Look for a collection of the following developmental and perceptual differences, abilities, personality traits, and behaviors. These characteristics can vary from day-to-day or minute-to-minute, depending on environmental factors. The most consistent thing about dyslexics is their inconsistency. Everyone experiences these difficulties at some time; the dyslexic cannot stop them. It is not likely that you will have all the traits below.

You can check the boxes of the items which are appropriate in order to keep track of how many characteristics apply.

Learning Style

	Had unusual developmental stages (crawling, walking, talking).
	Appears bright, highly intelligent, & articulate, but unable to read, write, or spell at grade level.
	Labeled lazy, dumb, careless, immature, or "not trying hard enough."
	High in IQ, yet may not test well academically.
	Feels dumb; has poor self-esteem; hides or covers up weaknesses with compensations.
	May be talented in art, drama, music, brain-storming, mechanics, story-telling, sales, business, designing, building, engineering, & sports.
	Seems to "zone out," or daydream a lot; gets easily lost or loses track of time.
	Difficulty sustaining attention; seems "hyper" or "spacy".
	Tests well orally, but not on written tests.
	Learns best through hands-on experience, demonstrations, experimentation, visual aids, & observation.

Language / Reading Skills

	Learns best through hands-on experience, demonstrations, experimentation, visual aids, & observation.
	Gets dizzy; develops headaches & stomachaches when reading. Doesn't read for pleasure.
	Confused by letters, numbers, words, verbal explanations, or sequences.
	Reading or writing may show repetitions, transpositions, additions, omissions, substitutions & reversals in letters, words, and/or numbers.
	Reads aloud well, but can't recall what was read.
	Spells phonetically and inconsistently.
	Hears things not said or not apparent to others; easily distracted by sounds.
	Difficulty putting thoughts into words; stutters under stress, mispronounces long words, or transposes phrases & words when speaking.

Vision

	Complains of feeling or seeing non-existent movement while reading, writing, or copying.
	Difficulty with vision, yet standard eye exams don't reveal a problem.
	Keen-sighted and observant, but may lack depth perception and peripheral vision.

Motor Dexterity

Time/Math

Memory / Cognition

Behavior