Dyslexia - early (pre-school) signs

[Professor Yaffle]

This should maybe be in the Education forum, but I thought it would probably get a wider audience and more chance of an answer here.

Does anyone have know of some reliable sources of information on the early signs of dyslexia? Two people (my mam and a friend who has a dyslexic daughter) have now mentioned the possibility that the Yaffling (aged 4 1/2) might be dyslexic - based on a few of his communication "quirks". I've done a bit of googling, and found a couple of lists (which seem to describe his quirks quite well), but they don't seem to be on particularly reliable/authoritative sites.

He starts school in August, so I'm just keeping myself informed in case he does have problems with reading etc. I know the earlier you get help the better with these sorts of things, the easier it is to tackle.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Why not try asking here?

 

[Emet]

Have you seen these sites?

http://www.interdys.org/SignsofDyslexiaCombined.htm

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dyslexia/dyslexia.htm

 

[Professor Yaffle]

Have you seen these sites?

http://www.interdys.org/SignsofDyslexiaCombined.htm

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dyslexia/dyslexia.htm

Thank you - that first link mentions a few things that describe Yaffling:

Younger Students
Does Your 1st, 2nd or 3rd-Grader:

Remember simple sequences such as counting to 20, naming the days of the week, or reciting the alphabet? Not too bad with numbers up to 10, but does sometimes get the sequence wrong. He has no idea with days of the week or the alphabet
Have an understanding of rhyming words, such as knowing that fat rhymes with cat? No
Recognize words that begin with the same sound (for example, that bird, baby, and big all start with b)? No - games of I Spy are rather entertaining...
Easily clap hands to the rhythm of a song? Don't know - doesn't tend to co-operate with that sort of thing
Frequently use specific words to name objects rather than words like “stuff” and “that thing”? No - "that thing" is one of his most common phrases
Easily remember spoken directions? Not sure
Remember names of places and people? Not really
Show understanding of right-left, up-down, front-back? No, often confuses them - also confuses before and after and doesn't use words like yesterday or tomorrow
Sit still for a reasonable period of time? Ha-ha... still, what is that?
Make and keep friends easily?Yes

I realise he is at the young end of the range they are talking about, but there's enough there to make me think it's worth keeping an eye on.

The other things I saw on other sites were

-mixing up the order of phonemes in words - eg he used to say poes instead of soap, oosh for shoe etc, and now says lots of things like bistick for biscuit.

-having trouble with word order in sentences - eg he can't say "can I?" rather than "I can?"

-late speech development - he's been consistently about 6 months or more behind what you would normally expect (but not delayed enough for the speech therapist to be concerned about a language disorder).

He also has trouble with past and future tense. He will say something in the present tense and when you reply, he will say "No, the other time" to mean that he's talking about the past, or "in the morning" (usually) to indicate the future.