Characteristics
Formal diagnosis of dyslexia is made by a qualified professional, such as a neurologist or an educational psychologist. Evaluation generally includes testing of reading ability together with measures of underlying skills such as tests of rapid naming, to evaluate short term memory and sequencing skills, and nonword reading to evaluate phonological coding skills. Evaluation will usually also include an IQ test to establish a profile of learning strengths and weaknesses. However, the use of a "discrepancy" between full scale IQ and reading level as a factor in diagnosis has been discredited by recent research It often includes interdisciplinary testing to exclude other possible causes for reading difficulties, such as a more generalized cognitive impairment or physical causes such as problems with vision or hearing.

Recent advances in neuroimaging and genetics provide evidence that could potentially help identify children with dyslexia before they learn to read in the future. However, such tests have not yet been developed and more research is needed before such testing could be considered reliable.


Speech, hearing and listening
Speech delays may be an early warning sign of dyslexia. Many dyslexics may have problems processing and decoding auditory input prior to reproducing their own version of speech. Early stuttering or cluttering can also be warning signs of dyslexia.

Many dyslexics also can have problems with speaking clearly. They can mix up sounds in multi-syllabic words (ex: aminal for animal, bisghetti for spaghetti, hekalopter for helicopter, hangaberg for hamburger, mazageen for magazine, etc.) They also can have problems speaking in full sentences. They can have trouble correctly articulating Rs and Ls as well as Ms and Ns. They often have "immature" speech. They may still be saying "wed and gween" instead of "red and green" in second or third grade. Many dyslexics might have speech therapy in special education. They may have fast speech, cluttered speech, or hesitant speech.

Reading requires the sounding out of words. Therefore, it makes sense that children with speech problems can end up having reading problems later. Many have problems with speech due to problems with auditory processing disorder issues.

Many dyslexics have problems with phonemic awareness. Phonemes are the smallest units in spoken language. The Auditory related underlying causes of dyslexia may be partially remediated by auditory therapy or speech therapy, which help with phonemic awareness. This may help to make sense of phonics which may help with phonological awareness, which is needed to sound out words.

Many acquire auditory processing disorder as an underlying cause of dyslexia from glue ear, Otitis Media.

Some shared symptoms of the speech/hearing deficits and dyslexia:

Confusion with before/after, right/left, and so on
Difficulty learning the alphabet
Difficulty with word retrieval or naming problems
Difficulty identifying or generating rhyming words, or counting syllables in words (phonological awareness)
Difficulty with hearing and manipulating sounds in words (phonemic awareness)
Difficulty distinguishing different sounds in words (auditory discrimination)
Difficulty in learning the sounds of letters
Difficulty associating individual words with their correct meanings
Confusion with combinations of words
Due to fear of speaking incorrectly, some children become withdrawn and shy or become bullies out of their inability to understand the social cues in their environment

Reading and spelling
Spelling errors — Because of difficulty learning letter-sound correspondences, individuals with dyslexia might tend to misspell words, or leave vowels out of words.
Letter order - Dyslexics may also reverse the order of two letters especially when the final, incorrect, word looks similar to the intended word (e.g., spelling "dose" instead of "does").
Highly phoneticized spelling - Dyslexics also commonly spell words inconsistently, but in a highly phonetic form such as writing "shud" for "should". Dyslexic individuals also typically have difficulty distinguishing among homophones such as "their" and "there".
Reading — Due to dyslexics' excellent long term memory, young students tend to memorize beginning readers, but are unable to read individual words or phrases.
Vocabulary - Having a small written vocabulary, even if they have a large spoken vocabulary.

Writing and motor skills
Because of literacy problems, an individual with dyslexia may have difficulty with handwriting. This can involve slower writing speed than average or poor handwriting characterised by irregularly formed letters. They may use inappropriate words when writing.

Some studies have also reported gross motor difficulties in dyslexia, including motor skills disorder. This difficulty is indicated by clumsiness and poor coordination. The relationship between motor skills and reading difficulties is poorly understood but could be linked to the role of the cerebellum and inner ear in the development of reading and motor abilities.[52]


Mathematical abilities
Dyslexia should not be confused with dyscalculia, a learning disability marked by severe difficulties with mathematics. Individuals with dyslexia can be gifted in mathematics while having poor reading skills. However, in spite of this they might have difficulty with word problems (i.e., descriptive mathematics, engineering, or physics problems that rely on written text rather than numbers or formulas). Individuals with dyslexia may also have difficulty remembering mathematical facts, such as multiplication tables, learning the sequence of steps when performing calculations, such as long division, and other mathematics which involve remembering the order in which numbers appear. This may be exhibited by having a slow response in mathematical drills and difficulty with word problems.

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