What were the first signs you noticed in your child that made you think dyslexia?

[OhTootles]

DD is 4 and in nursery. She obviously doesnt have the literacy skills yet that we could use to make an assessment but she is displaying some signs plus there is a genetic link. Just wondering if I'm looking into it too much or if.

What are the signs that you are noticing? Is she displaying anything that is significantly different from other children of her age?

I do think I'm looking into this too much, but she shows no interest in reading or writing, loves for me to read to her but loses attention very quickly. Poor recall, we've been learning numbers since she was tiny but she still struggles to count in sequence and poor coordination, always falling over.

She's my pfb so no experience of other children of that age where I could say she was behind/different or not. Her df is dyslexic.

I know there is supposed to be a connection between clumsiness and dyslexia but there are also plenty of clumsy people who are not dyslexic.

I wouldn't really expect a child of 4 to show an interest in learning to read and write themselves - just to enjoy being read to which your DD does. You have not said whether your DD has just turned 4 or whether she turned 4 a while ago, but this might make a difference to counting ability. It might be worth posting on primary education where there are more mums and teachers with recent experience of children of that age.

DS1 (now graduated with proper job!) is dyslexic.

First signs included not being able to play I-Spy, e.g. couldn't get that "something beginning with Der" could be "dog".

Learnt simple picture/word books off by heart and learnt sounds (not names) of all 26 letters in upper and lower case (on an Amstrad computer) in a game but couldn't put the sounds of the letters together at all. E.g. D+O = ?

Said two word phrases the wrong way round e.g. door-car, and also got mixed up between the words of radiator and radio although often (nicely) corrected.

However would have long conversations with him about how things worked was good at mathematical concepts (e.g. infinity and learnt times tables eventually by rote learning the two times and doubling, trebbleling etc in head) and deep insights into things that I didn't think kids understood.

Poor short term memory e.g. "go and get your shoes please DS1", he would trot off and then come back (age 5) to ask what it was I had asked him to get, like an absent minded professor.

Diagnosed privately (school said no and he was oldest in school year) by an Ed Psych at age of 7.
Hope that helps. He's doing fab now but spelling is still a little wonky.

Oh God, the repeating of requests! DS still can't carry more than one message at a time, and he's 21!

First started to wonder when he went from being able to "read" whole school reading books (he was memorising them) to not recognising a word we'd sweated over for 10 minutes, when the word recurred in the next line. (School were using "whole word recognition" system, I was taught phonetically. It didn't make for happy times.)

Broached the subject with his Primary Three teacher who said simply that he was "within acceptable percentages" or some such shite; all well and good, but he'd been way ahead before, and his spoken communication showed much greater comprehension that his reading. School was of the opinion that dyslexia was just middle-class parents with stupid kids. I'm really not that middle class.

He also mixed up b and d, a few other things I forget now, and his father and paternal granny are both mildly dyslexic.

We happened to move house the summer he moved from P3 to P4, we mentioned to the new school when enrolling him, they had him tested by an ed psych within 6 weeks and he ended up with those coloured plastic sheets.

He seemed to "get better" with puberty, though I am eternally grateful to JK Rowling for the only books DS ever read for fun!

Old Lady- is not being able to remember multiple requests a feature of dyslexia then? My friend is convinced that my now 18 year old DS is dyslexia although he had no trouble learning to read and can spell pretty adequately. He has always had huge problems processing requests, doing anything that involves ordering or patterns (still can't lay out basic sums properly on the page and he's doing flipping engineering at university) and has very poor short-term memory. He's well above average intellectually but did very mediocrely at A levels, which has meant that he's gone to a university that is not as we challenging as he could have. He's a frustrating mystery tbh.

My DS did engineering at Uni too! He told me that a big percentage of students (mostly boys) on his course were dyslexic. It's well known to be a good career for bright dyslexics.

Tell him to do lots of extra curricular stuff while at Uni and to look up an organisation called EmployAbility (spelt in that funny way) who help disabled students into work. They were great!

Duchesse, I can only speak from my own experience, but yes, it is very much a feature of my DS, and I have always assumed his dyslexia, that he can only process one act at a time. Whether this is typical of dyslexics I am in no way qualified to comment, but I very much recognised pippop's "short term memory" thing.

Dyscalcula is "number-blindness" in the same way that dyslexia is "word-blindness". Might this be a problem with your son?

Dyspraxia maybe if the physical side is involved. Dyspraxia is quite complex and I won't try to explain it ( www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/ ). Many children with dyspraxia have problems with language, learning to sequence words and stories and numbers, and have some physical issues with balance, reflex, lack of concentration. And my DS who has dyspraxia had no interest in fictional books - anything with a story doesn't interest him - but he loves factual books - about animals, cars, trains, etc. He spoke late and still struggles with talking now and he is nearly 5. But he is fine with numbers and letters and is learning to read as well as the other children in his class - so far!

The first sign my DS had of dyslexia (although I didn't realise then) was that he made a lot of sponnerism mistakes eg. "par cark" and "heliclopter". Its better not to worry, but to read lots of rhymes and poetry, also work on sounds. So play games like "what toy's name begins with the sound b?"

Try not to stress about books, but do let her enjoy them, even if only to look at the pictures etc. And for number count things, everything (smarties are good for motivation).
The falling over does sound like possible dyspraxia, but the key with dyspraxia is that dyspraxics can often do anything it just takes them longer to learn (eg. riding a bike, dancing, driving).

My ds was diagnosed dyslexic at 7 hes now 10. He struggled to sequence things like days of the week, months of the year etc.He cannot spell but he can read, he just doesn't have strong inference skills( understand what he reads) He loves music and is very musical. Also he very artistic. He is hard working and excellent with his hands.

Thank god for computers/ laptops and spell checkers!!

Speaking from experience, it's one of those things you need to call in an expert to look at. 4 may be a bit young but speak to the school and or your doctor and see if they can get you a referal.

The MOST important thing to remember is that you should not label your child and make them think that they are not going to succeed in life or are some how less able.

I had terrible dyslexia and did not learn to read till age 9, I now have a degree from a good University is science base subject, and have worked for (don't blame me it was not all my fault) major US Investment banks. I still get b's and d's the wrong way around and often reverse letters in a word. But it has had a limited impact on my life. Probably because I had a supportive family.

Anyway I think it's a good idea to get an early diagnosis

Thank you all for your feedback, I can't tell you how accurately you've described my dh! I agree she probably is a little young (just 4) to really know though the sequencing of things like days of the week and numbers is a struggle. However, her short term memory isn't too bad, dh's is terrible, he has a limit of two things and will always forget the third. She is also struggling to understand eye spy and make the connection between the sound of a letter and the beginning of a word.

Have you tried eye spy with colours? "Eye spy with my little eye something blue?" Then you can move on to sounds, once she understands the game.

Mummytime - she understands how the game works, we play it with colours or shapes or sound but as soon as I try a letter-sound she can't get it. Not sure if that's normal for a 4 year old. DH also struggles to hear te difference between letters, for instance 'th' and 'f' sound the same to him.

My DS has only just turned 4 and I am pretty certain he's not dyslexic (his brother (7) is query dyslexic so I have been there before), and he can't do eye-spy with first sounds yet either. I don't think it will be long, though, til he gets it. He's just starting to be able to blend cvc words like d-o-g when I read the phonic sounds to him.

A disproportionate number of entrepreneur are dyslexic including Richard 'Beardy' Branson (virgin), the late Steve Jobs (apple), William Hewlett (HP), Anita Roddick (Body Shop), Tommy Hilfiger (of the clothing company), even Henry Ford (Ford motor company)

SoloD - thats good news for us as dh and I started up our own business last year and so far, touch wood, all is going well. :)

How is she at nursery rhymes? Despite knowing "Twinkle Twinkle" at nursery, my dd could not remember the words by teh time she started school. The other day she could not remember "Happy Birthday"!. Her nursery started doing numbers with them before they started school - and she just could not remember them. She also muddled up things - ie would say something was black when it was white, up when it was down etc
By the time she started school it was pretty obvious - could not remember the basic phonic sounds, confused b,p and d, wrote 3 and 7 back to front etc.
(she's also clumsy with poor coordination..)

Nursery rhymes aren't too bad but nowhere near perfect. She's ok with up and down but gets confused with left and right. Her memory for tasks is good, she will remember to get her shoes out the cupboard for instance whereas her df would forget things like that.

She struggles to recognise numbers when written down and finds it hard to count items (despite lots of practise) and can use her finger to trace letters but needs to be retaught every time she does it, she can't seem to retain the method and she can't rememer letters when written down.