How do you know if your child is Dyslexic?

This is probably the first question I asked when I started to wonder if there was a problem. The thing that is so hard for me is that technically my son is not behind. I just had a gut sense that something was going on. It was a combination of things, his utter panic when we sat down to do his phonics lesson, the short term memory problem that was becoming more and more apparent, the continual reversals of letters and mirror image writing all coupled with his uncanny ability to see and visuals things beyond even my ability.

So, I did what any other concerned mother would do, I googled Dyslexia, and there before my eyes were some of the early warning signs that described my son. Although not all of the signs fit, because again my son isn't behind, most of them did. The more I read, the more the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together for me. For example, his not talking until he was two years old, his stuttering problem, his ability to draw fairly well, his large vocabulary, his confusion with up/down, in/out, before/after, and his cute mispronunciations were all signs that he might have Dyslexia, and here is the kicker. All children have a 50% chance of having Dyslexia if one of the parents has Dyslexia. So, I guess all my children have a 50% chance of having Dyslexia, because my husband also possesses that wonderfully creative and visual mind. He's very mechanically inclined, and he too struggles with reading and spelling.

Dyslexia is a neurologically-based, often familial, disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language. Varying in degrees of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in arithmetic. So how do I know if he has Dyslexia? I don't, but a lot of signs cause us to suspect it. Next week, we are having him tested. Hopefully, this will point us in the right direction to help educate him.

If you suspect your child has a problem, I encourage you to click on the Bright Solutions website on the left side of my page.