diagnosing dyslexia in young children?

[Papa Deuce]

I plan to take my daughter to the doctor to find out more, but I'm starting to believe that she may be dyslexic.

How is this determined?

 

[WDWAurora]

That is becoming a pretty uncommon diagnosis these days. Basically, a diagnosis of dyslexia is not as useful for obtaining additional services, etc. as a diagnosis of a reading disability. I know, it makes no sense, but that is how it is in my state anyway.

To diagnose, assuming you go to a psychologist, your daughter will be administered an IQ test (likely the WISC, but depends on the preference of the psych.) and multiple achievement measures, with particular emphasis on reading and writing, but it is likely that they will look at overall achievement as well. The IQ will look at what she is capable of doing, then the achievements will look at how she is actually performing.

I would advise you to not tell your daughter that she is going in for "testing." This tends to decrease performance and not get as accurate results as simply telling the child that they are going to talk to someone about schoolwork and do some activities, etc.

Good luck...I know this can be a difficult time for everyone involved.

 

[ilovepcot]

Here is something I came across you may want to read and see what the answers are regarding your daughter.

It is important to realise that dyslexia may vary from mild to severe, and that by no means will all symptoms affect all dyslexics.

The following list picks out some of the things to look out for:

A history of dyslexia or undiagnosed problems of a dyslexic nature in the family.(About one in four children of a dyslexic parent is himself or herself dyslexic.)
Slow speech development
Difficulty following instructions - particularly more than one at a time
Confusion of left and right
Difficulty dressing - buttons and laces
Slow progress with reading - hesitant - particularly when reading aloud and may lose place, read the same line twice or miss out a line
Problems blending letters e.g. s-t-r = str
Difficulty remembering sequential information e.g. a telephone number, multiplication tables, the alphabet, the days of the week or the months of the year
Difficulty naming objects
Confusion with similar letters or words - m/w, n/u, p/q, b/d, off/of, bread/beard - or fails to recognise familiar words
Uses capital letters indiscriminately especially B
Problems with longer words - unable to break down into syllables or syllables missed out
Poor comprehension skills
Poor handwriting - letter reversal - persistent b-d reversal etc.
Fails to recognise punctuation when reading
Significant discrepancy between oral and writing skills
Poor auditory skills - fails to discriminate between similar sounds
Untidy work - lots of crossing out with repeated attempts to correct wrong spellings.
Work is poorly set out - fails to keep to lines or margins
Different spellings of the same word in a single piece of work
Dyslexics use so much concentration and effort that they are often over-tired
Seems to be able to do a task one day but not the next

 

[Papa Deuce]

Here is something I came across you may want to read and see what the answers are regarding your daughter.

It is important to realise that dyslexia may vary from mild to severe, and that by no means will all symptoms affect all dyslexics.

The following list picks out some of the things to look out for:

A history of dyslexia or undiagnosed problems of a dyslexic nature in the family.(About one in four children of a dyslexic parent is himself or herself dyslexic.)
Slow speech development
Difficulty following instructions - particularly more than one at a time
Confusion of left and right
Difficulty dressing - buttons and laces
Slow progress with reading - hesitant - particularly when reading aloud and may lose place, read the same line twice or miss out a line
Problems blending letters e.g. s-t-r = str
Difficulty remembering sequential information e.g. a telephone number, multiplication tables, the alphabet, the days of the week or the months of the year
Difficulty naming objects
Confusion with similar letters or words - m/w, n/u, p/q, b/d, off/of, bread/beard - or fails to recognise familiar words
Uses capital letters indiscriminately especially B
Problems with longer words - unable to break down into syllables or syllables missed out
Poor comprehension skills
Poor handwriting - letter reversal - persistent b-d reversal etc.
Fails to recognise punctuation when reading
Significant discrepancy between oral and writing skills
Poor auditory skills - fails to discriminate between similar sounds
Untidy work - lots of crossing out with repeated attempts to correct wrong spellings.
Work is poorly set out - fails to keep to lines or margins
Different spellings of the same word in a single piece of work
Dyslexics use so much concentration and effort that they are often over-tired
Seems to be able to do a task one day but not the next

Wow.... the ones I have in bold are her to a "T". Though the others don't really seem to be a factor at all. She is 4.5.

 

[coinkc]

Honestly if she is only 4.5 she may just be immature in those areas. Since she is also a twin (if I remember right from your other posts) that may add to it. I taught Kindergarten for several years and there are so many differences in developmental stages at that age. What one child does another may not pick up for a few years but by the time they all reach 3rd or 4th grade, they all even out.

However, dyslexia is a medical condition and schools cannot diagnose it so talking to your doctor would be the first step if you are really concerned. But a 4 year old not knowing her phone number, not being able to remember a sequence of events, writing reversals, etc. more than likely isn't anything to be concerned about. Now if she were 8 with the same issues, then I'd definately look into it furthur.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We homeschool and just came of of taking a very long break. So a bunch of her numbers were backwards today and she was again confusing her b's and d's. With practice that goes away.

Is it likely your daughters age is contributing? My daughter is 5.5 and as she's learning how to read our curriculum actually provided a heads up of some areas that could cause confusion and that is happening--but then as she learns it is going away.

Can she sing her ABC's?

 

[WDWAurora]

Oh, didn't know the age. They probably won't even evaluate that until after age 6-that's our general rule here due to reasons stated by coinkc. And it depends state to state as to whether or not is a medical or psychological diagnosis. I don't know about PA, but I would guess psych.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Honestly if she is only 4.5 she may just be immature in those areas. Since she is also a twin (if I remember right from your other posts) that may add to it. I taught Kindergarten for several years and there are so many differences in developmental stages at that age. What one child does another may not pick up for a few years but by the time they all reach 3rd or 4th grade, they all even out.

However, dyslexia is a medical condition and schools cannot diagnose it so talking to your doctor would be the first step if you are really concerned. But a 4 year old not knowing her phone number, not being able to remember a sequence of events, writing reversals, etc. more than likely isn't anything to be concerned about. Now if she were 8 with the same issues, then I'd definately look into it furthur.

I'm so glad you said that--I felt out of place replying.

 

[Papa Deuce]

We homeschool and just came of of taking a very long break. So a bunch of her numbers were backwards today and she was again confusing her b's and d's. With practice that goes away.

Is it likely your daughters age is contributing? My daughter is 5.5 and as she's learning how to read our curriculum actually provided a heads up of some areas that could cause confusion and that is happening--but then as she learns it is going away.

Can she sing her ABC's?

Sure, and she can count to 100, with just a few hiccups. I'm mostly concerned because she gets angry or depressed when I ask her questions that she can't handle that her twin can.

I'm not at all "trying" to compare here against her twin. But while one seems to take pride in learning, one seems to dread it. And then there are the "symptoms" that she has as described above.

I'm just concerned, not worried.

 

[Sparx]

Has she started K yet? Can she read/write? (I didn't start K until I was five, almost six I had a late birthday) You might want to wait until she does, and does learn to read/write to have her tested. you should really be able to tell then.

JMO.

 

[janette]

This is one of the best sites with diagnostics for younger children. http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html

Things to remember are that many of the warning signs of dyslexia are also age appropriate in a pre-schooler. A early diagnosis is difficult but can be done, they are going to look for differences in her learning vs her IQ. Looking for a variance in subjects / academics, does she do very well at some things and poorly at others. A learning difference / disability is really just that a gap between what a person given a certain intelligence usually is able to achieve and what they can.

My 11yo DD was diagnosed as reading disabled in pre-school, official dyslexia diagnosis last year. I needed the official diagnosis to get certain programs at the school, as much as we don't want to label kids having the right label will make a difference in the services they receive and it does become important. It would be rare that you'd get a dyslexia diagnosis very early usually it would be categorized as reading disabled. Strangely most of the dyslexia testing tools use some reading skills and can be skewed when the child isn't reading at all but the standard learning / IQ tests aren't all based on reading skills.

Things to look for also are those wide variances in learning abilities. My DD in pre-school could memorize a paragraph but not recognize alpha or numeric characters until mid 1st grade. She was doing basic math addition / subtraction with objects before she could recognize the numbers 0-9.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

. My DD in pre-school could memorize a paragraph but not recognize alpha or numeric characters until mid 1st grade. She was doing basic math addition / subtraction with objects before she could recognize the numbers 0-9.

Even though she had a disability--I am impressed with what she was doing.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

OK janette--that website is scary. I might be diagnosing myself as dyslexic.

just finished reading the math section--nevermind. Read the first paragraph and thought holy cow!

I am now concerned about my 5yo though.

She is actually meeting quite a few of the signs. More than I'd like.

 

[janette]

However, dyslexia is a medical condition and schools cannot diagnose it so talking to your doctor would be the first step if you are really concerned. But a 4 year old not knowing her phone number, not being able to remember a sequence of events, writing reversals, etc. more than likely isn't anything to be concerned about. Now if she were 8 with the same issues, then I'd definately look into it furthur.

Dyslexia isn't considered medical, a diagnostician or educational psychologist does this type of testing. Schools do have them on staff or available within almost all school systems however they usually only test enough to either qualify or dis-qualify a child for special education services and go no further.

It would be a disservice to any child to wait until they are 8 although most school do. My DD has received help since she was about 4yo, she is considered severely dyslexia and qualifies for special education but because we started early now at 11yo she is reading almost on level and completely main-streamed except for her Dyslexia reading class.

 

[janette]

Even though she had a disability--I am impressed with what she was doing.

She's very bright just has trouble with the written word, that is a key symptom of dyslexia.

and yes, we are almost all dyslexic to some degree. It's just when they can't function in an academic environment that it's a problem. Even then it is just a problem in school. Many people with dyslexia are very successful because they seem to get some extra creative and other stuff where that boring reading space is taken up in the rest of us. Walt Disney is considered to have been Dyslexic and many other famous people.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

hmmm--maybe that's why I didn't like reading.

I remember on the SAT's--if the topic of a passage didn't interest me then my comprehension of it was nil--verbal was a big struggle for me. Hubby tells me that it shouldn't matter the topic. To me, it does. If I can't understand what they are talking about--then I can't go and find the dumb answer to the silly question. I hate reading comprehension tests. Drives me nuts!

 

[debm]

I think it is very hard to diagnose in a young child. My son is "very" dyslexic, however we didn't get a diagnosis until he was about 8. Looking back there were lots of signs but nothing that you normally think of when you think about dyslexia. He never reversed letters however he hated the ABCs as a toddler. I mean, really disliked them. If I even sang them he would put his hands over his ears. Loved other songs though. If I remember right, he was about 6 or 7 before he could sing them through correctly. Order is very difficult for him, ie the order of letters in the ABCs. Tying his shoe was difficult because you must do those steps in a particular order. He didn't ride a bike until he was older--9. (But we did live in the country so he didn't have much of a chance. But he also had no interest and it was a big struggle.) When we moved into a neighborhood, he got on his bike and was riding fine in about 8 minutes!! He had a fantastic imagination, still does, when he was 3. He would spend half a day on the back of the sofa being a leopard, or running into things as a certain type of dinosaur (can't spell it.) I would even bring his lunch to the sofa, he would only purr, etc. Sounds strange, but otherwise he was developing normally. Had tons of language, although would reverse some syllables in words---still does that at 12. He also has what I would call sensory issues although at the time we just thought he was being different and we were giving him the chance to voice his opinion. For instance, he would not wear shorts! Hates to see his knees he says. This started as a toddler and is still an issue. He will play outside with his friends in the summer wearing heavy jeans! He also likes certain types of fabrics, can't stand the feel of paper, I could probably go on and on. He still really struggles now in reading and writing but we are doing a very specialized program for dyslexics and it is helping. www.bartonreading.com. She has lots of info on diagnosing dyslexia on her website.

I think we should always be "on guard" for our children but honestly I wouldn't worry too much right now about your 4 year old. A lot of what you are saying sounds very age appropriate. Sometimes I think kids get labled too soon. Good luck with your decisions and research. Just a thought but sometimes some kids' strengths aren't as apparent as others. Maybe your daughter is feeling like her twin does "everything" better than she does. Years ago, reading and writing weren't as necessary for everyone in society. Those that it wasn't their forte still succeeded. Nowadays it is very necessary. It is something my son will struggle with for the rest of his life. I hope to help him capitalize on his strengths so that he can find a job that he loves and is good at. Good luck!

 

[LaLa]

I was actually pretty concerned about DD4 until just recently. She has been writing her name pretty well for a while now, but when she first started writing it, it was all reversed. Almost every time. When we would write it correctly for her to copy, she would get it right, but on her own, it was always perfectly reversed.

DH and I kinda freaked out. I spoke with her preschool teacher, who said that she would try to take extra time with her, reinforcing left to right. We started reinforcing a little here and there as well, and now she doesn't do it nearly as much. Sometimes, yes, but not every time like before.

My mom, a retired school teacher, told me there was nothing to worry about, that LOTS of young kids do that, and that she would more than likely grow out of it.

That made me feel better about the whole situation. We will just keep track of her progress and hopefully she will grow out of it altogther. I think right now, they are just too young to worry about it.

But I reserve the right to worry about it later.

 

[golfgal]

PD and others, kids develop at different rates. They develop different skills at different times. How many people have kids that walked at the EXACT same age, probably none of us. How many of us have one child that talked very early and another that didn't talk until they were 2, very common.

Your DD is WAY too young to be tested. It is very NORMAL for kids this young to have issues like this. Their cognitive skills aren't totally ready for this. With the list you highlighted I would say that if you called for an appointment and listed those things and then said your DD was 4, they would say call back in 4 years if she is still having issues.

The main problem is that you have twins. Having twins myself I know it is very hard not to compare one against the other. Our 'slowest developing" child is also our best student now. He was the last one to roll over, crawl, talk, write his name, etc., etc. He is now in 5th grade and school is simple for him. He is a straight A student. Our "fastest developer" sat at 4 months, crawled at 5 months, walked at 8 months, was talking in complete sentences by 18 months could write his name, recognize a lot of words, etc early is our most challenging student (see my post about getting a child to care about school).

I think you are just reading into this too much. If she is still exhibiting these problems in second grade, then by all means have her tested. Of course she is going to be upset that her sister can do it and she can't but I would guess there are things she can do that her sister can't or has to work harder at doing.

If your girls weren't twins and the one that isn't as proficient was older, the thought of learning disabilities wouldn't have even crossed your mind. If she has met all her other milestones within normal ranges, she is probably fine. Give it 4 more years and see if there is really an issue.

 

[coinkc]

Dyslexia isn't considered medical, a diagnostician or educational psychologist does this type of testing. Schools do have them on staff or available within almost all school systems however they usually only test enough to either qualify or dis-qualify a child for special education services and go no further.

It would be a disservice to any child to wait until they are 8 although most school do. My DD has received help since she was about 4yo, she is considered severely dyslexia and qualifies for special education but because we started early now at 11yo she is reading almost on level and completely main-streamed except for her Dyslexia reading class.

I have been working with a student who I do beleive is dyslexic trying to get some extra reading help. I have been told many times this year that it is a medical diagnosis and the school district cannot diagnose it. I have had to strongly encourage the parent to talk with their medical doctor if she wants to pursue this diagnosis. This information has come from both my principal and the reading specialist in my building. Perhaps it is different in each state.
(and please don't think that I want this child "labeled"...I just want him to get the help he needs and often times a diagnosis can speed the process up considerably)

I agree that it is a disservice to wait. However, that is the reality within many school districts. I'm happy that you were able to get services for your daughter at a young age...I wish all kids who needed it could get it.