Spotting Dyslexia Los Angeles | The importance of early evaluation

In the increasingly competitive and fast-paced world of today, parents are realizing that the sooner they are able to recognize possible impairments in their children, the better off they will be when it comes to educational and social success.  Many psychologists recommend waiting until children are at least six years old before evaluating for intelligence and other cognitive areas for more valid and reliable test scores.  As science begins to catch up with assessment and diagnosis of dyslexia, children, parents, teachers, and clinicians are now on the lookout for other ways to assess for major learning impairments to avoid early struggles in school.  The key motive here is that scientists are trying to find ways to maximize the sponge that is the brain, and to create more positive outcomes from an earlier age.

Reading is a unique, cognitive skill essential to life in modern societies, but, for about 10% of children, learning to read is extremely difficult. They are affected by a neurodevelopmental disorder called dyslexia. For people with dyslexia, problems recognizing words can make life difficult.  Some major difficulties may include recognizing chunks of words, problems processing visual signals, or issues ignoring extraneous sounds and stimuli.  Although they may struggle with these problems, individuals with dyslexia are often bright and verbal.    

Children usually aren’t diagnosed until elementary school, when it becomes clear they’re struggling with reading. But scientists say it could be possible to diagnose and help kids much earlier by identifying problems with visual attention — long before they learn to read.  But how to test reading ability in children who can’t read has remained a barrier. Researchers at the University of Padua in Italy say kids who have problems with visual attention in preschool are most likely to have difficulty reading later on.  

Current Biology

Click here to learn about the diagnosis of Dyslexia

A recommended book about hidden potentials in the Dyslexic brain: The Dyslexic Advantage