The Preschool Years

• Trouble learning common nursery rhymes, such as “Jack and Jill”
• Difficulty learning (and remembering) the names of letters in the alphabet
• Seems unable to recognize letters in his/her own name
• Mispronounces familiar words; persistent “baby talk”
• Doesn’t recognize rhyming patterns like cat, bat, rat
• A family history of reading and/or spelling difficulties (dyslexia often runs in families)

 Kindergarten & First Grade

                        Difficulties

• Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters on the page—will say “puppy” instead of the written word “dog” on an illustrated page with a picture of a dog
• Does not understand that words come apart
• Complains about how hard reading is; “disappears” when it is time to read
• A history of reading problems in parents or siblings
• Cannot sound out even simple words like cat, map, nap
• Does not associate letters with sounds, such as the letter b with the “b” sound

      Strengths

• Curiosity
• Great imagination
• Ability to figure things out; gets the gist of things
• Eager embrace of new ideas
• A good understanding of new concepts
• Surprising maturity
• A larger vocabulary than typical for age group
• Enjoys solving puzzles
• Talent for building models
• Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him