Signs of Dyslexia in Kindergarteners

Difficulty naming letters- all upper and lower case: 

According to the National Reading Panel, alphabet letter knowledge in preschool and kindergarten is a strong predictor of future reading and writing success. When children identify letters, it is actually a very simplified form of reading. This is because identifying letters and reading words have the same underlying skill sets. Children must process the letter(s) they see, store it in their short-term memory, then retrieve a label for it. If a child is struggling to easily name their letters, they will likely struggle when letters turn into words.

Difficulty matching letters with their sounds

Accurately matching letters to their respective sounds is called the alphabetic code. Breaking the alphabetic code is the only way to guarantee that children learn to read. Kindergarten is the time when these linkages between letters and sounds are made. As your child moves on from kindergarten, the expectation of letter linkages only grows as they learn more difficult reading patterns such as digraphs and diphthongs. If they are struggling with letter-sounds correlations in kindergarten, there is a high probability that the gap between them and their peers will continue to grow

Failure to understand that words come apart:

The basic deficit in dyslexia is trouble getting to the individual sounds of language. Understanding that words come apart into smaller units such as syllables, or individual sounds is called phonological awareness. In kindergarten, your child should be showing their understanding by rhyming words, pulling words apart into syllables, identifying the first sound in words, etc. By the end of kindergarten, your child should be able to count the number of individual sounds they hear in smaller words, also known as phonemic awareness, such as hi, my, it, etc. Visit our guide to phonemic awareness for developmental milestones and ways to help teach your child these skills.

Trouble producing rhymes:

Rhyming is a phonological awareness skill that allows children to recognize that words come apart. When children are young, they see language as one large entity. As they get older, they learn that language is made of words. Rhyming allows children to understand that words also have smaller pieces within them. For example, for a child to know that dog and log rhyme, they must attend to the sound “og” at the end. Developmentally, in kindergarten, a child should be able to produce rhyming words. Failure to produce rhymes could mean that they are struggling to break through the language barrier which has significant negative implications for reading.