Generally

• Appears bright, intelligent and articulate but is unable to read, write or spell at grade level.
• Labelled lazy, dumb, careless, immature, “not trying hard enough”, or “behaviour problem”.
• Isn’t “behind enough” or “bad enough” to be helped in the school setting.
• High in IQ, tests well orally but not in written form.
• Feels dumb, poor self-esteem; covers up weaknesses with compensatory strategies; easily frustrated and emotional about school reading or testing.
• Talented in art, drama, music, sports, mechanics, storytelling, sales, business, designing, building or engineering.
• Seems to “zone-out” or daydream often; gets lost easily or loses track of time.
• Difficulty sustaining attention; seems “hyper”.
• Learns best through hands-on experience, demonstrations, experimentation, observation and visual aids.
   

Behaviour, Health, Development, Personality

• Extremely disorderly or compulsively orderly.
• Can be class clown, troublemaker or too quiet.
• Had unusually early or late developmental stages (talking, walking, crawling, tying shoelaces)
• Prone to ear infections, sensitive to foods, additives and chemical products.
• Can be an extra heavy or light sleeper, bedwetting beyond appropriate age.
• Unusually high or low tolerance for pain
• Strong sense of justice, emotionally sensitive, strives for perfection.
• Mistakes and symptoms increase dramatically with confusion, time pressure and emotional distress or poor health.
   

Memory and Cognition

• Excellent long-term memory for experiences, locations and faces.
• Poor memory for sequences, facts and information that has not been experienced.
• Thinks primarily with images and feelings, not sounds or words (little internal dialogue).

Maths and Time Management

• Has difficulty telling time, learning sequence information or tasks or being on time.
• Computing math shows dependence on finger counting and other tricks; knows answers but can’t do it on paper.
• Can count, but has difficulty counting objects and dealing with money.
• Can do arithmetic, but fails word problems, cannot grasp algebra or higher level maths.
   

Hearing and Speech

• Has extended hearing; hears things not said or apparent to others; easily distracted by sounds.
• Difficulty putting thoughts into words; speaks in halting phrases; leaves sentences incomplete; stutters under stress; mispronounces long words; or transposes phrases, words and syllables when speaking.
   

Writing and Motor Skills

• Trouble with writing or copying; pencil grip is unusual; handwriting varies or is illegible.
• Clumsy, unco-ordinated, poor at ball or team sports, difficulties with fine and/or gross motor skills and tasks, prone to motion sickness.
• Can be ambidextrous and often confuses left/right, over/under.
   

Vision, Reading and Spelling

• Complains of dizziness, headaches or stomach aches while reading.
• Confused by letters, numbers, words, sequences or verbal explanations.
• Reading or writing shows repetition, adding words, transposing, omission, substitution, reversal of letters, numbers and/or words.
• Complains of feeling or seeing non-existent movement while reading, writing or copying.
• Seems to have difficulty with vision, yet eye exams don’t reveal a problem.
• Extremely keen sighted and observant, or lacks depth perception and peripheral vision.
• Reads and re-reads with little comprehension.
• Spells phonetically and inconsistently.

© 1992 by Ronald D. Davis. Reprinted with permission