Pre-School Children

The difficulties noted below are often associated with dyslexia if they are unexpected for the individual's age, educational level, or cognitive abilities. A qualified diagnostician can test a person to determine if he or she is truly dyslexic.

• May talk later than most children.
• May have difficulty pronouncing words, i.e., "busgetti" for "spaghetti", "mawn lower" for "lawn mower".
• May be slow to add new vocabulary words.
• May be unable to recall the right word.
• May have difficulty with rhyming.
• May have trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, shapes, how to spell and write his or her name.
• May be unable to follow multi-step directions or routines.
• Fine motor skills may develop more slowly than in other children.
• May have difficulty telling and/or retelling a story in the correct sequence.
• Often has difficulty separating sounds in words and blending sounds to make words.