This checklist covers the whole range of ages, but it mainly focuses on children. If your child is a toddler, questions about long words, reading and writing, are obviously irrelevant. If your child is a teenager you may want to discuss any seemingly relevant points here with him or her. If this is about you yourself, most of this, apart from your credentials, is probably irrelevant. But some of the points under Reading and writing and Competences may be relevant.

Credentials

• Full name:
• Date of birth:
• Sex:
• Address:
• Landline:
• Mobile:
• Email:
• Summary of the problem(s):

Family

• Parent(s), guardians
• Grandparents
• Siblings
• Language(s)
• Recent family history

History

• First single words? Putting words together?
• Sounds, rhythms, intonation?
• Consistency in the pronunciations?
• Putting words into sentences?
• Understandability, to whom?
• Any signs of frustration at not being understood?
• Fluency? Stammering?
• Any stops, slow downs, reversals in the process?
• Play with others?
• Understanding and responses to questions?
• Liking like to talk or tell stories?
• Difficulty with long words?
• Beginning of the problem?
• Any assessments by a speech and language therapist?
• Diagnosis?
• Treatment, by whom, for how long, with what effect?

Reading and writing

• Interest in letters or words?
• Confusion between similar-looking letters: d – b, u – n, m – n?
• S back to front?
• Confusion between similar-sounding letters: v – f, s – z?
• Letter reversals in words: was – saw, now – won, left – felt?
• Inconsistent reading – correct one time, wrong the next?
• Reordering words?
• Confusion about small words – a, the, of?
• Difficulty in keeping the correct place on a line?
• Poor understanding?
• Difficulty with capital letters?
• Dot on i or cross on t?
• Difficulty forming numbers?
• Difficulty getting letters pointing the right way?
• Difficulty with punctuation and paragraphs?
• Any family history of dyslexia?
• Difficulty sequencing the alphabet, days, months, tables?
• Obvious ‘good’ and ‘bad’ days, for no apparent reason?
• Confusion between directional words – up and down, in and out?
• Difficulty learning nursery rhymes?
• Difficulty with rhyming words – cat, mat, sat?
• Difficulty joining letters together?
• Problems understanding what he/she has read?
• Generally slow writing?

Competences

• Appearance of not listening or paying attention?
• Difficulty with clapping a simple rhythm?
• Lack of self-confidence or poor self-image?
• Need for repeated instructions, orders, telephone numbers?
• Difficulty processing complex language?
• Difficulty understanding the words of songs?
• Has special difficulty saying words in a new or a second language?
• Understands text only as a continuous narrative or story?
• Explains things only as narrative or story?
• Gets confused by diagrams with labels?
• Remembers what to say only in fragments?
• Loses track of changes of focus in conversation?

Health

• Pregnancy and birth
• Birth weight?
• Any complications?
• Any family history of issues with speech, language, literacy?
• General health?
• Ongoing treatment of any sort?
• Early childhood?
• Any infectious diseases, major injuries, or surgery?
• Any hospitalisations?
• Any relevant or significant diagnoses?
• Experience of Covid?

Personality and general skills

• Personality and general behaviour?
• Hearing? Testing? When? With what results?
• Sensitivity to noise? What sort(s) of noise?
• Difficulty with lists, ordered instructions?
• Understanding what is said in noisy places?
• Any diagnosis in relation to the anatomy of the mouth?
• Anything inappropriate getting put into the mouth?
• Co-ordination and balance?
• Hopping, skipping, running, jumping, kicking, catching?
• Understanding pictures?
• Using two hands together?
• First crawling, sitting, standing, walking?
• Excitability?
• Attention and concentration?
• Any problems telling the time?