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How can I tell if someone has Dyslexia?
Many dyslexics pass through their time at school underachieving, sometimes misbehaving as a result, and accept academic failure as an inevitablility without anybody recognising that the cause is dyslexia and the consequences could be addressed. The following list is adapted from a DES document on recognising dyslexic children at school, and is an attempt to translate these "symptoms" into the workplace environment.
Written Work
Look out for someone who has a poor standard of written work compared with oral ability, and will go to extreme lengths to avoid it. If they do write anything, they may...
produce messy work with many crossings out and words tried several times eg wippe, wype, wiep, wipe
be persistently confused by letters which look similar, particularly b/d, p/g, p/q, n/u, m/w,
have poor handwriting, with many 'reversals' (particularly b instead of d and vice versa) and badly formed letters
spell a word several different ways in one piece of writing
make anagrams of words eg tired for tried, breaded for bearded
struggle with layout, often not staying close to the margin
Reading
Again, an activity that will be avoided at all costs. If they cannot avoid it, their reading may be may be hesitant and laboured, especially when reading aloud. They may also...
miss out words when reading, or add extra words
fail to recognise familiar words
lose the point of a document completely
ask for help filling in forms
Numeracy
Many dyslexics struggle with simple arithmetic, even though they may have an amazing grasp of complicated engineering or IT systems. Watch out for someone who...
shows confusion with number order, eg units, tens, hundreds
is confused by symbols, such as + and x signs
has difficulty remembering anything in a sequential order and will struggle with mental arithmetic, especially multiplcation or division that requires knowledge of times tables.
Time and organisation
A dyslexic person will often...
show poor time keeping and general awareness of the passage of time
have poor personal organisation
have difficulty in remembering what day of the week it is or what the date is. Knowing their birth date is often a problem.
Skills
A dyslexic person will often...
have poor fine motor skills
have a limited understanding of non-verbal communication
often get left and right confused
have poor orientation and sense of direction
have indeterminate hand preference
perform unevenly from day to day
Behaviour
Watch our for the ones who
seem to 'dream', and do not seem to listen during meetings, briefings etc.
are easily distracted, and often have to start a task again from the beginning if interrupted.
are excessively tired, due to the amount of concentration and effort required just to "keep up".
If someone has a cluster of these difficulties, they may be dyslexic. The Spot Your Potential DyslexiaTest on the BDA website will tell you if they are.
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