How to Assess a Child's Risk for Dyslexia
The National Institutes of Health estimates that up to 15 percent of Americans are dyslexic. Because early intervention is so important in overcoming this disability, parents need to know what factors can increase the risk their child will be affected.
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Instructions
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Think about family history. Dyslexia is a reading problem caused by the way a dyslexic’s brain processes written language. Those brain pathways are largely genetic. Heredity is the strongest element in assessing your child’s risk of having dyslexia.
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Consider the circumstances of the child's birth. Was she full term? What was her birth weight? In 2005, a study conducted by Dr. Neil Marlow at Queens Medical Center in Nottingham, England, found that 41 percent of children born between 22 and 25 weeks had learning disabilities at age 6. Earlier, American Baby had reported similar results among children who weighed less than 3.5 lbs at birth. If your baby had a rough start in life, it increases the risk of a learning disability like dyslexia.
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Chart when the child began talking. Note when he began saying intelligible words and also when he started forming longer phrases. Sometimes a speech delay means nothing, but if your child isn’t using sentences before age two, it can be a risk factor for dyslexia.
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Assess the child’s tendency to “baby talk.” Most children mangle a few words, but dyslexics struggle more than usual. One component of dyslexia is a lack of “phonemic awareness.” That means the person lacks the ability to separate the individual sounds that make up a word. If, by age 5 or 6, your child is still dropping the first letter or syllable from words or has inordinate trouble repeating a new-to-her word, it’s another clue that points toward dyslexia.
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Ignore gender when determining your child’s risk for dyslexia. The Connecticut Longitudinal Study, a 20-plus year study of schoolchildren conducted by the Neurology and Pediatric departments at the Yale University School of Medicine, found that actual cases of dyslexia are nearly equal in both genders. However, schools identify boys as dyslexic anywhere from twice to five times as often as girls. The Study attributes this imbalance to behavior issues being more likely to bring boys to the attention of teachers. Being female does not make your daughter less likely to have a learning disability. It may make it more difficult to have her problem identified and evaluated by the school.
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Tips & Warnings
If these risk factors are present in your child, consider getting an independent evaluation.
Schools identify learning disabilities most often in third grade, after years of frustration and failure for the child in kindergarten, first and second grades. Early intervention on your part can change that.
