Symptoms of dyslexia may include delayed speech, stuttering, mixing up sounds in longer words, difficulty learning to tie shoes, difficulty determining left from right, difficulty deciding on a dominant writing hand, inability to produce rhyming words, difficulty learning the alphabet and letter sounds, inability to sound out words, difficulty with spelling and writing letters and numbers backward.
In the early years, children with dyslexia will require intensive daily instruction using a specialized reading program. Some children with dyslexia may be able to read at grade level within one year of starting a reading program, while others may take as long as three years to reach grade level. Statistics reported by the National Institutes of Health assert that 95 percent of all children who receive early remediation with a specialized reading program will eventually read at grade level.
Several reading programs can be used to teach children with dyslexia. Typically, successful programs utilize the principles of the Orton-Gillingham method. The Orton-Gillingham method supports the use of sequential lessons taught explicitly using mutlisensory approaches. These lessons allow students to have hands-on experiences and to see, hear, move and feel as they learn about letter and sound correspondences. Some well-researched programs include LIPS from Lindamood-Bell, Saxon Phonics, Alphabetic Phonics, the Davis Correction program and the Barton Reading System.
Orton-Gillingham programs all contain common components. These include instruction in phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondences, types of syllables, spelling rules and root words, prefixes and suffixes.
Before spending hundreds of dollars on an intensive dyslexia program, parents may want to consult with someone who can correctly diagnose the disorder. To find someone to diagnose dyslexia, parents should consult their pediatrician, local school district, regional hospital or university to find out where local resources may exist.