Guest author Jeanette Norman

Although some preschoolers do not learn how to read until kindergarten, we still need to expose them to the English language and letters everyday. Dyslexia is often times diagnosed between the ages of 4 to 6 years of age. It is often thought that dyslexia is when a person sees a word “backwards”. The word that they are looking at, for example, may be the word “bat” but a person with dyslexia is believed to see this word as “tab”. This mix up is common among children into the first grade.

Dyslexia is when a child has a problem connecting sounds with letters. This leads to problems with sounding words out. They may have difficulty distinguishing the “V” sound with the “Z” sound or may have problems with understanding the order that letters are in to make a word.

It is not known as of yet what causes dyslexia but it does seem to be genetic.

According to KidsHealth.org, in a school-age child or teen, some signs of dyslexia might include difficulty:
· with rhyming words or naming numbers and letters
· with directions, telling right from left or up from down
· reading maps
· remembering the right names of things
· memorizing written lists and phone numbers
· completing assignments and tests within designated periods of time

To find out if a child does indeed have dyslexia, an evaluation is done on all of the child’s visual and hearing skills, how they write and do an IQ test.
There isn’t a formal cure for dyslexia but a child can learn how to cope with this condition through working with tutors and different therapists.

For more information:
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA)

Davis Dyslexia Association International