Designing for Dyslexia

child writing and looking up

Indicators of Dyslexia.

Speech, Hearing, and Listening.

Early warning signs of dyslexia may manifest in speech, hearing, and listening.

  • difficulty with learning the alphabet;

  • word retrieval and naming problems;

  • identifying or generating rhyming words;

  • counting syllables in words;

  • hearing and manipulating sounds in words;

  • distinguishing different sounds in words;

  • learning the sounds of letters;

  • associating individual words with their correct meaning;

  • time keeping and the concept of time;

  • confusion with combinations of words;
Reading, Spelling, and Writing.

Difficulty with speech leads to difficulty with reading, spelling, and writing as well.

  • spelling errors;

  • letter order;

  • letter addition and subtraction;

  • phonetic spelling;

  • reduced written vocabulary;

  • slower writing speed than average;

  • poor handwriting characterized by irregularly formed letters;

  • inability to write straight on a blank paper with no guidance;