Early diagnosis can provide youngsters with crucial reading resources and encouragement before frustration and rapidly declining self-esteem entirely discourage them from reading. Children who receive an early diagnosis tend to be more emotionally committed in their education and, in general, more driven to put in a lot of effort. Children are more likely to succeed in reading in the long run if they receive assistance early on.
In light of this, the following list of seven typical red flag behaviors can indicate a need for additional research if they are noticed.
Seven Indicators Your Kid Could Be Having Reading Problems
1. Is unable to recall letter sounds (/a/, like in apple). If a youngster is having trouble retaining the phonemes, or sounds, of letters in their long-term memory, it could be a sign of a processing disorder, an auditory problem, or another learning difficulty.
2. Confuses letters that sound similar (f / v; d / t) with letters that look similar (b / d / p). While it’s common for novices to make mistakes like rotating and inverting letters, these mistakes ought to disappear as kids have a better grasp of language.
If a child is still having trouble understanding letters after the age of seven, it may be an indication of a more serious learning problem.
3. Finds it difficult to make words rhyme (bat, cat, mat). A child’s capacity to rhyme indicates that they can hear language. Work on this ability with your child by practicing with her. After therapy and practice, if your child is still struggling, it could be due to dyslexia, a problem that affects how the brain processes language sounds, or apraxia of speech, a motor speech issue.
4. Losses sight word memory. Sight words are words that children should be able to recognise right away, just like flash cards are designed to bring up information in a “flash.” Commonly used terms in the English language are known as sight words, and they include words like “the,” “a,” “her,” “to,” “it,” “was,” and “for.” These sight words are taught to kids so they can read sentences without stopping to sound out common words whenever they come across them. In actuality, the term “sight” words is a little misleading because teachers employ a range of multisensory recall strategies, such as tactile, visual, and kinesthetic methods to mastering, because it is crucial for students to quickly understand these words.
Sight word retrieval does require practice. If your child still struggles to recall simple sight words even after extensive practice, it may be a sign of dyslexia, an issue with auditory processing, or a problem with visual perception.
5. Does not include word ends like -s, -ing, or -ed. A phonological or articulation issue, apraxia, or dyslexia may be the cause of a noticeable speech difference between your kid and her friends, such as the inability to read word endings. Find out if your child’s instructor observes this as well.
6. Poor memory. cannot recall stories that have been read to him or what he has read. Youngsters with attention problems or slow-processing brains may find it difficult to follow along with a story. The significance of the words on the page is lost if it takes too long to decode them, and the youngster will subsequently be unable to recall what happened.
Memorisation of what has been read can be caused by variations in the neural processes of working memory, long-term memory, and information output. (This might also indicate dyslexia.)
7. Variations in spelling within the same paper for the same word. Children typically regularly spell words incorrectly. I didn’t worry too much when my kids used to spell “beacuz” because it was consistent—the mistake was always the same. However, when kids utilize different spelling versions of the same word, such “bekus,” “beacuz,” and so on, it can be a sign of dysgraphia, a writing condition, or dyslexia, a language-based problem.
