Dyslexia or Reading disability:

• Dyslexia is characterised by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.
• It can present early as a delay in speaking and acquiring language
• The child may find learning simple nursery rhymes hard as they cannot distinguish rhyming words
• Learning the alphabet in sequence, and later the letter—sound association, such as b says /buh/ as in ball, will be difficult.
• The child may be unable to work with sounds to blend as in /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat,
  or decoding sad into /s/ /a/ /d/.
• Reading is slow and laboured, and the child avoids reading.
• The child may tend to substitute similar-looking words, horse-house, from-form, clear-clean
• Misreads, or even adds small function words, such as an, a, from, the
• Omits or changes suffixes, saying need for needed
• Letter and word reversals while reading, b/d, was/saw
• Spelling is more difficult for the child, even when copying off their board or from a book.
• Most spellings are phonic approximations such as, fon/phone, tabl/table, cud/could, etc.
• Misspells high frequency sight words such as because (spelt “becoz” or “becos”, for example).
• Reading comprehension in middle school poses a problem, as required reading frequency and accuracy is absent. As a result all the subjects will be affected as comprehension requires command over the reading and simultaneously deriving meaning from what is read.

Dysgraphia or Written language disability: 

A child with dysgraphia may begin with handwriting difficulties, which can later manifest into struggles with age-appropriate written expression.

Handwriting Difficulties: 

• Handwriting is untidy, both in block letters and cursive.
• Poor letter formation, reversals, spacing and line alignment are common.
• The memory for letter strokes may also be poor. 
• Reversals or mirror images of letters and numbers such as b/d,u/n,w/m,p/q and numbers 6/9, 2/5, 7,3. 
• Writing may look crowded with spacing between letters and words absent, or it may look scattered with too much spacing. 
• Writing within lines or formation of letters from the right line placement may be difficult. 
• The child may show a strange wrist, body or paper position and grip, and apply too much pressure while writing. 
• Writing tasks will be avoided or will tire out the child quickly.

Written Expression Difficulties: 

• Mechanics of written expression, punctuation, spellings, grammar is a problem. E.g., “We goed to zoo last Sunday”.
• Ideas may be shared orally, organizing the same in writing may be problematic.
• Remembering and using age appropriate vocabulary, knowing the spelling of words may be difficult.
• Punctuation may be non-existent, with no full stops and capitals; disregard for question marks and commas.
• The grammar rules to write sentences and make them meaningful with correct placement of parts of speech are difficult for the child. 

Dyscalculia or difficulty with Mathematics : 

Arithmetic involves recognizing numbers and symbols, memorising facts, aligning numbers and understanding abstract concepts such as place value and fractions. Any of these may be difficult for children with dyscalculia. 

Pre-Maths Concepts: 

• Even before numbers are introduced the child may find it difficult to match, sort, group by size, shape and colour different objects.
• Understanding comparative concepts such as big/small, tall/short, more /less is challenging.

Number Concepts: 

• Concept of numbers is confusing, such as a number name, the symbol or the quantity it represents. E.g., “3” is written with a numerical symbol, pronounced and spelled “three”, and it may mean three pencils, three boys or three mangoes.
• Estimation with numbers is difficult.
• Concept of place value is not clear, e.g., that in 54, 5 stands for 5 tens, and in 45, it stands for 5 ones, will not be clear.

Time, Money and Measurements: 

• Telling time from a clock with hands is a spatial activity which the child may find difficult to figure out.
• Time management is poor.
• Money concepts such as giving back change, the buying power of their pocket money and budgeting is limited.
• Estimation skills are difficult. 

Difficulties with spatial awareness : 

• Number reversals are common (21/12)
• Confusion with the direction of working, as for addition, subtraction and multiplication it starts from the right, and division begins from the left.
• Construction activities in geometry and plotting in graphs are challenging.
• Concept of fractions in pictures is not grasped.

Dyspraxia or difficulty with motor skills : 

People with dyspraxia have difficulty planning and completing intended fine motor tasks. This can manifest in the form of – 

• Difficulty with eye movements: they may move the whole head instead of
  just the eyes.
• Difficulty using utensils like a spoon and fork or holding a cup while drinking.
• Difficulty walking, hopping, skipping, throwing and catching a ball, riding a bike.
• Delay in using spoken language.
• Speech that is difficult to understand.
• Bumping into objects and appearing to be clumsy.
• Late establishment of laterality (right- or left-handedness).
• Difficulty doing fine-motor activities such as tying shoelaces or buttoning and zipping clothing.
• Difficulty with handwriting.
• Sensitivity to touch: may find clothing uncomfortable; and may find hair-brushing and cutting, teeth-brushing and nail-cutting unpleasant.
• Poor sense of direction.

Non Verbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD): 

Nonverbal learning disabilities can be tricky to recognize and diagnose. Children with this disorder are unable to recognize and translate nonverbal cues, such as tone of voice and expressions. 

• Children with NVLD often have an atypically extensive vocabulary and
  oral expression.
• Excellent memory skills, so remember words and facts well.
• Attention to detail but miss the bigger picture (they may notice a butterfly but not that it is sitting on a rose bush).
• Trouble understanding reading content and its context. 
• Come across as physically awkward with poor coordination.
• Messy and laborious handwriting.
• Trouble with nonverbal communication, such as body language, facial expression and tone of voice.
• Due to poor social skills, they find it difficult making and keeping friends,
  and are loners.
• Poor in planning and decision making they fear new situations and have trouble adjusting with changes.