The signs of a struggle to learn to read can be seen in children from a very early age.

How early should we look at providing interventions and look for signs of dyslexia?

Many parents notice the difficulties with language when a child begins to learn to speak. Often there are articulation problems and sometimes speech delays. The first stop is with the Speech Pathologist where support and assistance for any developmental issues can be addressed. 

At around age 4 to 5, in the ‘school readiness’ stage, we begin to see more clearly how the child responds to interactions with letters, writing, drawing and expressive language. There is often a lot of “assumed” knowledge, without clear evidence of understanding. This is our opportunity to provide the child with specific activities with repetition to reinforce the necessary skills for literacy learning. 

These activities need to be multisensory and explicitly focused on the essential skills for reading such as sequencing, letter recognition, letter formation and individual letter sounds (pure sounds). Time and repetition are required for this to be successful. Our 26 Letters Program was designed for this purpose, to consolidate the initial skills for successful reading and writing at an early stage. Without them, the process is much longer and means the child is more likely to struggle as they progress at school.  

Is it too late to bring in the same kind of essential interventions when a child is already progressing through the school system?

Absolutely not! It is never too late to address what has been missed in the process of learning to read. The essential skills that I mentioned above are essential for every learner, even if they have some skills in reading but struggle to decode, write and spell.

At around 7 to 8 years of age, children with learning difficulties and dyslexia begin to struggle in the classroom. Frustration can present as challenging behaviour and self esteem issues arise. This is the perfect opportunity to jump into the essential skills mentioned above, in the same format with loads of repetition. Without this, the child’s opportunity to learn to read will be limited and difficult.

I have worked with many students over the years, from 5 year old to 58 year old, and the most successful and impacting intervention to assist dyslexic learners is the 26 Letters Program, giving them the boost they need to develop the skills for literacy. 

Remember that we need specific connections in the brain for reading and it is never too early or too late to start this process!

~ Leslie