How can i tell if my 5 year old son is dyslexic or just finding writing difficult?

Question

i am dislexic myself and also have discalcual, but it wasn´t dicovered until i was taking my gcse's and was lucky enough to have a very good teacher who could see past the behaviour and lack of interest. i now have a small son who to me appears to really struggle with writing but not reading, and i wanted to know if there was anything i could do at home to test him so that he doesn't have to go through school struggling when he could be getting extra help.

Answer 1

As a teacher it is hard to get a child referred into the special education for something like dyslexia at age five.  However, a parent can go to the school and request testing.  The fact that you have been diagnosed with dyscalcula may strengthen your case.  Start talking with his teacher and saving (dated) writing samples whenever possible.  When he eventually gets evaluated you need to be prepared!  Good luck to you and your son!

Also, I do not think that it is too young to tell in some cases.  As a kindergarten teacher I know that lots of students have a hard time getting adjusted to writing and flip or reverse letters.  However, some students have very severe difficulties and if both you and your son's teacher notice it then you need to go ahead and refer him now.

I am currently going through the same thing with a 5 year old in my class.  (I would say 50 % of my students will write a q for a p and a p for a q, but this child has SEVERE issues.)

Mothers know best!

Answer 2

You can have him evaluated by an SLP.

ASHA.ORG to find one.

Answer 3

My daughter had the same problems and still does and she is 8 now. She really has a problem with or d, b p q  and 9 and 7 she knows what they are but when she writes them she will flip them or around or use the d as the b and so on. But this is normal for a 5 year old, just kkep working on it with them and eventually they will get the hang of it.

Answer 4

In my opinion you should wait until he is 7 to let someone diagnose him. If you get him diagnosed as dyslexic it might delay his learning growth if he really isn't.

If you really want to pursue it I recommend you take him to a learning diagnostic center.

I don't mean to sound rude...

Good Luck!!

Answer 5

Speak to your child's teacher and/or the Special Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO/Inclusion Manager) at the school, ask them if they've observed anything and what you can do to help him at home

Answer 6

To a 5 year old an "a" is an "a" no matter which way it is written, up, down, backwards or forwards. They haven't learned yet that to be an "a" it has to be in a certain position.  Many kids write there letters backwards until they learn this.  Five years old is too young to determine dislexia.

Answer 7

Try taking your son to the eye doctor.  That is who diagnosed my daughter, and they also offered visual therapy that really helped.

Answer 8

He is much too young to tell.  At five he is only just beginning to develop literacy skills, so you will need to wait at least a couple of years to make an accurate assessment.

Anyway, what you are describing sounds more like dysgraphia.

http://www.snowdrop.cc

Answer 9

He is too young. It takes eye-hand coordination and age to develop an awareness of letter formation and positioning on a page even if he can read.

However, cursive works best for someone who struggles with either reading or writing. D'Neilian cursive works best because all lower case letters are taught with connector lines, and it has fewer fancy loops and turns. The choppiness of manuscript requires picking up the pencil while cursive flows as do words in reading and writing.

Answer 10

Speech therapists do not diagnosis dyslexia or autsim as a certain poster keeps saying....they only deal with the language (communicaton) problem itself-they do not treat dyslexia---the fact that they reference the slp website is scary-that they may actually be a SLP-hopefully they are just a misinformed high school or middle school student.

5 is young to diagnos dyslexia-5 year olds are supposed to be mixing up letters and havng trouble reading.  It is true that a number of children are successful with reading at this age, but not all children are ready to learn to read yet.

definately keep an eye on it---if the skills don't emerge during 1st grade (age 6) request that the school evaluate him for a learning disability