What Does Dyslexia Look Like?
An Introductory Guide to Identifying the Signs and Symptoms
By Dr. Jan Hasbrouck, Author and Educational Consultant
In our previous blog, Understanding Dyslexia, we discussed how almost a century of research from a variety of scientific fields has disproven many myths about dyslexia that are unfortunately still prevalent in our culture. We now know that dyslexia is neurobiological in origin and typically results from a deficit in the phonological component of language. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. Like all learning disabilities, dyslexia is a spectrum disorder that varies in the level of impact and has no correlation with intelligence.
This blog will attempt to explain the prevalence of dyslexia, what signs parents and teachers should look for so we can detect dyslexia earlier — sometimes even before students learn to read — and how we can address it in the classroom, so we can turn struggling readers into confident ones.
What Does Dyslexia Actually Look Like?
In the companion blog, Understanding Dyslexia, we explored how many, if not most, of the commonly held beliefs about dyslexia within our culture have been disproven. So, if all these old beliefs about dyslexia are untrue, how can we accurately know if someone may have dyslexia? What are the real signs and symptoms that parents and teachers should be looking for? To answer this question, we return to the IDA definition:
“[Dyslexia] is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.”
When we see a student with at least average cognitive abilities who has received appropriate literacy instruction yet continues to struggle with reading and spelling words — and when a student’s accuracy and fluency in reading and writing are below the standard proficiency level for their age and grade — we can reasonably consider this to be a red flag for dyslexia. And perhaps surprisingly, we can sometimes see tell-tale signs of dyslexia well before a child even begins to learn to read! This is because we understand that dyslexia, at its core, is a language-based disorder that — if left untreated — can ultimately result in difficulties with reading, writing, and spelling.
We now have the ability to accurately identify and assess concerns with a child’s language development well before we would be thinking about providing literacy instruction. This includes looking at children’s development of phonological and phonemic awareness.
Phonological Awareness
Research has identified one particular area of concern, noted in the IDA definition, that the vast majority of students with dyslexia demonstrate “a deficit in the phonological component of language.” Researchers and teachers often discuss the importance of helping to develop the foundational skill of “phonological awareness” in beginning readers. Let’s look more closely at this essential component of skillful reading.
“Phonological awareness” is the ability of the brain to first simply notice, then identify, and ultimately manipulate the units of oral language, starting with whole words and word parts. In typically developing brains, phonological awareness begins to develop very early. There are stages to this development, beginning with a child’s brain starting to notice the fact that in the seemingly unbroken streams of sounds in spoken language, there are separate and distinct words being uttered. When young children notice a word, they might repeat it or point to the object that the word represents (such as “dog” or “ball”).
The next stage of typical language development is the ability to identify specific words in speech and patterns within these words. At around two years old, most children show an understanding of syllabication and can clap or otherwise demonstrate they are aware of patterns in their names and other familiar or interesting words (“E-liz-a-beth,” “mom-my,” “hot-dog,” “snow-ball,” etc.). A more advanced skill is when children can manipulate words (“‘Cowboy’ without ‘cow’ is ‘boy’”). This is when the brain is noticing patterns such as alliteration and rhyming in certain words or phrases.
This is the age where children take a great interest in nursery rhymes or books with lots of repetition of words or phrases such as the very popular books by Dr. Seuss, Bill Martin Jr., and others. A child without the markers of dyslexia and a strong foundation of receptive language will be able to predict what the next word would likely be in a rhyming phrase (“Look, look, Daddy! Look up in the tree! Way up high I see a buzzing …”). A young child who shows little interest in rhymes or who cannot correctly predict a rhyming pattern or identify syllables may be showing early signs of dyslexia.
“A young child who shows little interest in rhymes or who cannot correctly predict a rhyming pattern or identify syllables may be showing early signs of dyslexia.”
Read more on phonological awareness here:
Phonemic Awareness
The next level of phonological skill development is called “phonemic awareness,” which is a finer-grained skill subset of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound comprising spoken language. In every spoken language, speech involves combining phonemes to form syllables and words. For example, in English the word ‘dog’ has three phonemes: /d/ /o/ /g/. The word “flute” has four phonemes: /f/ /l/ /oo/ /t/ but is spelled using five letters. There are 44 phonemes in the English language, including sounds represented by letter combinations such as /sh/.
When children first begin to notice sounds, they might say things like “‘Mommy’ starts like ‘McDonald’s.’” When their brains start to identify sounds, children might say “‘Horse’ starts with the /h/ sound just like ‘house’ and ‘Hannah.’” Once children’s brains have developed to the point that they can manipulate the sounds in a word, we might hear them say, “‘Stop’ without the /s/ says ‘top!’”
The website Reading Rockets provides examples that help us understand how it might feel to struggle with this foundational component of reading, from the perspective of a child who is struggling, as well as their parent and teacher (reprinted with permission):
CHILDREN’S Perspective: What they say:
Children will often express their frustration and difficulties with phonological/phonemic awareness in a general way, with statements like “I hate reading!” or “This is stupid!”. But if they could, this is how kids might more accurately and specifically describe how difficulties with phonological or phonemic awareness affect their reading:
- I don’t know any words that rhyme with “cat.”
- What do you mean when you say, “What sounds are in the word ‘brush?’”
- I’m not sure how many syllables are in my name.
- I don’t know what sounds are the same in “bit” and “hit.”
A PARENT’S perspective: What I see at home:
- She has difficulty thinking of rhyming words for a simple word like “cat” (such as “rat” or “bat”).
- He shows little interest in language play, word games, or rhyming.
A TEACHER’S perspective: What I see in the classroom:
- He doesn’t correctly complete phoneme substitution activities, such as changing the sound of /m/ in “mate” to /cr/ to make a new word: “crate.” She doesn’t correctly complete auditory blending activities. For example, putting together sounds /k/ /i/ /ck/ to make the word “kick.”
- She has a hard time identifying how many syllables there are in the word “paper.”
- He has difficulty with rhyming, syllabication, or spelling a new word by its sounds.
Other Skill Deficits With Dyslexia
The IDA definition of dyslexia identifies deficits in phonological awareness as the most common cause of dyslexia. Because of these difficulties with the phonological components of language, students with dyslexia typically have difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and often have poor spelling and decoding abilities. (Decoding is the ability to use the knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including letter patterns, also called “phonics,” to correctly identify unfamiliar written words and then ultimately to efficiently recognize words by sight.) Additional, secondary consequences of dyslexia include problems with reading comprehension (text-level reading difficulties). Students with dyslexia read much less, which can result in impaired vocabulary and background knowledge, and thus hindering comprehension.
And research conducted since the IDA definition of dyslexia was developed expands our understanding of some of the underlying causes of dyslexia that go beyond deficits with phonological and phonemic awareness. Brady (2019) draws our attention to findings that show many students with dyslexia also have a separate language disorder known as developmental language disorder (DLD), an unexpected deficit in language abilities in spite of adequate environmental stimulation and cognitive abilities with no neurological impairment. DLD is characterized by significant delays in oral language development in vocabulary, grammatical, and pragmatic processes. Current evidence suggests that dyslexia and DLD are distinct disorders, which frequently co-occur with estimated ranges of 17–71 percent (Adlof & Hogan, 2018). However, while some students with DLD also have reading difficulties (dyslexia), others do not.
“[M]any students with dyslexia also have a language disorder known as developmental language disorder (DLD).”
Prevention and Intervention for Dyslexia
Obviously, these skill deficits that result from dyslexia are deeply concerning. They can be quite severe and often result in serious negative academic outcomes (as well as adverse emotional and behavioral outcomes; see “The Emotional, Behavioral, and Social Impacts of Dyslexia” section below). However, there is good news, too! Because of the large numbers of scientific studies that have been conducted regarding dyslexia, we can identify these concerns quite early. More importantly, we can intervene (the earlier, the better!) with powerful, and age-appropriate instruction to help students “overcome” (Shaywitz, 2003) or even “prevent” (Fletcher et al., 2019; Gaab, 2019) the struggles associated with dyslexia.
Read the next installment of our blog series to learn about scientifically-supported strategies to help students with dyslexia.
Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D., is a leading educational consultant, trainer, and researcher. Dr. Jan Hasbrouck worked as a reading specialist and coach for 15 years before becoming teaching at the University of Oregon and later at Texas A&M University. She served as the Executive Consultant to the Washington State Reading Initiative. Dr. Jan Hasbrouck works with educators across the United States as well as internationally, helping teachers, administrators, and specialists design and implement effective assessment and instructional programs targeted to help low-performing readers. Dr. Jan Hasbrouck earned her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Oregon, and her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Her research in areas of reading fluency, reading assessment, coaching and consultation, and second language learners has been published in numerous professional books and journals. She is the author and coauthor of several books, including training manuals and administrator guides for GHA to support professional development and help educators change practices in schools.
References
Adlof, Suzanne M, and Tiffany P Hogan. “Understanding Dyslexia in the Context of Developmental Language Disorders.” Language, speech, and hearing services in schools vol. 49,4 (2018).
Brady, Susan. “The 2003 IDA Definition of Dyslexia: A Call for Changes. Perspectives on Language. 15–21. (2019).
Fletcher, J. M., Lyon, G. R., Fuchs, L. S., Barnes, M. A. “Learning disabilities: From identification to intervention” (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. (2019).
Gaab, Nadine. “How Can We Ensure That Every Child Will Learn to Read? The Need for a Global, Neurodevelopmental Perspective.” 10.13140/RG.2.2.18537.13927. (2019).
Shaywitz SE, Shaywitz BA, Fulbright R, et al. “Neural Systems for Compensation and Persistence: Young Adult Outcome of Childhood Reading Disability.” Biological Psychiatry 54:25–33. (2003).
