a tough time following steps. They are not very good at following instructions that are really long. Dyslexia will make story problems really difficult as they get older.
- Difficulty learning their own name: Sometimes they will have a tough time saying, spelling, or even recognizing their name. Even after learning to write their own name they might not write it in the correct way. For example, if their name is Colt they might spell it TOLC.
- Thinks primarily with feelings and emotions instead of words and sounds.
- Hearing: These children might have a tough time staying focused with loud noises.
- Some children might with dyslexia are labeled as hyper and may be misdiagnosed with attention deficient disorder.
As the child becomes older the signs and symptoms will become more apparent and will become easier to diagnose. Here are some signs that might start showing up in Kindergarten to 2nd Grade according Healthline Parenthood.
- Reading difficulty: The biggest sign of having dyslexia is not being able to read very easily. They might not understand that words break apart to make sounds and each letter makes a different sound.
- Anxiety about school: If children are especially anxious about school and have frustration toward learning then they might have a learning disability. Children with dyslexia really don't like school and might constantly complain about how difficult it is.
- Counting Money: Your child might show that they are unable to count objects such as money.
- Strong sense of justice; emotionally sensitive; strives for perfection.
- Bedwetting beyond age-appropriate
- learning sequenced information or tasks: For instance, using the words "before," "after," or "next" is really difficult to grasp.
Now what?
The only person who can actually diagnose your child with dyslexia is their pediatrician. Please be patient as your doctor tries to rule out any other possible causes of their issues. Your doctor is not questioning your fears, but they are trying to make sure nothing more serious is happening. They might even suggest going to different specialists to help diagnose properly.
The most important thing you can do if your child is diagnosed with dyslexia is to make sure that they know they are not stupid. Often intelligence is based on the way somebody picks up reading, writing, and arithmetic. If your child is struggling in those categories they might just think that they are not very smart. However, there are many successful people who have been diagnosed with dyslexia which include Pablo Picasso, Tom Cruise, Steven Speilberg, Magic Johnson, and Mohammed Alli. Some people your children may know are Albert Einstein, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. It is your job to make sure that they know that nothing is going to stand in their way. They can achieve anything. They might just have to do things a little bit differently than other people.
Many special educations teachers and elementary age teachers have made some suggestions to help children with Dyslexia. One Special ED teacher suggested using the website called, Dyslexie Font. Dyslexie Font changes the Typeface of websites to help people with Dyslexia read with more ease. Another teacher suggested getting specific tools to help children with Dyslexia read such as hand2mind FingerFocus Highlighters, and some others suggest that parents look into a private tutor while they are learning how to read and write.
When your child has dyslexia a lot of it is about finding what works for your child. Your child is going to have to struggle a little bit as they learn how to work around their disability. Encourage them and help them find tricks to do the best they can. Many people with dyslexia share that parents should make sure that the kids are aware of their disability but to not use it as an excuse. They can still do amazing things!
Source: Reading Rockets, Understood.org, Healthline Parenthood, GEM Learning Center LLC, Dyslexia Online, Touch-Type Read & Spell, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,