
Dyslexia
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Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects a person's ability to read, write, spell, and sometimes speak. Dyslexia is neurobiological in origin and is not related to intelligence. Individuals with dyslexia may have difficulty with phonological processing, which involves recognizing and manipulating the sounds of spoken language.
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Dyslexia is a type of learning disability that affects literacy skills development which causes kids to struggle with phonological skills which involve remembering and recognizing sounds, sound combinations, and whole words.
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Children with dyslexia tend to have average or above average intelligence. Dyslexia is not associated with intellectual disabilities. Those with dyslexia are considered to be neurodivergent which simply means that their brains function differently.
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Children may show the following signs:
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Birth to 2 years of Age:
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Difficulty recognizing the letters in their own name
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Difficulty recalling and repeating nursery rhymes
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Unable to sing the alphabet song
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Mispronouncing simple words
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Inability to tell if two words rhyme (also known as rhyming discrimination)
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Delayed talking
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Preschool to First Grade:
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Difficulty separating words into sounds and syllables
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Struggles to create rhymes
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Taking a long time to read and write
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Difficulty following directions
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Trouble sequencing information
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Difficulties pronouncing words
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Poor word recall
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First Grade through 8th Grade:
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Reduced vocabulary
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Slow reading, with lot of pauses and mistakes
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Difficulty sounding out words, especially longer ones
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Difficulty recalling what they’ve read
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Poor spelling
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Difficulty sequencing information they’ve read
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Trouble with writing skills
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May reverse letters when reading
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Potential impacts of dyslexia on children include:
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In order to diagnose a child with dyslexia, a speech pathologist or educational psychologist, or other specialized person often selects some standardized tests to assess your child’s reading, language, and cognitive abilities. The results of these tests are combined with information gathered about your family history.
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Resources: