Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.
Symptoms
Signs of dyslexia can be difficult to recognize before your child enters school, but some early clues may indicate a problem. Once your child reaches school age, your child's teacher may be the first to notice a problem. Severity varies, but the condition often becomes apparent as a child starts learning to read.
Signs of having a dyslexia
Dyslexia signs in teens and adults are similar to those in children. Some common dyslexia signs and symptoms in teens and adults include:
•Difficulty reading, including reading aloud
•Slow and labor-intensive reading and writing
•Problems spelling
•Avoiding activities that involve reading
•Mispronouncing names or words, or problems retrieving words
•Trouble understanding jokes or expressions that have a meaning not easily understood from the specific words (idioms), such as "piece of cake" meaning "easy"
•Spending an unusually long time completing tasks that involve reading or writing
•Difficulty summarizing a story
•Trouble learning a foreign language
•Difficulty memorizing
•Difficulty doing math problems
Possible Cause
Dyslexia risk factors include:
•A family history of dyslexia or other learning disabilities
•Premature birth or low birth weight
•Exposure during pregnancy to nicotine, drugs, alcohol or infection that may alter brain development in the fetus
•Individual differences in the parts of the brain that enable reading
Answers & Comments
Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.
Symptoms
Signs of dyslexia can be difficult to recognize before your child enters school, but some early clues may indicate a problem. Once your child reaches school age, your child's teacher may be the first to notice a problem. Severity varies, but the condition often becomes apparent as a child starts learning to read.
Signs of having a dyslexia
Dyslexia signs in teens and adults are similar to those in children. Some common dyslexia signs and symptoms in teens and adults include:
•Difficulty reading, including reading aloud
•Slow and labor-intensive reading and writing
•Problems spelling
•Avoiding activities that involve reading
•Mispronouncing names or words, or problems retrieving words
•Trouble understanding jokes or expressions that have a meaning not easily understood from the specific words (idioms), such as "piece of cake" meaning "easy"
•Spending an unusually long time completing tasks that involve reading or writing
•Difficulty summarizing a story
•Trouble learning a foreign language
•Difficulty memorizing
•Difficulty doing math problems
Possible Cause
Dyslexia risk factors include:
•A family history of dyslexia or other learning disabilities
•Premature birth or low birth weight
•Exposure during pregnancy to nicotine, drugs, alcohol or infection that may alter brain development in the fetus
•Individual differences in the parts of the brain that enable reading