Before School
Early Signs Of Dyslexia Before School
A child who talked late, still has unclear speech, cannot hear rhyme or forgets letter names may be showing the early signs of dyslexia, especially if a parent or sibling has it. Dyslexia cannot be confirmed until reading has been taught, but these signs can be looked at and worked on now.
The Early Signs Checklist, With The Reason For Each
The early warning signs of dyslexia in a three, four or five year old in the year or two before school (preschool or kindy, depending on where you live) are listed here. Tick what you notice most weeks, not what happened once. Each sign comes with the reason it matters, because the reasons are what link a small child’s speech to reading later on.
If your child has already started their first year of school, whatever it is called where you live, use the signs of dyslexia in the first years of school instead.
Speech And Talking
- Talked late, or uses fewer words than other children the same age. Reading is built on spoken language. Children who go on to have dyslexia are more often slow to start talking, and a child with fewer words has fewer sound patterns stored to match to print later.
- Speech is still hard to understand, or long words come out jumbled. “Hostipal” for hospital, “efelant” for elephant. To say a word clearly a child needs a clear record of its sounds in the right order. The same record is what letters are matched to in the first year of school.
- Often cannot find the word. “That thing”, “the you know”, or the wrong name for something they know well. Pulling the sound of a word out of memory quickly draws on a skill closely tied to how fluent reading later becomes.
The Sounds Inside Words
- Does not hear rhyme. In the year or two before school, most children enjoy that “cat” and “hat” sound alike and can finish the line of a rhyme they know. Rhyme is the first sign that a child can listen to how a word sounds instead of what it means. Dyslexia is at heart a difficulty with the sounds inside words.
- Cannot clap the syllables in a word or say the first sound of their own name. Breaking “butterfly” into three claps, or hearing that “Sam” starts with “sss”, is the spoken version of what sounding out a word will ask for.
Letters And Memory
- Letter names will not stick, even the letters in their own name. They have been shown many times and still cannot name them the next day. Knowing letters before school is one of the stronger pointers to how easily reading will come, because it asks for something close to reading: pairing a shape with a spoken label.
- Finds it hard to learn things by heart in order. Counting, the days of the week, the alphabet song, the names of colours. These lean on memory for spoken sequences, which is often weaker in children at risk of dyslexia.
- Loses the second half of an instruction. “Get your hat and put your shoes by the door” ends with the hat only. Holding spoken words in mind for a few seconds is part of blending sounds into a word later. Hearing, attention and language can all cause this too, so it counts only alongside other signs.
Family
- A parent, brother or sister has dyslexia, or struggled for years with reading and spelling. This is one of the clearest early pointers, and it is covered in its own section below.
How To Read Your Ticks
One tick means very little. Most preschoolers do several of these things some of the time. What is worth acting on is a group of signs across speech, sounds and letters that stays for months, more so where dyslexia runs in the family. No number of ticks shows that a child has dyslexia, and no number rules it out.
From dyslexiaassessment.com.au. A checklist is not a diagnosis.
What If A Parent Or Sibling Has Dyslexia?
A family history of dyslexia is one of the clearest early risk signs. A 2016 review of family studies pooled 21 groups of children. About 45 in every 100 children with a dyslexic parent or sibling went on to have dyslexia themselves. Among children with no family history the figure was about 12 in every 100.
Read that the other way as well: more than half of the children at family risk did not go on to have dyslexia. Family history is a reason to watch, not a verdict. If it applies to your child:
- Watch the speech, rhyme and letter signs above more closely than you otherwise would.
- Tell the preschool or kindy teacher now, and the school when your child starts.
- Do not wait and see if reading stalls in the first year of school. Ask the teacher early what they are seeing.
What Is Not An Early Sign On Its Own
- Writing letters or numbers backwards. Reversals are common until about age seven, and most children who reverse letters at four or five do not have dyslexia.
- Not reading yet. Reading is not expected before the first year of school.
- Little interest in books at three. Many children would rather move than sit. Notice instead whether they enjoy rhymes, songs and being read to when they do sit.
- Mixing up left and right. Common at this age in most children.
The signs for school-aged children and teenagers are on signs of dyslexia in children.
Before reading is taught
What Can And Cannot Be Known Before School
Dyslexia cannot be confirmed in a child who has not yet been taught to read. Dyslexia is a lasting difficulty learning to read and spell words, so it shows itself only once reading has been taught. A formal diagnosis is usually made by a psychologist, who looks at how a child has responded to at least six months of teaching support, as healthdirect explains. The guide to how dyslexia is diagnosed in Australia sets out the whole pathway.
The skills that reading is built on can be looked at well before school. There are three: how clearly a child says speech sounds, how well they hear rhyme and the parts of words, and how their spoken language is coming along. A speech pathologist assesses all three in preschool children, and each can be worked on at this age.
Next Steps
What To Do Now
A preschooler with several of these signs needs a closer look at speech and sounds now, and a second look at reading after the first year of school.
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Have hearing checked
A child who does not hear speech sounds clearly will struggle with rhyme and clear speech for that reason alone. Rule it out first.
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Ask the preschool or kindy teacher
Ask what they see with rhyme, letter names, following instructions and how clearly your child speaks compared with the group.
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Play with sounds every day
Rhyming books and songs, clapping the syllables in names, “I spy” with the first sound of a word, and the letters in your child’s own name. A few minutes at a time is enough.
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Act on unclear speech or late language now
Speech that is hard to understand, or language that is behind, is worth seeing a speech pathologist about in its own right, whatever it turns out to mean for reading. A GP or child health nurse can point you to one.
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Tell the school about family history
A teacher who knows there is dyslexia in the family can watch the first months of reading more closely.
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Check again after the first year of reading teaching
That is the point at which reading itself can be looked at. The free dyslexia screener has a before-school section that looks at early risk signs and does not lead to an application; come back to its school questions then.
Who does the assessment
Dr Lauren Crumlish (PhD), Certified Practising Speech Pathologist
Dr Lauren Crumlish assesses reading, spelling and the language skills underneath, online, for school-aged children and teenagers across Australia. She holds a PhD from The University of Queensland and does every assessment herself.
About Dr Lauren
Questions
Early Signs Of Dyslexia Questions
What are the signs of dyslexia in a 4 or 5 year old?
The signs of dyslexia in a 4 or 5 year old who has not started school are late talking, speech that stays unclear, trouble hearing rhyme, difficulty learning letter names and a family history of dyslexia. They show in speech and sounds because a child of this age has not yet been taught to read.
Can dyslexia be diagnosed before school?
No. Dyslexia cannot be confirmed in a child who has not been taught to read. What can be assessed before school is the set of skills reading is built on: speech sounds, awareness of sounds in words and spoken language.
Is late talking a sign of dyslexia?
Late talking is a risk sign, not a diagnosis. Children who go on to have dyslexia are more often late talkers, but many late talkers learn to read without difficulty. It counts for more when rhyme and letter names are also hard or dyslexia runs in the family.
Is writing letters backwards a sign of dyslexia at 4 or 5?
Rarely, on its own. Most four and five year olds flip letters, and rhyme and letter names say far more at this age. The guide to what dyslexia looks like covers reversals in detail.
Can a toddler show signs of dyslexia?
A toddler cannot show dyslexia itself, because dyslexia is a difficulty with reading. Late first words and slow early language are more common in toddlers who are later found to have dyslexia. On their own they are a reason to look at speech and language, not at reading.
If a parent has dyslexia, will the child have it too?
Not always. In a review of family studies about 45 in every 100 children with a dyslexic parent or sibling went on to have dyslexia, against about 12 in every 100 without that history. More than half of the children at family risk did not.
Before School And After
Take The Free Screener
The free dyslexia screener has a before-school section that looks at early risk signs and does not lead to an application. Once your child is at school, its school questions show whether a closer look at reading is worth arranging. It is a screener and not a diagnosis.
Free Screener- Free Dyslexia Screener
- A Screener, Not A Diagnosis
- Before School, Primary And High School
- Recheck After The First Year Of Reading