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Article Does Your Child Have Dyslexia?

By Michael Clark
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Everyday I chat with mums who tell me “I think my child has dyslexia”. The great news is that most mums I chat with who believe their child has dyslexia actually have something different… Something that appears to be dyslexia but is much easier to solve.

There are 3 possible scenarios that could be happening if you believe your child has dyslexia, and this video will help you decide what’s happening for your child.

Here are the possible scenarios of what could be happening to your child:

Scenario 1: Irlen Syndrome

Your child has Irlen Syndrome (also known as Scotopic Sensitivity). This is NOT actually phonological dyslexia, but it really looks like it and has a lot of similar symptoms when children read. Parents usually refer to this as dyslexia but it’s dealt with in a very different way.

For children with Irlen syndrome, the words are not staying still on white paper when they look at them.

The words may be moving or wriggling or slightly wobbling or they could even be fading from the page. Now, the real problem with this is that in our culture most things are printed on white paper.

To informally check your child, have them stare at a page of text printed on white paper and ask them what the words are doing on the page. If they tell you something other than “The words are staying still… What’s wrong with you, Mum?” Then your child is probably dealing with Irlen Syndrome. It’s important to be aware that kids with this issue are very easy to help. You can start by changing the background colour of the page your child reads and writes on.

Scenario 2: Phonological Dyslexia

With Phonological Dyslexia (also called Auditory Dyslexia), the words are not moving at all on the page. The words stay completely still but when the child sees the words, their brain is slow to recognise what sounds the letters represent.

This is really difficult for kids in school because it slows them down when they read or write and it makes school very hard and very tiring.

Children with Phonological Dyslexia will struggle to spell and will make many reading errors when they read. They will be pulling words out of their “sight word memory bank” in their brains rather than decoding the word in the way that most kids do. So that means that if a word is outside of familiar, frequently used words to them, they’re going to struggle to read them.

A quick, informal test for phonological dyslexia is to ask your child questions like this:

  • “If I have the word “BLACK” and I take the “L” out, what word would I have?
  • “If I have the word “BLADE” and I put an “M” where the “D” is, what word would I have?

Children with Phonological Dyslexia really struggle to pull words apart and put them back together, so if your child needs to think for a long time on questions like this, that can indicate Phonological Dyslexia.

Another quick check is to ask your child to read words that you’ve just made up, such as:

  • Trejivope
  • Rasdoper
  • Spliterstime

Kids with phonological dyslexia will really struggle with reading words like this, because they are used to recognising entire words but have trouble sounding out pieces of words.

Scenario 3: It’s something else… neither scotopic sensitivity nor phonological dyslexia

There are so many other reasons why a child could be struggling but the first place to check would be to have the child do an eyesight test. It could be the most important thing you do this week.

Another test worth doing is a hearing test, particularly for younger children who can have grommet issues. Now so many kids who struggle with their literacy are actually in that situation because they spent years struggling to hear all the words people have said or all the sounds within words.

So it’s helpful for kids to get a hearing test, particularly if they are younger because that can have such an impact on their learning.

Don’t just wait for things to improve… you need to take action.

There are plenty of other possibilities for why a child might struggle in reading, so parents, let’s not jump to conclusions.

What is always true is that changes won’t happen unless they are driven by parents and teachers. Don’t just take the “Wait and See” approach because it never ever works. Be proactive and help your child get what they need to get back on track at school.

This video below explains EVERYTHING you’d ever wondered about dyslexia:

Have you been through anything like this with your children? Please share your experience below in the comments.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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Comments

  • Very interesting and very informative. Thanks.

    Reply

  • unfortunately a lot of kids that actually struggle with these issues will be deemed as “troublemakers” at school. My friend’s child is my example. His teacher told his parents that he might have adhd as he was restless and didn’t want to pay attention. He just needed glasses….

    Reply

  • Interesting, well written article.

    Reply

  • Wow this opened my eyes to the many different types of dyslexia. Thank you for an informative read

    • Thank you for being so positive about it. The underlying goal of http://www.dyslexiaimprovements.com is more than just training parents… It’s that I believe we can completely transform how schools work with kids who have dyslexia, if we just get enough awareness out there. I think that life is going to be very different for these kids in 5 years time… Well, I hope so!

    Reply

  • Thank you so much for your very helpful and comprehensive article. I am sure it will benefit many. 🙂

    Reply

  • Thank you for your summary of this heart wrenching problem for our children & explained well

    • You’re welcome, Deborah. Now we just need to make this information is public as we can so that it causes more awareness and it changes the way we go about helping these kids in Australian schools. In schools, most teachers no way less than you now know just reading one article. It’s pretty exciting to think that we can make such a huge difference together. 🙂

    Reply

  • Thank you for this article that makes it easy to understand.

    Reply

  • Lke it

    Reply

  • I have two children from my first marriage diagnosed from dyslexia. Some say its inherited. What do you think

    • Yes, it is often inherited. That’s why when one child is dealing with it, it’s worth checking your other children. But the point is that having a diagnosis of dyslexia is not something that limits a child’s future, as long as their parents give them some extra support at home. That’s why there are at least 20 free videos at our website… Because a parent can literally set any child with dyslexia up for success just by doing a few extra activities and equipping a child with a few extra skills. It is when children don’t get the extra help that they are likely to experience failure.

    Reply

  • Thank you for this article as it has helped me a lot with understanding dyslexia and other similar conditions.

    Reply

  • Great post. I had dyslexia as a kid and thank my parents for doing everything to help me rather then just leaving it hoping it will go away.

    Reply

  • Great information thank you for sharing

    Reply

  • Thankyou for sharing this ! Glad I read it

    Reply

  • i hope those kids with dyslexia get better

    Reply
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