The following is a list of errors commonly made by children with reading difficulties:
- They are more prone to struggling on timed as compared to untimed tasks
- Their reading tends to be slower and filled with pauses due to poor decoding skills
- Articles (e.g., a and the) are often interchanged and prepositions are frequently misread due to a high level of effort being expended on reading the content words and thus using context to identify function words
- Substitutions are often made between words that are visually related (e.g., tired for tried) due to poor phonological skills
- Nonwords are frequently read as actual words (e.g., clip for clup), again due to poor phonological skills
- They are likely to make spelling errors that are not phonetically accurate (e.g., exetive for executive)
- Letter reversals are actually not that common in children with dyslexia and they occur relatively often in children without dyslexia. However, if they occur after age nine, they can represent a concern. These errors are most common for b and d
If you notice any of these errors, a formal assessment can help indicate if a more significant problem is present and identify strategies to overcome these difficulties.
Reference:
Pennington, B.F., McGrath, L.M., & Peterson, R.L. (2019). Diagnosing learning disorders: From science to practice (3rd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press