Dyslexia: Myths and Misconceptions
Learning to read is the most important achievement for students in early education. Surprisingly, reading is a fairly new phenomena in history of human development, invented only a few thousand years ago. The human brain is actually wired for speech, but this is not the case for reading. Reading is not natural to humans; it takes direct explicit instruction to master reading, spelling, and writing skills. Many students struggle or fail to achieve full literacy. First among those challenged to read is the child or adult with dyslexia. This article explores the signs of dyslexia that parents can use to begin to identify if a child at various ages is dyslexic.
Preschool signs of dyslexia
A common misconception at this age is that these signs are either ignored, or believed to be outgrown as the child grows older and enters school. While it may be true that some letters such as R and W may be mispronounced at this stage and outgrown this is not the case with children afflicted with dyslexia.
- Mispronouncing words, like saying beddy tear instead of teddy bear
- Struggling to name familiar objects and using general words like thing and stuff instead
- Having a hard time learning nursery rhymes or song lyrics that rhyme
- Having trouble remembering sequences, like singing the letters of the alphabet
- Telling stories that are hard to follow or having trouble talking about an event in a logical order
- Having difficulty remembering and following directions with multiple steps
Grades K–2 signs of dyslexia
The biggest myth/misconception I have seen at this stage is that parents think it is up to the school to “fix” the problem. Parents must step in and support the work being done in schools.
- Having trouble learning letter names and remembering the sounds they make
- Often confusing letters that look similar (like b, d, p, and q) or sound similar (like f and v, b and p, or d and t)
- Able to read a word in isolation but unable to read the word in connect text
- Struggling to read familiar words (like cat), especially if there aren’t pictures
- Substituting words when reading aloud, like saying house when the story says home
- Having trouble separating the individual sounds in words and blending sounds to make a word
- Having trouble remembering how words are spelled and apply spelling rules in writing
Grades 3–5 signs of dyslexia
Misconceptions abound at this stage with parents simply accepting that their child “just isn’t able to be a reader.”
- Confusing or skipping small words like for and of when reading aloud
- Skipping a line of print in a text and not noticing that something is not right
- Having trouble sounding out new words
- Having trouble quickly recognizing common sight words
- Struggling to explain what happened in a story or answer questions about key details
- Frequently making the same kinds of mistakes
- Reversing letters
- Having poor spelling, like spelling the same word correctly and incorrectly in the same exercise
- Avoiding reading whenever possible or getting frustrated or upset when reading
Tween, teen, and adult signs of dyslexia
- Reading slowly or leaving out small words and parts of longer words when reading aloud
- Struggling to remember common abbreviations, including ones on social media
- Often searching for words or using substitutes like gate instead of fence
- Often not “getting” the joke or having trouble understanding idioms and puns
- Taking a very long time to complete reading assignments
- Having an easier time answering questions about a page of text if it’s read aloud
Having these challenges can be tough on kids and adults. They may think they’re not smart because they’re struggling when most people aren’t. But trouble with reading doesn’t mean someone isn’t smart.
Struggling readers often feel like they’re the only one. But dyslexia is a very common learning difference, and many kids and adults need extra help learning to read. The good news is that there are ways to teach reading to struggling readers.