Difficulty in spelling, reading and sometimes, mathematics, are broad based characteristics of dyslexia. This neurological disorder can affect individuals of different intellectual levels and in no way denotes a lack of intelligence. Some common characteristics of dyslexia exist among the people diagnosed with this disorder.

It is difficult to identify dyslexia in preschool patients, because many of the characteristics of dyslexia are not apparent till the child begins reading and writing.

Some characteristics of dyslexia may also be connected to some other neurological, behavioral or learning disorders. The symptoms parents should be careful about in their preschool children are:
slowness in beginning the speaking process, difficulty in learning new words, problem with rhyming words (as in nursery rhymes), difficulty reversing letter order (bac in place of abc), a lowered comprehension of the alphabet etc.

When a child enters school age, there can be additional symptoms for dyslexia that teachers and parents must monitor. There can be

- difficulty in identifying sounds of syllables with the corresponding letters, problem with identifying and creating rhyming words, problem with the alphabet order etc.

Identifying the characteristics of dyslexia becomes easier in older children who have entered the learning process, but altering the learning behavior is more problematic at an older age. Some of the symptoms at this stage can include

- difficulty with correlating words, problems in understanding time and time keeping during tasks, poor spelling abilities, problems with reading aloud etc.

Many of the older patients, aware of their disability, may become withdrawn, or they may try to cover up their disability by behaving in an uncharacteristic manner