What parents notice before school…
19 years as a dyslexia assessor, 15 years as a primary school teacher and SENCO, parenting three children with dyslexia, and being a late-diagnosed dyslexic myself, has taught me …
Often parents spot a child’s dyslexia before anyone else,
Not because they are experts in dyslexia, but because they are experts when it comes to their own child. They may not be linking what they notice and observe or the changes in their child to dyslexia, but they will certainly be spotting things that they note or cause them to question if everything is okay.
Here are some of the most common things parents spot before school that could be related to dyslexia.
1. The change in behaviour.
Once bright, sparky, curious, inquisitive… but school or education seems to ring this out of them. The sparks dull and the way your child holds themselves is just heavy. Difficult to explain to an outsider but as a parent you can just see it!
There is nothing harder to hear as a parent than your child referring to themselves as stupid or unintelligent… especially when you know this isn’t the case.
2. The surprising mismatch.
Academic attainment does it seem to be in line with their ability. Your child seems to be super bright and have no issues with learning outside of school, quick to pick up practical things but when they go to school, they’re struggling to make progress with reading and spelling and it doesn’t make any sense to us as a parent. The other surprising mismatch you might see is the difference between their spoken vocabulary and the written work! You know they can use a good range of vocabulary and are great conversationalists, but that just isn’t coming across in their writing.
3. Your child is like two different people.
You see one child at home and school report another. Whether it is you seeing the loud gregarious child at home and school reporting a child quiet and lacking in confidence or even lazy, or the school seeing the over confident child, that is the class clown but you notice a child with low self-esteem and self-belief at home, there are just inconsistencies which do not make sense.
4. Words are a problem.
From spoonerizing, (swapping sounds par cark instead of carpark). To using an ambitious vocab they can’t pronounce, to using the word in the wrong context to struggling to find words, referring to things as ‘you know that ‘thingy!’ there are so many dyslexic clues within speech that we might laugh off or joke about, but that actually could be indicators of dyslexia or other language differences.
5 Curiosity
Dyslexic kids tend to ask A LOT of questions, they are inquisitive and like to know how things work, or why things are happening in a certain way. So often thirsty for knowledge. Asking all the questions is a big picture thinking sign, one of the stereotypical dyslexic strengths. Dyslexics ask questions to help make sense of what they already know and understand so they can assimilate the new learning and understanding with this. Answering the questions can be exhausting but believe me when I say it’s a skill we have to encourage as it is often one of the first things to go when a child with dyslexia start to realise, they are struggling and they feel different.
6. Entrepreneurial strengths.
Move over Del boy and make way for the child who picks apples from the tree and sets up stall to sell them, makes homemade lemonade or is constantly thinking of ways they can make money and build a business. Many parents accidently shut this strength down so it can disappear quite quickly, but you ask most parents of dyslexic kids and they will tell you there was a time that their child tried to make money… and they may even have been pretty good at it!
7. Strong emotional literacy.
Empathy, kindness and the ability to just know when someone is struggling. Dyslexics are brilliant at reading a room, facial expression, body language and reading the unsaid. They tend to be naturally intuitive and are natural leaders and teachers, looking for solutions and providing ideas other may not have thought of. Dyslexics do like to fix things and situations.
8. Creative and excel in something.
Whether it is music, art, sport, making things, biking, acting, science, you usually find that they have developed knowledge and skill in a particular area that they enjoy and are motivated by. They have often taught themselves, or just know what to do move themselves forward with this skill, using so many positive learning behaviours that you know that are capable of learning, Which takes us right back to sign 1 and 2, the change in behaviour and the surprising difference!
This is not an exhaustive list, or a list to make people panic or to assume a young person would get a dyslexia diagnosis, but they are all things many dyslexics share and are the things parents will spot and see that a teacher or educational setting may not.