The Power of Knowledge: Signs & Strengths of Dyslexia

• 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)

© Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, pp. 122 – 123

• 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

• 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

© Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, pp. 122 – 123

• Very slow in acquiring reading skills. Reading is slow and awkward
• Trouble reading unfamiliar words, often making wild guesses because he cannot sound out the word
• Doesn’t seem to have a strategy for reading new words
• Avoids reading out loud

• Searches for a specific word and ends up using vague language, such as “stuff” or “thing,” without naming the object
• Pauses, hesitates, and/or uses lots of “um’s” when speaking
• Confuses words that sound alike, such as saying “tornado” for “volcano,” substituting “lotion” for “ocean”
• Mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar or complicated words

• Trouble remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists
• Struggles to finish tests on time
• Difficulty learning a foreign language
• Poor spelling
• Messy handwriting
• Low self-esteem

• Excellent thinking skills: conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction
• Learning accomplished best through meaning rather than memorization
• Ability to get the “big picture”
• A high level of understanding of what is read to him
• The ability to read and to understand at a high level overlearned (or highly practiced) words in a special area of interest; for example, if he or she loves cooking they may be able to read food magazines
• A surprisingly sophisticated listening vocabulary
• Excels in areas not dependent on reading, such as math, computers and visual arts, or in more conceptual (versus fact-driven) subjects, including philosophy, biology, social studies, neuroscience and creative writing

© Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, pp. 123–125