Dyslexia - what to look for?

Hannibal Smith

Hi

Not sure if this is the most appropriate forum. I did a search and found a few threads about the topic, but (a) not sure i can bump an old thread and (b) i cant find one that actually fits what im looking for.

So my 6 year old is in senior infants and since he started writing he writes his letters backwards. His P, Q, D, B, A and his 6 9 3 can randomly appear backwards. His JI teacher mentioned it first but said it was all early stages and nothing to worry about. His SI teacher then mentioned it a few months ago, but said because it happens randomly its nothing to be concerned about. However doing his homework last night i notice hes doing it again. In the one sentence his letters can appear reversed.

I plan at the weekend to go through his letter writing with him and all the rhymes hes learned to try and get it right with him (great fun loving mum that i am ).

But im wondering is this enough to warrant further investigations? His spelling, reading, maths are fine. He gets the numbers and letters in the right places just reversed. What other signs are there? Is it sufficient to just see how it goes for now or are there bigger issues down the line that early intervention could prevent?

Apologies for the length of this

byhookorbycrook

Letter/ Numeral reversals and other traits that can be a feature of dyslexia are common up to the age of 8 in many children,which is why many educational psychologists won't test until then.

Is there a history of dyselxia is the family?

Dyslexia literally means a difficulty with reading in particular and can manifest in spelling too. You say "His spelling, reading, maths are fine" so I don't understand what has you so worried

When you work on his letter /number formation I suggest you use a multi-sensory approach. You can get him to trace over the letter with his finger -say "b" and get him to repeat "b,b,b," while he does so. Then get him to trace it in sand the same way.

Did he do a test called the "MIST" in school? if so, I'd make an appointment to see how he got on, but as you don't mention it, I take it that "no news is good news!"

Don't spend too much time at any one sitting working on the formations, 3 or 4 mins regularly is better than 20 mins a go once a week.

See how he gets on next year and if you feel that reading is starting to prove very difficult, meet with that teacher then.

Hannibal Smith

Thanks for the reply Hook

At the last PT meeting the teacher said she wasnt concerned because he wasnt consistently doing it, but did say it would improve. Its just that its not improving at all.

But then again, his reading is fine as his his spelling.

I wouldnt be worried as such, i was just wondering whether it was something that should be looked further into at this stage, or is it just a matter of patience and time. From your reply im taking it to be the latter

I'll use your suggestions..and wont go overboard with it.

Thanks again

byhookorbycrook

As I said, keep an eye on it, but no need for panic just yet! PM-ing you.

ETA To make sure he is actually reading and not memorising, from time to time, pick random words in the text and ask him to tell you what they are without hesitation. Get him to retell the story without looking at the pictures too.

Hannibal Smith

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

As I said, keep an eye on it, but no need for panic just yet! PM-ing you.

ETA To make sure he is actually reading and not memorising, from time to time, pick random words in the text and ask him to tell you what they are without hesitation. Get him to retell the story without looking at the pictures too.

Actually...its funny you say that..sometimes we do his reading and he's reeling off the story and he'll say a word he'll assume would be next rather than whats in front of him and ive wondered myself whether he is reading or just has it memorised, but i get him to read random things like a magazine or library book that i know he hasnt seen before and he handles it ok. So i think that box is covered, but i might just take another go at it to be sure.

pooch90

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

Actually...its funny you say that..sometimes we do his reading and he's reeling off the story and he'll say a word he'll assume would be next rather than whats in front of him and ive wondered myself whether he is reading or just has it memorised, but i get him to read random things like a magazine or library book that i know he hasnt seen before and he handles it ok. So i think that box is covered, but i might just take another go at it to be sure.

They all do it at that age,when we do our readers in class,half of them are looking at the wall but still reeling off the text. Not an indicator of anything.
From what you've said,I wouldn't be worried.

tele2

Substituting other similar words when reading is actually an good indication of a child's understanding of what she/he has been reading. Good readers do it at a young age. Letter mix ups are quite common - p for g q d or b - they are after all quite similar. don't be worried about this - it's not an indication of specific reading difficulty in young readers. If concerned ask for your child's CAT score Cognitive Ability Test from the school if it or a similar test has been carried out and look at the 3 results in Quantitative Ability, (Mathematical) Verbal and Non verbal. An indicator of possible dyslexia might be where there is a substantial difference or discrepancy in Non Verbal or Quantitative to Verbal ability. Bear in mind also that tests in very young children can be inaccurate for many reasons - children being apprehensive about the test, test norm accuracy itself etc. Hope this helps.

Hannibal Smith

Thanks for the reply Tele2. He wrote out the alphabet yesterday. Now, I mean no pressure, I wasnt standing over him with a whip lol...he was playing school with his brother. All letters, both capital and small were perfect. He drew a picture this morning and wrote a caption on it, d's and p's reversed again lol.

His school report was excellent, just a note at the bottom mentioning reversing letters which kind of concerned me that she thinks its that big an issue.

I think its something we can deal with over the Summer and if not Im taking it 1st class will be where any problems are honed in on.

Thanks so much again for the replies.

Hannibal Smith

pooch90 wrote: »

They all do it at that age,when we do our readers in class,half of them are looking at the wall but still reeling off the text. Not an indicator of anything.
From what you've said,I wouldn't be worried.

Sorry Pooch, i missed your reply. I did laugh at them looking at the walls but still reeling off he text. Bet they think you dont spot it

pooch90

The d's &p's are no biggie really, knowing all his capitals well by end of seniors is a strong sign that he is doing ok. The teacher has to mention stuff like that in the report as if there is a diagnosis at a later stage and they haven't mention it, certain parents would have a field day as 'it wasn't in his report last year'.
I had a boy this year that we are strongly suspecting has dyslexia (he's just over 6). He has a lot of reversals and poor sight word retention etc. We did a few tests and, as said above there was a large discrepancy between his non-reading intelligence and his attainment in other tests.
Impossible to say without knowing your child but I'd say he's ok from information you've given. Great that you're so on top of it though.

gctest50

someone came up this font etc to give non-dyslexic people a vague idea of what it's like - might be useful to someone