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RECOGNISING POTENTIAL SIGNS |
Pregnancy and early years
• Were there any medical problems or anticipated potential difficulties during pregnancy such as a threatened miscarriage, bereavement, moving house, heavy workload, illness, working to term or accident etc.,
• Was the child born more than two weeks early or two weeks late?
• Was the birth complicated in any way? A difficult labour? A forceps, Caesarean or ventouse delivery? Was the birthing process very quick or drawn out?
• Did your child weigh less than 5lbs at birth?
• Did the child have any difficulties at birth, for example, with breathing or was the child a blue baby, heavily bruised or jaundiced?
• Did the child have any feeding problems in the first six months? Was there any delay in learning to walk or talk?
• In the first 18 months did the child suffer from any illness involving high fever, delirium or convulsions?
Development
• Is there any family history of learning disorders, a dyslexic or dyspraxic uncle, grandmother or parent?
• Did the child experience difficulty in learning to button clothes or tie shoelaces?
• Did the child complain about pains in the legs or have a tendency to walk on tiptoe?
• Did the child wet the bed, even occasionally, when 5 years or over?
• Around the ages of 12-13 were there any complaints of eye discomfort after prolonged reading or study?
• Does the child have a disturbed sense of spatial orientation or have trouble telling left from right?
• In the first 8-10 years was the child troubled by frequent ear, nose and throat problems, such as infections, colds, sinus infections or bronchitis?
• Have there been any problems with speech?
• Are there subtle speech problems that only show up when the child is tired?
• Does the child mix up words and have to concentrate on what to say?
Schooling
• Did the child experience any difficulties learning to read?
• Was there any difficulty learning to write or a preference for printed over cursive script?
• Did the child seem to do well when first learning to read but later began to avoid reading?
• Did writing begin well but develop poorly? Does the child avoid tasks that involve writing?
• Has the child had difficulty learning to tell the time and read the clock?
• Does the child have a short attention span, have trouble concentrating or need frequent breaks from schoolwork or homework?
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