Is he Dyslexic, or not?

Jeffrey still can't read like I think that he should. Jeffrey has always been more challenging to me than Michael as far as schooling goes, but now I am wondering if there may be a problem. I did some research on Dyslexia, but I am still not sure. I think that he meets enough of these characteristics to possibly have him tested, but I am not sure. We need your prayers on unlocking this mystery. We need wisdom for our little lefty. Jeffrey is smart. There is no doubt in my mind that he is trying. This is the same little boy whom no one could understand until he was 5. Not for lack of trying on his part. He would get so frustrated and throw his hands up with a sigh of "nebor mine" after half a dozen tries to be understood. The same boy who called Jordan "Baby Do-dan Dab-e-uu" in a song where we used to sing "Baby Jordan Gabriel" to the tune of "Oh, My Darlin' "He's a fighter and he tries so hard. He has come so far and worked past so many speech problems. He has taught Riky and I to slow down and show him how to do things (like throw a ball, or hold a bat) because he is left handed. Now, Jordan has the way already paved for him, (he's left handed too) and he should be easier to teach, but I don't want to miss this HUGE problem, if there is one there. If anyone has some insight, I would love to hear it. Below are some of the cues to tell if a child is dyslexic:

• Failure to understand that words come apart; for example, that batboy can be pulled apart into bat and boy, and, later on, that the word bat can be broken down still further and sounded out as: "b" "aaaa" "t"
  
• Inability to learn to associate letters with sounds, such as being unable to connect the letter b with the "b" sound
  
• Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters; for example, the word big is read as goat
  
• The inability to read common one-syllable words or to sound out even the simplest of words, such as mat, cat, hop, nap
  
• Complaints about how hard reading is, or running and hiding when it is time to read A history of reading problems in parents or siblings. In addition to the problems of speaking and reading, you should be looking for these indications of strengths in higher-level thinking processes:
  
• Curiosity
• A great imagination
• The ability to figure things out
• Eager embrace of new ideas
• Getting the gist of things
• A good understanding of new concepts
• Surprising maturity
• A large vocabulary for the age group
• Enjoyment in solving puzzles
• Talent at building models
• Excellent comprehension of stories read or told to him

Clues to Dyslexia From Second Grade On

• Problems in Speaking
  
• Mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar, or complicated words; the fracturing of words–leaving out parts of words or confusing the order of the parts of words; for example:aluminum becomes amulium
  
• Speech that is not fluent–pausing or hesitating often when speaking, lots of um's during speech, no glibness
  
• The use of imprecise language, such as vague references to stuff or things instead of the proper name of an object
  
• Not being able to find the exact word, such as confusing words that sound alike: saying tornado instead of volcano, substituting lotion for ocean, or humanity for humidity
  
• The need for time to summon an oral response or the inability to come up with a verbal response quickly when questioned
  
• Difficulty in remembering isolated pieces of verbal information (rote memory) — trouble remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists
  
• Problems in Reading
  
• Very slow progress in acquiring reading skills
  
• The lack of a strategy to read new words
  
• Trouble reading unknown (new, unfamiliar) words that must be sounded out; making wild stabs or guesses at reading a word; failure to systematically sound out words
  
• The inability to read small "function" words such as that, an, in
  
• Stumbling on reading multisyllable words, or the failure to come close to sounding out the full word
  
• Omitting parts of words when reading; the failure to decode parts within a word, as if someone had chewed a hole in the middle of the word, such as conible for convertible
  
• A terrific fear of reading out loud; the avoidance of oral reading
  
• Oral reading filled with substitutions, omissions, and mispronunciations
  
• Oral reading that is choppy and labored, not smooth or fluent
  
• Oral reading that lacks inflection and sounds like the reading of a foreign language
  
• A reliance on context to discern the meaning of what is read
  
• A better ability to understand words in context than to read isolated single words
  
• Disproportionately poor performance on multiple choice tests
  
• The inability to finish tests on time
  
• The substitution of words with the same meaning for words in the text he can't pronounce, such as car for automobile
  
• Disastrous spelling, with words not resembling true spelling; some spellings may be missed by spell check
  
• Trouble reading mathematics word problems
  
• Reading that is very slow and tiring
  
• Homework that never seems to end, or with parents often recruited as readers
  
• Messy handwriting despite what may be an excellent facility at word processing–nimble fingers
  
• Extreme difficulty learning a foreign language
  
• A lack of enjoyment in reading, and the avoidance of reading books or even a sentence
  
• The avoidance of reading for pleasure, which seems too exhausting
  
• Reading whose accuracy improves over time, though it continues to lack fluency and is laborious
  
• Lowered self-esteem, with pain that is not always visible to others
  
• A history of reading, spelling, and foreign language problems in family members. In addition to signs of a phonological weakness, there are signs of strengths in higher-level thinking processes:
  
• Excellent thinking skills: conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction
• Learning that is accomplished best through meaning rather than rote memorization
• Ability to get the "big picture"
• A high level of understanding of what is read to him
• The ability to read and to understand at a high level overlearned (that is, highly practiced) words in a special area of interest; for example, if his hobby is restoring cars, he may be able to read auto mechanics magazines
• Improvement as an area of interest becomes more specialized and focused, when he develops a miniature vocabulary that he can read
• A surprisingly sophisticated listening vocabulary
• Excellence in areas not dependent on reading, such as math, computers, and visual arts, or excellence in more conceptual (versus factoid-driven) subjects such as philosophy, biology, social studies, neuroscience, and creative writing

These clues across the life span offer a portrait of dyslexia. Examine them carefully, think about them, and determine if any of these clues fit your child, you, or someone else you are close to. Look for clues in the weaknesses and strengths. Identifying the weaknesses makes it possible to spot dyslexia in children before they are expected to read and in adults after they have developed some degree of reading accuracy but are continuing to show the remnants of earlier problems, reading slowly and with great effort.
If you think you or your child has some of these problems, it is important to note how frequent they are and how many there are. You don't need to worry about isolated clues or ones that appear very rarely. For you to be concerned, the symptoms must be persistent; anyone can mispronounce a word now and then, or confuse similar-sounding words occasionally. What you are looking for is a persistent pattern — the occurrence of a number of these symptoms over a prolonged period of time. That represents a likelihood of dyslexia.

Source:SchwabLearning.org Dr. Sally Shaywitz