Post date: 22-Apr-2012 14:48:55
The earliest signs of dyslexia are conditions like ADHD and speech disorders. It is important to identify dyslexia by 5-7 years of age as treatment is low cost and effective at this stage.
Dyslexia is a neuro-developmental disorder characterised by slow and inaccurate word recognition. Children with dyslexia are unable to read fluently.
The earlier dyslexia is identified the easier it is to treat for the child to catch up with peers in reading fluency. Problems with reading fluency are best addressed when the child is in kindergarten or first grade; that is when they are between 5-7 years old. If detected later, the chld has accumulated several years of reading failure. It may be impossible for them to close the gap at that stage. Boys with dyslexia come to clinical attention
Conditions signalling risk for dyslexia
ADHD
Language impairment
Speech disorder
Effective treatments are low cost, which further draws attention to the importance of early identification, prevention, and treatment of dyslexia
Source
Robin L Peterson, Bruce F Pennington. Developmental dyslexia. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 17 April 2012 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60198-6