What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a reading disorder that makes it difficult for individuals to understand how sounds and letters work together to form words. This can result in challenges with recognizing words accurately, sounding out unfamiliar words, reading fluently, and spelling. Despite receiving proper instruction, individuals with dyslexia often face significant difficulties in reading, writing, and spelling. These challenges can be surprising because they do not reflect the person’s overall intelligence. Dyslexia is not a reflection of a lack of intelligence or effort. Everyone learns in unique ways!
Note: It’s important to note that dyslexia is not about reversing letters or numbers, writing or reading backwards, or words moving on the page.
Primary Characteristics of Dyslexia in Children
- Difficulty accurately decoding unfamiliar words
- Difficulty with oral reading (slow, inaccurate, or labored)
- Difficulty spelling
- Difficulty reading words in isolation
- Math skills in the average range
- Difficulty with written composition
- Family history of similar problems
- Difficulty learning the names of the letters and their associated sounds
Tip: Early identification of dyslexia can significantly improve outcomes and support strategies.
How We Test for Dyslexia
To diagnose dyslexia, we conduct a comprehensive in-person evaluation that includes the following:
- Gathered through parent input, teacher input, and self-report (when age-appropriate).
- An assessment of how the child learns and processes information
- An assessment of their academic skills, including their phonemic awareness (ability to identify and manipulate sounds)
- Ruling out any processing issues, medical conditions, vision problems, or other disabilities that may affect reading skills.
🔍 Why We Look at the Whole Picture
At Diagnostic Learning Services, we don’t test for a single learning disability in isolation. A comprehensive evaluation is essential to understanding how an individual processes and learns information. By assessing multiple areas—including reading, writing, math, attention, memory, and processing—we can identify overlapping challenges and ensure the most accurate diagnosis and support plan.