This resource provides information to help teachers and parents identify potential reading difficulties in students. It lists "red flags" in preschoolers and early elementary students that could indicate problems with reading acquisition or efficiency, such as not knowing letter sounds or struggling to blend sounds. The purpose is to increase awareness, not diagnose specific disorders. The document also describes dyslexia as a difficulty with reading fluency and comprehension despite normal intelligence, involving issues with phonological awareness and other language skills. It aims to help teachers support students with reading difficulties through assessments and targeted teaching strategies.

2. While the extent of reading difficulties can
range from mild to moderate to severe to profound,
even a mild reading disability can prevent a student
from reaching his or her potential.
Listed below are a number of “ red flags” that could
indicate problems with reading acquisition reading
efficiency. The purpose of this list is NOT to
Diagnose causes of reading struggles or deficiencies;
Rather it is to heighten parental awareness
of symptoms.

3. Preschool:
 Doesn't know how to hold a book

Can't tell the difference between letters
and squiggles

Can't recognize own name

Only says a small number of words

Doesn’t like rhyming games and can’t
fill in the rhyming word in familiar
nursery rhymes


4. 



Can't tell the difference between the sounds that
make up a word (phonics)
Slow to name familiar objects and colors
Can’t remember the names and sounds of the letters
By the end of kindergarten, can’t write most of
the consonant sounds in a word
(it’s normal for vowels to be missing until later)

5. 





Has trouble pronouncing new words and
remembering them.
Has trouble blending sounds together to say words
Says reading is easier for their classmates
Falls way behind their classmates
Can't figure out unknown words
Resists reading aloud

6. 



Starts to withdraw
Has some troubling behavior
Seems to guess at unknown words
Does not get meaning from reading

8. This resource has been developed for primary and
secondary teachers to build their knowledge and
understanding of reading difficulties and dyslexia.
While many students learn to read at expected levels
and rates of learning, some students do
not make expected progress despite teaching that has
assisted their peers. For these students to reach their
potential, it is important that their
individual learning needs in reading are identified
and catered for.

9. This resource provides practical assessments that
can be used to identify the nature of
a student’s reading difficulty and focused teaching
strategies that can be used to support the
development of a student’s knowledge and
skills in reading.
The assessments and focused teaching strategies will
assist in supporting and monitoring a
learning and progress in reading.

10. Dyslexia is characterized by difficulty in
 learning to read

fluently and with accurate comprehension
despite normal intelligence.

This includes difficulty with phonological
awareness, phonological decoding,
processing speed, orthographic coding,
auditory short-term memory,
language skills/verbal comprehension,
and/or rapid naming.


11. Developmental reading disorder
(DRD)is the most common
learning disability.
Dyslexia is the most recognized
of reading disorders, however not
all reading disorders are linked
to dyslexia.