Signs of a Reading Learning Disability

Signs of a Reading Learning Disability

Pre School:

  • May talk later than most children;
  • May have difficulty with rhyming;
  • May have difficulty pronouncing words (i.e., busgetti for spaghetti, mawn lower for lawn mower);
  • May have poor auditory memory for nursery rhymes and chants;
  • May be slow to add new vocabulary words;
  • May be unable to recall the right word;
  • • May have trouble learning numbers, days of the week, colors, shapes, and how to spell and write his or her name

Kindergarten through Grade 3.

  • Fails to understand that words come apart; for example, that snowman can be pulled apart into snow and man and, later on, that the word man can be broken down still further and sounded out as: /m/ /ă/ /n/;
  • Has difficulty learning the letter names and their corresponding sounds;
  • Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation)—lacks a strategy;
  • Has difficulty spelling phonetically;
  • Reads dysfluently (choppy and labored);
  • Relies on context to recognize a word.

Upper Elementary School

  • Has a history of reading and spelling difficulties;
  • Avoids reading aloud;
  • Reads most materials slowly; oral reading is labored, not fluent;
  • Avoids reading for pleasure;
  • May have an inadequate vocabulary;
  • Has difficulty spelling; may resort to using less complicated words in writing that are easier to spell.