Word Finding Difficulty and Dyslexia

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Word Finding Difficulty

How many times have you heard your dyslexic child say that a certain word is on the tip of their tongue when they are speaking? You can almost see the wheels spinning in their head as they try to get the word out. It is obvious that your child knows the word they want to say, but they struggle with word finding difficulty, also known as word retrieval. Ultimately, you end up with long pauses, several umm’s, or incorrect words when they talk.

This is a common characteristic of people with dyslexia but few people understand the link. Below we will explore why people with dyslexia have difficulty with word retrieval. The implications of a dyslexia diagnosis extend far beyond reading. Understanding the full profile of a child with dyslexia can help you better advocate for them. Please follow this link if you are new to this journey and would like an overview of what dyslexia is.

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Word Finding Difficulty and the Dyslexia Link

At its core, dyslexia is a problem getting to the individual sounds of speech due to a glitch in the language system. Basically, this glitch impairs anything having to do with sounds, including putting sounds together to form words.

Dr. Sally Shaywitz, author of Overcoming Dyslexia, asks readers to think about individual sounds (phonemes) as the wooden letter blocks that children play with. For neurotypical children, the paint on the blocks is new and letters are clearly defined. These children can easily identify the sounds they need to form words and accurately put them together to say words. 

For children with dyslexia, the paint on the blocks is worn out and can barely be seen therefore, dyslexics have trouble processing individual sounds. When speaking, they can identify the concept they want to say but struggle retrieving the sounds needed to form the word.

For instance, a dyslexic child might be thinking of the word book. They know what a book is and can see the picture of the book in their mind. In order to express themselves, the child will need to replace the concept of the book with the sounds that represent it. This is where the troubles lie. The glitch in their language system causes individual speech sounds to be fuzzy and unclear. Consequently, dyslexic children require more time to mentally search through sounds and find the correct ones.

Below are other ways that the phonological weakness can manifest in speech:

  • Misnaming: Saying the word volcano when they mean to say the word tornado or instinct when they mean to say distinct.
  • Inverting Syllables: Saying the word emeny instead of enemy 
  • Adding syllables: Ameninity instead of saying amenity 
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Understanding Is Key To Empowering

The weakness that dyslexics experience in processing sounds has nothing to do with intelligence. All the higher-level thinking processes such as reasoning, critical thinking, and comprehension are in place. Unfortunately, they may appear to be bottlenecked by the struggle to get words out. If your child is struggling with their self-esteem due to their difficulties in word retrieval, it would be helpful to explain to them what is happening in their brain. It may normalize the experience and help them understand that this difficulty does not reflect their intelligence level. 

Understanding how their phonological weakness manifests is also helpful in advocating for academic accommodations. As we previously discussed, people with dyslexia need more time to process sounds which affects speaking, reading, and writing. If you are unsure if your child is at risk for dyslexia, please visit our guide to monitoring speech for signs of dyslexia and our guide to monitoring reading signs of dyslexia. Both of these guides may help paint a larger picture on where your child stands with their literacy skills.

Please visit our services page if you are interested in dyslexia therapy. We provide dyslexia therapy through the Take Flight intervention that was created based on science and research. We would also love to hear from you and answer answer any questions you have via our let’s connect page.

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