1. Difficulty breaking down words into individual sounds:
Dyslexia makes it difficult for someone to sound out unknown words, as well as automatically recognizing common words such as “the” and “and”. People with dyslexia typically have difficulty segmenting words into discrete phonemes (sounds), which they then have to blend back together in order to decode the word.
2. Trouble blending sounds together to make words and interpret sentences:
Dyslexic people have difficulty putting separate phonemes (sounds) together into syllables, then joining those syllables into whole words that they can understand. Additionally, when reading multiple sentences or paragraphs they may struggle to comprehend the overall meaning of a text.
3. Poor spelling skills even when using phonetic strategies or spellcheckers:
People with dyslexia often possess poor spelling skills despite their best efforts, as well as difficulties with handwriting tasks such as writing stories or essays without copying from a text. They also tend to rely heavily on spellcheckers and other phonetic strategies to spell words correctly.
4. Reversing letters, numbers, or words such as “was” for “saw”:
People with dyslexia frequently reverse letters in their writing, such as writing ‘b’ instead of ‘d’, ‘6’ instead of ‘9’, and so on. They may also have difficulty keeping track of word order (e.g., reversing the order of words in a sentence).
5. Slowness in decoding new words and recalling previously learned sight words:
People with dyslexia often struggle to decode unfamiliar words quickly and have difficulty recalling previously learned sight words without seeing them written down first.
6. Struggling with handwriting tasks that involve writing from memory (spelling) rather than copying from a text:
Dyslexia makes it difficult for someone to retain information they have seen, heard, or read in their head long enough to be able to spell a word correctly without seeing it written down first. As such, people with dyslexia often struggle with handwriting tasks that require them to spell words from memory.
7. Frequently confuses left/right directions:
People with dyslexia may have difficulty understanding and remembering directional language such as “left” and “right”. They may also find it hard to remember the order of letters in words like “left” or “right”, or to remember which way to turn when writing in cursive.
8. Avoids activities involving reading aloud, writing stories or essays, completing math problems on paper, etc:
People with dyslexia may avoid activities which involve written language such as reading aloud from a book, writing stories or essays, and completing math problems on paper. These tasks can be particularly difficult for people with dyslexia due to their difficulty decoding words quickly and accurately enough.
9. Poor time management and organizational skills due to difficulty establishing priorities; often work slowly because of difficulty processing information:
People with dyslexia may find it difficult to plan and organize their work, as they are often overwhelmed by the amount of information they must process in order to complete tasks. Additionally, difficulty processing information quickly can lead to slow working speeds and difficulties managing time.
10. Difficulty following multi-step directions:
People with dyslexia typically have difficulty understanding and remembering long or complex instructions, such as a series of steps needed to complete a task. As such, they may need extra help or time when trying to understand and follow multi-step directions.