Dyslexia Handbook

Common Risk Factors Associated with Dyslexia:

If the following behaviors are unexpected for an individual’s age, educational level, or cognitive abilities, they may be risk factors associated with dyslexia. A student with dyslexia usually exhibits several of these behaviors that persist over time and interfere with his/her learning. A family history of dyslexia may be present; in fact, recent studies reveal that the whole spectrum of reading disabilities is strongly determined by genetic predispositions (inherited aptitudes) (Olson, Keenan, Byrne, & Samuelsson, 2014).

Preschool

• Delay in learning to talk

• Difficulty with rhyming

• Difficulty pronouncing words (e.g., “pusgetti” for “spaghetti,” “mawn lower” for “lawn mower”)

• Poor auditory memory for nursery rhymes and chants

• Difficulty in adding new vocabulary words

• Inability to recall the right word (word retrieval)

• Trouble learning and naming letters and numbers and remembering the letters in his/ her name

• A version to print (e.g., doesn’t enjoy following along if book is read aloud)

Kindergarten and First Grade

• Difficulty breaking words into smaller parts (syllables) (e.g., “baseball” can be pulled apart into “base” “ ball” or “napkin” can be pulled apart into “nap” “kin”)

• Difficulty identifying and manipulating sounds in syllables (e.g., “man” sounded out as /m/ /ă/ /n/)

• Difficulty remembering the names of letters and recalling their corresponding sounds

• Difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation)

• Difficulty spelling words the way they sound (phonetically) or remembering letter sequences in very common words seen often in print ( e.g., “sed” for “said”)

Second Grade and Third Grade

Many of the previously described behaviors remain problematic along with the following:

• Difficulty recognizing common sight words (e.g., “to,” “said,” “been”)

• Difficulty decoding single words • Difficulty recalling the correct sounds for letters and letter patterns in reading

• Difficulty connecting speech sounds with appropriate letter or letter combinations and omitting letters in words for spelling (e.g., “after” spelled “eftr”)

• Difficulty reading fluently (e.g., slow, inaccurate, and/or without expression)

• Difficulty decoding unfamiliar words in sentences using knowledge of phonics

• Reliance on picture clues, story theme, or guessing at words

• Difficulty with written expression

For more information on London ISD's Dyslexia Program or Evaluations contact:

Danielle Baen

London ISD Diagnostician

dbaen@londonisd.net

361-855-0092 ext 1301