As per the World Health Organization 10% of the population have SLD As per the International Dyslexia Association 20% of the population have SLD.

Yes, it is hereditary and will affect the person all his/her life.

• History of slow speech development
• Difficulty paying attention or sitting still while listening to stories or other activities
• Easily distracted
• Difficulty in selecting the “odd one out” in groups of either objects, pictures or words
• Difficulty keeping simple rhythm
• Difficulty in carrying out two or more instructions at one time, but fine if tasks ar presented in smaller units
• Forgets names of friends, teachers, colours
• Difficulty cutting, sticking, colouring within an outline, in comparison with their peer group
• Persistent difficulty in dressing, e.g. finds it difficult to tie shoelaces or button up clothes correctly
• Puts clothes on the wrong way around
• Difficulty with catching, kicking or throwing a ball
• Often trips, bumps into things, and falls over
• Difficulty hopping or skipping
• Obvious *good* and *bad* days for no apparent reason
• Confusion between left & right, up & down
• Loses things or forgets them at school, g. pencil, eraser, sharpener, book, tiffin box, water bottle, raincoat
• Confusion between directional words, g. up/down, in/out
• Difficulty copying from the blackboard and sometimes even from a book
• Incomplete notes and exam papers
• Weak memory skills; slow or poor recall of facts
• Trouble with open-ended questions on tests
• Poor grasp of abstract concepts
• Lacks confidence and has a poor self-image
• Employs work-avoidance techniques, such as sharpening pencils and looking for books
• Seems to be day-dreaming, does not seem to listen
• Excessively tired due to amount of concentration and effort required

• Is the class clown or is disruptive or withdrawn – these are often cries for help

• Difficulty with picking up and understanding language
• Slow speed of processing spoken and/or written language
• Likes listening to stories, but shows no interest in letters or words
• Gets words muddled, g. ‘cubumber’ for ‘cucumber’, ‘flutterby’ for ‘butterfly’
• Difficulty with sequence, g. reciting the alphabet
• Difficulty learning nursery rhymes and rhyming words, g. ’cat, mat, sat’
• Confuses ’b’ and ’d’ and words such as ’no/on’
• Laboured reading, with poor comprehension
• Misses out words, or adds extra ones
• Fails to recognise familiar words
• Finds it difficult to blend letters together
• Has difficulty in picking out the most important points from a passage
• Frequently loses place on page
• Avoids reading aloud or writing tasks, especially long passages
• Skips words and sometimes even lines while reading
• Misreads information
• Difficulty understanding what has been read

• Confusion between left & right, up & down
• Difficulty with sequence, g. coloured bead sequence, reciting the numbers, days of the week and/or months of the year, tables
• Confusion between –ty and –teen numbers, eg. ‘thirty and thirteen’
• Confusion with number order, g. units, tens, hundreds
• Confused by symbols such as *+* & *x* signs

• Poor standard of written work compared with oral ability
• Messy handwriting, lots of cancellations;
• Illegible written work
• Persistent reversals and inversions / anagrams of common words / same word spelt differently
• Bizarre spelling, not age/ability appropriate
• Difficulty with handwriting; awkward, fist-like, or tight pencil grip; untidy, illegible written work
• Puts letters and figures the wrong way round. ‘form’ for ‘from’, ‘21’ for ‘12’; reverses the sequence of letters and/or words (was/saw, tops/spot, ‘You are how?’ for ‘How are you?’)
• Leaves letters out of words (‘mak’ for ‘make’)
• Spells phonetically; ‘cercul’ for ‘circle’, ‘brot’ for ‘brought’
• Frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing
• Disregards punctuation and capitalisation
• Answers orally, but not able to put the same on paper

First get the child’s eyes and ears tested, these problems may be due to either poor eyesight or if these are fine, consult:

• If child has co-ordination / handwriting issues, consult an Occupational Therapist
• If child has speech and language issues, consult a Speech and Language Therapist
• If child is struggling with reading and spelling, approach a Hospital or Centre that conducts testing for SLD.

The Rights for Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPWD Act, 2016) clearly mandates screening of all children for SLD as well has guidelines for supporting children in the classroom as well as during exams.

Maharashtra Education Department has Government Regulations (GR)s that specify the role of the school and the support and accommodations (provisions, concessions) to be give to students from Class 1 to University.

A Bombay High Court Ruling also clearly spells out that denial of help and support amounts to contempt of court.

The GRs and Bombay High Court ruling: Download.

Exam provisions for Maharashtra State Board and other boards: Download.

Yes, of course, provided the child has received the right kind of intervention and support at all levels. They can be doctor, engineer, architect, lawyer, teacher, special educator, psychologist, counsellor, sportsperson, musician, singer, dancer, actor, scientist, inventor, chef, designer. Name a field and there will be someone with SLD successfully pursuing it.

However, just like those who do not have SLD, they need to choose a field that matches with their aptitude and skills.