It is considered that 1 in 10 children has some degree of dyslexia. This figure is alarming and, for that same reason, it is very important to make an early diagnosis. Once we have seen what dyslexia is in children, we need to know how it is detected.
In this Psychology-Online article, we offer you 10 exercises to detect dyslexia correctly, in this way, you will be able to look for the best treatment to be able to treat this disorder in time.
What is dyslexia
We define dyslexia as a developmental and learning disorder which is characterized by difficulties in reading, writing and, in some cases, speaking. What are the general symptoms of dyslexia? People diagnosed with dyslexia can confuse the order of letters, numbers, and even combine letters in a different way, so that they end up forming a different word.
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10 exercises to detect dyslexia
How do I know if I have dyslexia or if my son or daughter may have this disorder? Through a complete evaluation that includes several tests to detect dyslexia. The tests and diagnostic criteria we offer below are typically used in the evaluation of children and adolescents, however, these tests can be performed on an adult even though the results are slightly less reliable. We’ll see now 10 exercises to detect dyslexia in children and adults:
1. Reading comprehension exercises
Reading comprehension in children and adults with dyslexia can be negatively affected. To find out if someone has dyslexia, you can administer a text with some comprehension questions at the end of it.
2. Simple mathematical accounts
By confusing the order of numbers and having memory difficulties, people with this disorder often have difficulty solving math problems. For diagnosis, it is important to observe if they use their fingers to do the math or if they get lost in simple and short operations.
3. Simple, choppy and incomplete speech
A diagnostic criterion for dyslexia may be the way of speaking. If this is based on short, simple sentences and if the individual gets lost trying to create a more complex sentence, perhaps the person being evaluated should be assessed for dyslexia.
4. Concentration problems
This characteristic is usually associated with (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), however, if you observe difficulties keeping attention together With other criteria already mentioned, it is possible that the problem to be treated is more related to dyslexia. In the following article, we explain.
5. Problems correctly remembering words or data
In this case, an exercise to detect dyslexia in an individual can be to make them remember a simple sequence of five numbers or show a photograph with a series of objects and ask them to memorize as many as they can.
6. Recognition exercise
For this sign of dyslexia, a quick naming test. This is based on administering a series of visual stimuli and asking the individual to name everything that he or she can recognize.
7. Level of phonological awareness
Another test to detect dyslexia consists of evaluating phonological awareness. This ability is considered one of the bases of reading, therefore, a person with dyslexia will have a low level of phonological awareness. As its name indicates, this is defined as the ability to detect sounds or phonemes in a text.
8. Phonetic awareness test
Phonetic awareness tests are based on having the person with a possible diagnosis of dyslexia detect a sound (phoneme) in the middle of a series of words. For example, ask him to find the “je” sound in the word “army.”
9. “Attack of words”
The decoding It is defined as the ability to pronounce words and associate a symbol (letter) with a sound (phoneme). Another test to detect dyslexia is the “word attack”, which consists of asking the person to decode or pronounce words that are new to him or her.
10. Physical and/or medical problems
The diagnosis of dyslexia is also related to some psychomotor disorders, such as lack of balance, poor coordination, frequent dizziness… To detect them, it will be important to perform a complementary medical examination.
Test to detect dyslexia
If an effective and reliable evaluation is desired, the diagnosis of dyslexia must be made by a professional and using appropriate tools that are not available to unqualified people. This disorder affects more than one area of mental abilities and, therefore, different tests such as those described above must be performed to be able to confirm whether someone has dyslexia or not.
How to diagnose dyslexia in children? A very complete test to detect dyslexia is the DST-J: the test for detecting dyslexia in children. This dyslexia test contains different tests for both direct and indirect evaluation to diagnose and measure the level of dyslexia in the child population. Therefore, it is considered a test to detect dyslexia in children.
Who diagnoses dyslexia?
As we have mentioned previously, dyslexia is defined as a developmental and learning disorder. Therefore, the specialists in charge of diagnosing dyslexia will be psychopedagogues, psychologists, speech therapists and even the neurologists. These professionals are responsible for carrying out a correct evaluation according to the medical diagnostic criteria of dyslexia.
The importance of going to a specialist also lies in the fact that, on many occasions, dyslexia can be confused with dyslexia. The latter is a characteristic learning difficulty in the child population and is defined as a difficulty in the physical act of writing.
Dyslexia treatment
Many associations and groups are calling for more rigor and better treatment to be able to offer effective therapy to people with dyslexia. Therefore, if you think you may have this developmental disorder or a person close to you may have it, it is important to see a specialist to perform the necessary tests and exercises to detect dyslexia.
Once diagnosed, the treatment of dyslexia will be based on providing special education tools such as, for example, reinforcement in study, reading programs, complementary memory exercises and mathematical problems. Teaching in a child with dyslexia will be based on an eclectic and multisensory structure, thus covering all the areas affected by this learning disorder.
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This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Balado Alves, C., Rivas Torres, RM, López Gómez, S., & Taboada Ares, EM (2017). Neuropsychological evaluation of reading-writing learning difficulties in the classroom.
- Etchepareborda, MC (1989). Early detection of dyslexia and therapeutic approach. Dev Med Child Neurol31, 3-13.