Early detection of dyslexia, in 8 symptoms

We review the symptoms of dyslexia that manifest themselves in the early stages of childhood.

Dyslexia is a neurologically based disorder that affects literacy learning and currently affects between 10 and 15% of children. and currently affects between 10 and 15% of children worldwide. The main characteristic of this disorder is that it appears in children who do not present any other physical, psychological or sociocultural alteration that explains it.

Due to this high incidence, early detection of dyslexia by analyzing the symptoms is essential to prevent the child from suffering from dyslexia. is essential to prevent the child from suffering any type of consequence both academically and socially.

The importance of early detection of dyslexia

As mentioned above, the detection of this disorder at the earliest possible age is essential to facilitate children's learning and to adapt teaching methods.

In this way we can avoid the frustration that can cause in the child not achieving the goals set at school, as well as the lack of motivation and the emotional consequences that undiagnosed dyslexia usually causes.

If dyslexia is not properly detected, both the child and the people around the child may think that the child is less intelligent than the rest of his or her peers, when in fact he or she is usually less intelligent than the rest of his or her peers.In reality, they usually have a normal to high IQ. However, this comparison can damage the child's self-esteem.

Early symptoms of dyslexia

Typically, the first symptoms of dyslexia tend to appear around the age of four to eight years old. tend to appear around four to eight years of age, with the most common problems being those related to the vocalization of unfamiliar wordsThe most common problems are related to the vocalization of unknown words, the alteration of the order of letters in writing or the lack of attention and concentration.

As a consequence of their difficulties, children suffering from dyslexia tend to become disinterested in school. tend to become disinterested in school tasks or activities, even refusing to do them.They may even refuse to do them or to go to school.

Although dyslexia can present itself in different ways in each of the children who suffer from it, there are a number of common indicators that can help us to identify it. As mentioned above, it is essential that both parents and teachers are able to identify these early signs or manifestations in order to intervene preventively. in order to be able to intervene in a preventive manner.

Some of the early symptoms of dyslexia that may lead us to assume that a child may develop dyslexia are the following.

1. Slow Speech Acquisition

Children with possible dyslexia have difficulty developing spoken language. They take longer to learn to speak, both in saying single words and in developing sentences. In addition, they have poor verbal fluency, they have poor verbal fluency and in many cases tend to have some difficulty in understanding others.

2. Problems in reading and writing

As in speech, these children also present difficulties in learning to read and write. difficulties in learning to read and write..

3. They confuse words

In both oral and written language, children with dyslexia may show confusions or errors in words with a similarity of meaning. may show confusions or errors in words with a phonetic similarity.. For example, they may confuse boot and drop.

In the same way, they can suppress the phonemes of some words, confuse them or change the order of the syllables according to the sound.

4. Lack of vocabulary

There is a clear poverty in the vocabulary of these children.. This symptom is due to the difficulties they have in learning new words, many of which they obtain through reading.

5. Mirror writing

Another common early sign of dyslexia is mirror writing. This means that children who are learning to write may write letters backwards. may write letters backwardsas if they were seen in a mirror.

6. Concentration problems

As a consequence of the difficulties they present in other areas, children with dyslexia tend to be distractible; presenting problems or alterations in attention and concentration..

7. Consequences in academic performance

All of the above difficulties are ultimately reflected in the child's academic performance.. However, academic performance can be highly variable within a short period of time.

That is, the child may go through a season in which there are no difficulties at school, followed by a season in which inattention and problems with homework and activities occur almost daily.

8. Working memory problems

A curious early symptom of dyslexia that helps in its early detection but which occurs in many but not all cases, is that the child manifests difficulties or problems with working memory. That is, they have a tendency to forget many things that have been explained to them, in a very short time.

Possible treatments and interventions

Once the first symptoms of dyslexia are known, its detection is essential to understand the child who suffers from it and to be able to intervene in a preventive manner. In this way, difficulties will be compensated and their personal, social and academic growth will be facilitated.

First of all, it is necessary to know that due to the great variability of symptoms associated with this disorder, there is no standard treatment valid for all children. there is no standard treatment valid for all cases of dyslexia.. Therefore, it will be necessary to adapt interventions to the needs and demands of the child.

Therapeutic intervention, the collaboration of teachers, the use of new technologiesThe use of new technologies and the understanding and education at home, are some of the resources that can make a child with dyslexia obtain the same results and feel as integrated as any other classmate.