Signs of Dyslexia in Children: Recognising Difficulties to Better Support

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that affects the acquisition of reading. It affects around 10% of children, and often persists into adulthood. It does not reflect the child's level of intelligence — many dyslexic people have rich cognitive profiles and remarkable abilities in other areas.

In the article that follows, I explore your cognitive functioning. If you recognise yourself in this theme, I designed a cognitive profile test that helps you take stock of your cognitive strengths. It comes with a guide to extend your reflection beyond the results. I also wrote a book on this subject, Your Thoughts Don’t Have to Run Your Life, if you would like to go further.

But when unidentified and unsupported, it can generate years of academic failure, a sense of incompetence, and psychological suffering.

Early signs of dyslexia

Before reading (preschool)

Difficulties memorising nursery rhymes, identifying sounds in words (rhymes, syllables), learning the names of letters or the days of the week. A phonological awareness deficit is often one of the first indicators. To take this further out loud, Psy Lounge offers a listening space run by a CBT-trained AI.

At the start of primary school

The child confuses visually similar letters (b/d, p/q), reverses sounds or syllables in words, reads very slowly even after several weeks of learning, decodes without understanding (cognitive energy completely mobilised by decoding).

Later

Very phonetic spelling, laborious reading even of known words, avoidance of any reading activity, intense fatigue after a short reading session.

What follows diagnosis

A speech therapy assessment can confirm or rule out the diagnosis. If dyslexia is confirmed, speech therapy follow-up and academic accommodations (extra time, adapted materials) allow the child to progress — and often, to reveal abilities that reading difficulties were masking.

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