Is my nearly 3 year old dyslexic? Advice please ...

[Jellybellymoo]

My nearly 3 year old son has had delayed speech for some time now. He goes to pre school and they have picked up a delay in his development there and had outside professions come in to assess him. They have said he is low risk of autism as he isn't showing many traits of an autistic child but after reading about dyslexia it sounds very familiar to his issues. He struggles to count/identify colours/sung nursery rhymes/gets sentences muddled and doesn't always pronounce words correctly! Has anyone else have a dyslexic child? What were their symptoms? I'm just so depereate to find answers for him! Thank you xx

Just to add he has had 2 hearing tests and both fine and is also had speech and language therapy!

Hello JBM! That all sounds interesting, glad that he has had the hearing tests as that can pick up a few things. At age 3 it is likely only possible to say that he may be dyslexic, but he has a few years to go before you could test with greater reliability because it would usually require some reasonable reliance on examining reading, writing and spatial elements. I'd say don't test too early, give him a chance -
but do it if you think it is necessary a good while before any strongly 'literate' tests come into the frame that could become over-stressful. Dyslexia can be part of a cluster of related conditions, which include dyspraxia and ocd-like issues. Sometimes these happen in isolation, sometimes together, and there is no one-size-fits-all logic. I have no dyslexia traits but was amazed to be 'found out' as dyspraxic in adulthood and I suspect there is something ADHD-like there as well, despite having excellent focus for most things as most things interest me, but when they don't, it's a different story. To illustrate what's illogical - I cannot really drive after half my life, yet a friend with a similar diagnosis drives for a living. Have a look at (e.g.) 'DyspraxicFantastic' - kids' section for some anecdotes about children's behaviour. It is a very positive blog but sometimes my heart sinks when I read it because I know absolutely that I had 'that' behaviour at a similar age, yet would have had no suspicions of it being quite typical. Examples are: clock face reading; very slow grasp of spatial awareness and directions (still a massive blind spot and over the years the source of a sure fire route to panic, but has an original side to it as well, such as how you pack a case or a box); eating 'capability' or coordination; seeing certain things such as letters a lot more creatively (like b, d seeming to be more like musical notes). There may be something there that stands out. Although parts of these conditions are hard and frustrating, a lot of other parts are actually really inspirational, creative and satisfying.

Ah, this was the one where I identified with a lot, retrospectively: www.fantasticdyspraxic.co.uk/dyspraxia-top-20-things-every-dyspraxic-should-know-about-cure-for-dyspraxia/