The Common Signs of Dyslexia in Adults

A list of check points to indicate if an adult is dyslexic.

Teenagers / Students

The difficulties noted below are often associated with dyslexia if they are unexpected for the individual's age, educational level, or cognitive abilities. A qualified diagnostician can test a person to determine if he or she is truly dyslexic.

• May read very slowly with many inaccuracies.
• Continues to spell incorrectly, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing.
• May avoid reading and writing tasks.
• May have trouble summarizing and outlining.
• May have trouble answering open-ended questions on tests.
• May have difficulty learning a foreign language.
• May have poor memory skills.
• May work slowly.
• May pay too little attention to details or focus too much on them.
• May misread information.
• May have an inadequate vocabulary.
• May have an inadequate store of knowledge from previous reading.
• May have difficulty with planning, organizing and managing time, materials and tasks.

Adults

• May hide reading problems.
• May spell poorly; relies on others to correct spelling.
• Avoids writing; may not be able to write.
• Often very competent in oral language.
• Relies on memory; may have an excellent memory.
• Often has good "people" skills.
• Often is spatially talented; professions include, but are not limited, to engineers, architects, designers, artists and craftspeople, mathematicians, physicists, physicians (esp. surgeons and orthopedists), and dentists.
• May be very good at "reading" people (intuitive).
• In jobs is often working well below their intellectual capacity.
• May have difficulty with planning, organization and management of time, materials and tasks.
• Often entrepreneurs.