October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. Dyslexia can affect a child’s ability to recognize and manipulate sounds, connect sounds to letters, and develop fluent reading skills. Although dyslexia is not formally diagnosed through classroom instruction, knowledgeable and well-prepared early educators can recognize signs that a child may need additional screening or support.
In preschool, that can mean noticing when a child consistently struggles with skills such as rhyming, identifying beginning sounds, breaking words into smaller sound parts or connecting letters with their sounds. One observation does not tell us whether a child has dyslexia, but patterns over time can help educators and families know when additional support may be needed.
Future Ready Five helps early childhood educators strengthen foundational literacy instruction through professional learning opportunities, instructional coaching, progress monitoring, and evidence-based tools such as Heggerty. Explicit phonemic-awareness instruction gives children opportunities to build critical early literacy skills while helping educators identify children who continue to struggle despite receiving high-quality instruction.
These early skills matter because learning to read begins well before a child enters kindergarten. Phonemic awareness, the ability to hear and work with individual sounds in spoken words, provides an important foundation for later reading and spelling. For some children, these skills develop quickly. Others benefit from more explicit, systematic and repeated instruction.
Early recognition matters. When educators, families, and specialists work together, children can receive targeted intervention sooner (before literacy challenges become greater barriers to learning).
Early support does not mean pushing children to read before they are developmentally ready. High-quality preschool should still be filled with play, conversation, stories, exploration and strong relationships. It does mean making sure educators understand how literacy develops, know what to look for and have the tools to respond when a child needs additional help.
By investing in high-quality early learning environments and prepared educators, we can help more children enter kindergarten ready to learn and receive the individualized support they need.
Dyslexia Awareness Month is an important reminder that strong instruction and early recognition go hand in hand. The earlier we understand a child’s needs, the earlier we can provide the support that helps that child continue to grow with confidence.
Authored by Dr. Vanisa Turney, COO, Future Ready Five