What are the Characteristics of Dyslexia?
- Building Pathways
- Jan 11, 2023
- 2 min read
There have always been myths about Dyslexia, and here are just a few we hear every week when talking with families:
“He doesn’t see the words correctly. I’ve been told he needs vision therapy”
Dyslexia, and literacy issues, in general, are not rooted in vision difficulties.
“Reversing b/d means they must have dyslexia.”
Not all students with dyslexia reverse letters or read words backward.
“They can’t be tested before they are in third grade”
Dyslexia can and should be identified as early as possible, and intervention can begin as early as four.
While there are many things that Dyslexia is NOT, there are some general characteristics that parents should look for. Just to name a few:
Remember, dyslexia happens along a spectrum, so your child may not exhibit every characteristic on a general checklist. Also, everyone has a unique personality and learning profile, and dyslexia can look different depending on your student's age/grade.
To see if your child may be at-risk for dyslexia, download our full Dyslexia Checklist and then schedule a free consultation to go over the results!
Therapist Spotlight: Beth Chaput
Beth is a Speech-Language Pathologist and a certified Structured Literacy/Dyslexia Interventionist. She worked in schools for over 10 years, where, due to high caseload numbers and the lack of understanding of dyslexia, she felt she could not have a significant impact. She took the opportunity to venture into private practice and joined forces with Building Pathways in 2018. Beth wanted to help educate families on reading difficulties, dyslexia, and the bureaucracy surrounding struggling learners in schools. She has seen firsthand the power of explicit Orton-Gillingham (aka Structured Literacy) instruction to help these children become confident, proficient readers who now love to read! Over 8 years, she has worked with close to 200 families. One family recently sent an email with these wonderful thoughts: “…I recognize that my child is one of the children who should have fallen through the cracks and would likely never have learned to read well if we hadn’t had the opportunity to work with you and experience structured literacy. My child is now the top reader in his class and still LOVES reading. It takes my breath away sometimes when I catch him reading" When not working with children, Beth loves to spend time with her husband and two daughters, extended family and friends, hiking with her two dogs, Samson and Sasha, working out, painting, learning mosaics and reading.
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