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Pasghetti, Rhymes, and Lost Words: The Early Speech Signs of Dyslexia

Writer: Mary McKone
Mary McKone
Oct 2
13 min read

By Heather Weigel, MAT; edited by Mary McKone, Ed.D.


Have you ever listened to your child tell a story and noticed something you couldn't quite name? Maybe your child knows more about sea creatures than most adults—how octopuses have three hearts or which sharks glow in the dark. But at the aquarium, "octopus" becomes "the... the thing with the arms." "Animal" still comes out as "aminal," and at dinner, spaghetti turns into "pasghetti." In the car, the question "What rhymes with cat?" draws a blank. At the kitchen table, a short reading list can bring tears in minutes. 


If those moments feel connected, you might be onto something. In many children, these issues trace back to the same thing.


Dyslexia is usually seen as a reading problem. But reading relies on spoken language, so differences often appear first in how a child talks and listens—sometimes years before they are handed a book.


What Dyslexia Is, and Isn't


Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that makes it hard to read and spell words accurately, quickly, or both, even with teaching that works for classmates. Estimates range from about 5 to 20 percent of people, depending on how it's defined. It's also lifelong. Children don't grow out of it, but with the right teaching, they can become skilled readers, so “waiting to see” only costs time.


Dyslexia is a form of neurodivergence, a natural difference in how the brain develops and processes language. It has nothing to do with intelligence, effort, or parenting. Cognitive testing often shows an uneven profile: verbal reasoning and understanding are average or higher, while working memory and processing speed are lower. That gap reflects how much effort certain tasks take, not what your child is capable of. It's also why bright, talkative kids are often identified late. Strong verbal skills can hide the struggle for years.


At its root, dyslexia is about the sounds of language, not vision. Nearly every young child mixes up b and d. Vision problems are worth checking, but vision therapy doesn't treat dyslexia. The International Dyslexia Association's 2025 definition notes that "early oral language weaknesses often foreshadow literacy challenges," which is why speech can be such a useful early window.


Dyslexia runs in families, too. A parent or sibling with dyslexia is one of the clearest early risk factors. Boys are identified about twice as often, and their rates are somewhat higher, but girls are easier to overlook, especially when they work quietly and compensate. 


With this newer understanding of dyslexia, the question shifts from "What's wrong with my child's reading?" to "How does my child's brain handle language, and where does it need support?"


Reading Borrows the Speech Brain


Humans have been talking for tens of thousands of years but reading for only about 5,000, so the brain never developed a system just for reading. Instead, it builds reading onto networks it already has, especially the one it uses for speech. Because speech develops years before reading, differences in this network often show up first in how a child talks.


Three hubs on the left side of the brain do most of the work to connect reading and speech.


  • The sound center, or temporoparietal region, sits just above and behind the ear. It picks out the sounds in words and holds them in order, and in reading, it links letters to those sounds.

  • The speech-planning center, or inferior frontal gyrus (which includes Broca's area), plans the mouth movements for each word and quietly "says" each part of a word as a child sounds it out.

  • The word-recognition center, or visual word form area, sits on the underside of the brain toward the back. It's a patch of visual cortex that becomes the brain's print specialist, and with practice, it recognizes familiar words at a glance.


A bundle of nerve fibers called the arcuate fasciculus connects the sound center to the speech-planning center, linking hearing a sound to saying it.


What's Different in Dyslexia


In dyslexia, this network works differently. Brain-imaging studies comparing people with and without dyslexia find three main differences in these hubs during reading and sound tasks.


  • The sound center tends to be less active, which fits with trouble rhyming and repeating new words.

  • The word-recognition center is also less active, which fits with reading staying slow and effortful.

  • Meanwhile, the speech-planning center often works harder—especially in older children and adults—likely compensating by "saying" words the long way.


Children with a family history of dyslexia show differences, on average, in the arcuate fasciculus even before starting school, so this early wiring variation can’t be explained by reading experience alone. Most studies use reading and sound tasks rather than conversation, so the link to everyday speech is an interpretation, but a strong one. The same network does both jobs. After intensive, structured reading instruction, activity in this network shifts partly toward typical patterns as reading improves. Good teaching changes the wiring. So what does this look like in a child's everyday speech? 


How Dyslexia Shows Up in Speech


Children with dyslexia usually understand language well and have plenty to say. The challenge is working quickly and precisely with the sounds inside words. This shows up in three ways: articulation, phonological production, and expressive language.


Articulation: When Sounds Come Out in the Wrong Order


Most children with dyslexia speak clearly day to day. When their speech slips, it’s different from a speech sound disorder, even though both can sound like "mispronouncing words."


In dyslexia, the sounds themselves are usually correct; the challenge is sequencing them. Short, familiar words come out clearly, but long or new words require the brain to retrieve, hold, and sequence many sounds at once—that’s where things get mixed up. "Pasghetti." "Aminal." "Hekalopter." Plenty of preschoolers say these, but what stands out is when these slips last past about age five or six, or reappear with each new long word. A slower second try often works, and many kids catch the mistake themselves.


In a speech sound disorder, certain sounds or sound patterns haven’t developed yet, so errors show up in short, simple words too: "wabbit" for rabbit, "tat" for cat, "top" for stop. Trying again usually brings the same error, because the sound isn’t firmly in place.


Dyslexia-related slips

Speech sound disorder

Can the child make the sound?

Yes, in simple words

Often not, or not reliably, for specific sounds

Where errors show up

Mostly long, complex, or new words

Short, simple words too

What the errors look like

Sounds swapped, reordered, or dropped ("pasghetti")

A sound replaced or distorted ("wabbit"), or a predictable pattern ("tat" for cat)

Does trying again help?

Often, especially when slowed down

Usually the same error

Everyday clarity

Usually easy to understand

May be hard for others to understand

Root of the difficulty

Retrieving, holding, and sequencing sounds

Producing specific sounds or using mature sound patterns

Not every child fits cleanly on one side of this table. Childhood apraxia of speech also produces inconsistent errors, and a child can have both a speech sound disorder and dyslexia. That's why a speech-language pathologist should make the call. A speech sound disorder is treated directly in speech therapy, while dyslexia-related slips point toward sound-awareness work and structured literacy.


Phonological Production: Playing With the Sounds Inside Words


"Phonological" refers to the sound system of language. Phonological production is a child's ability to intentionally work with those sounds out loud: pulling a word apart, blending sounds, swapping one for another, or holding new sounds long enough to repeat them. It’s at the core of dyslexia’s speech signs and relies on two main skills.


The first is sound awareness (professionals call it phonological awareness), which means noticing a word's sound structure apart from its meaning. Knowing a cat is a furry pet is about meaning. Knowing cat rhymes with hat and has three sounds, /k/ /a/ /t/, is sound awareness. This is harder than it seems, because spoken words don’t come with gaps between their sounds. To a young child, cat is one quick burst.


Sound awareness develops step by step, from bigger chunks to the smallest. The last four steps work with individual sounds, called phonemes—together known as phonemic awareness. Phoneme-level tasks are tough for most children until kindergarten. The concern is when a child stays stuck on a step long after peers move on.

Step

Example prompt

Typically emerging

Words

"How many words in 'The dog ran away'?"

Preschool (about 4)

Rhyme

"What rhymes with cat?"

Preschool (about 4 to 5)

Syllables

"Clap door-knob. Now clap but-ter-fly."

Preschool to kindergarten

First sounds

"What sound does moon start with?"

Kindergarten

Blending

"What word is /m/ /a/ /p/?"

Kindergarten

Segmenting

"Tell me every sound in ship."

Kindergarten to first grade

Manipulating

"Say cat without the /k/."

First to second grade

When sound awareness is shaky, a child might answer "dog" when asked what rhymes with cat, matching by meaning instead of sound. They might clap once for butterfly, or hear /m/ /a/ /p/ and guess "mom."


The second skill is sound memory, the brain's short-term holding space for speech sounds. It keeps a string of sounds in order long enough to repeat or learn a new word. Keeping that order straight is where many children with dyslexia get tripped up. A new classmate named Maximilian becomes "Maxalimian." Stegosaurus takes a dozen tries. A word learned slightly wrong can stay that way for years—"pacific" for specific.


This matters because our alphabet is a code for speech sounds. A child who can’t yet hear that ship has three sounds is being asked to crack a code without knowing what it stands for. That’s a skill waiting to be built—and it can be taught.


Expressive Language: The Word Is Right There


Expressive language is how a child turns thoughts into words—and it’s often where parents notice the most day-to-day frustration.


Your child might stall mid-sentence, reaching for a word they clearly know: "The... you know, the thing you eat soup with." Sometimes a close sound match slips out instead: "tornado" for volcano, "lotion" for ocean. Some kids lean on general words like "stuff" and "thing," especially when tired or rushed. Others are slow to name familiar things in a row—colors, letters, or pictures—even when they know every one. That skill, called rapid automatized naming, is one of the strongest early predictors of reading fluency.


When the Signs Don’t Line Up


Speech signs and dyslexia don't always travel together. In a 2026 study, about a third of children with dyslexia were late to combine words as toddlers, and two-thirds were not, suggesting more than one path. Children with a history of speech sound disorder, developmental language disorder, or childhood apraxia of speech do face higher odds of later reading difficulty, and auditory processing disorder is often diagnosed alongside dyslexia. Early speech concerns are a reason to watch reading. Reading struggles are a reason to look at spoken language.


The Body Beneath the Brain: Reflexes, the Senses, and Dyslexia


Language explains the most about dyslexia, but it isn't the only lens. Some practitioners

who work with the body see another layer underneath. It starts with primitive reflexes—automatic movements babies are born with that voluntary control usually takes over during the first year. Practitioners call a reflex that stays active longer than expected “retained.” One especially relevant reflex is the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR), where turning the head makes the arm and leg on that side extend, like a fencer's pose.


Mary McKone, Ed.D., a specialist in Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI) and Rhythmic Movement Training International (RMTi), sees learning as built from the bottom up: a child’s sense of body position (proprioception) and balance (vestibular processing) form the base for listening and language. When these body signals are weak or disorganized, she explains, they flood the brainstem with noise. Because some sound pathways also carry body signals, that noise may blur the difference between similar words like bat and pat. In her clinical experience, children with certain active reflexes often score lower on auditory and phonological screening tests. She also notes that reflexes aren't simply “active” or “gone”; a child can test negative for an infant reflex and still show a leftover pattern when a task gets hard.


Mary first noticed this effort as a classroom teacher, and it showed most clearly in posture. With an active ATNR, every head turn—toward the board, the page, or a teacher’s voice—shifts muscle tone in the arm and leg on that side, forcing a child to work against their own body to stay steady. She often saw children compensate by propping their head on a hand, hooking their feet around chair legs, gripping the pencil hard, or slumping over the desk. Each workaround pulls in more muscles and attention.

The body ends up overworking to hold the child upright.


She describes this as an energy drain: a brain busy keeping an unstable body steady has less left for learning, which may help explain the uneven testing profile. She compares it to a drive to school: on a smooth road, you cruise; add potholes, a landslide detour, and a hailstorm, and you’ll still arrive—but tired and overwhelmed. As she puts it, that effort "is not equal to IQ."


Research supports parts of this picture, but connecting them remains a hypothesis, and the sound-pathway and energy-drain ideas haven't been tested in dyslexia. Children with dyslexia score lower on balance tests on average, though this seems tied mostly to co-occurring ADHD or coordination issues. The reflex studies are small. Among 409 schoolchildren, the weakest readers had more retained ATNR, but the authors cautioned that reflexes can’t explain dyslexia. A 2000 trial found reflex-based movements reduced ATNR and led to larger reading gains over a year than comparison groups, but it hasn't been repeated in larger studies. 


For families, reflex and sensory work is best seen as a complementary layer—especially for children with coordination, posture, or regulation challenges. It can sit alongside structured literacy and speech-language support, but it doesn’t replace those interventions or a speech-language evaluation.


Signs to Watch and Where to Get Help


Whichever lens you use, the next step is the same: know what to watch for and who can help. No single sign confirms dyslexia. Look for patterns that persist over time, especially with a family history. Consider the whole child. Many children with dyslexia are curious, imaginative, and quick with big ideas, and they often understand stories read aloud far better than they can read on their own. That gap is one of the clearest clues.

Age

What you might notice

Toddlers (1 to 3)

Starting to talk or combine words later than expected, especially after age two

Preschool (3 to 5)

Trouble learning or noticing rhymes; difficulty with letter names; mispronunciations or "baby talk" that last longer than peers'

Kindergarten and first grade (5 to 7)

Not connecting letters to sounds; trouble sounding out simple words like cat or map; guessing from pictures instead of reading the letters

Second grade and up (7+)

Slow, effortful reading; avoiding reading aloud; frequent pauses or "um" while searching for words; needing extra time to answer

Who Can Help


If these patterns sound familiar, look for an evaluation that covers both speech-language and reading. No single professional covers everything, so it helps to know who does what.

Professional

What they look at

When to ask

Pediatrician

Overall development, hearing and vision, referrals

A good first stop for any concern

Speech-language pathologist

Speech sounds, spoken language, and sound-awareness skills; many also assess written language

Your child is hard for others to understand; sound errors continue past about age five (about seven for /r/ and /th/); or you're concerned about rhyming, vocabulary, or understanding

School, educational, or neuropsychologist

The full dyslexia evaluation: reading, spelling, thinking skills, memory, attention

Reading or spelling isn't progressing with good teaching

Occupational therapist

Fine-motor skills, handwriting, motor planning, sensory regulation

Handwriting is slow, painful, or hard to read

Audiologist

Hearing and, when needed, auditory processing disorder

You're concerned about hearing or how your child makes sense of what they hear

In the U.S., you can request a free evaluation through your public school under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Put it in writing and ask for both reading and speech-language testing. Bring your child’s history: early speech delays, family reading difficulties, and what you observe at home. Schools may call it a specific learning disability in reading rather than dyslexia; what matters is gaining access to services.


Bilingualism doesn’t cause dyslexia, but it can delay identification when adults assume struggles are part of learning a new language. True difficulties show up in every language a child uses. Ask for evaluation in both when possible, and keep using your home language. Strong skills in one language support the other.


Supporting Your Child at Home


A child who works twice as hard for the same result can start drawing painful conclusions. Reading difficulties are linked to a higher risk of anxiety and, to a lesser extent, depression—though many children with dyslexia do well, especially when they understand what’s going on. Listen for self-talk like "I’m stupid." Many kids hold it together at school and fall apart at home, a pattern sometimes called restraint collapse. That’s the release after hours of effort, not bad behavior. Feeling safe, rested, and understood gives the brain room to learn. If worry or school avoidance persists, talk with your pediatrician.


A few habits help:


  • Watch for patterns, not single slips. If the same trouble keeps showing up for months, tell your pediatrician and your child's teacher.

  • Give plenty of processing time, and keep talk low-pressure. Wait before jumping in. If your child is stuck, offer a cue like "It starts with /b/..." Use dinner and car rides to connect, not correct.

  • Play with sounds at your child's step. Start with rhymes and clapping syllables, then first sounds, then blending. Move up when a step feels easy.

  • Read aloud together often. It builds vocabulary and a love of stories while decoding skills catch up.

  • Ask about structured literacy. It’s the best-supported approach for dyslexia—explicit, systematic teaching of how sounds connect to letters.

  • Name the difference, not a flaw: "Your brain knows lots of words. Sometimes it just takes a little longer to find them."


A Note for Parents


A child who says “pasghetti” or can't find a rhyme isn't being careless, and a large vocabulary doesn't rule dyslexia out.


The hopeful part is timing. Speech clues often show up years before reading is expected, so you don't have to wait for your child to fall behind. You can notice the pattern now, ask for the right evaluation, and start support early—when it tends to work best.


Dyslexia makes the road to reading bumpier. Structured literacy paves it. Speech-language support fills the potholes. Body-based work may help steady the driver. And your patience keeps the trip from feeling like a failure. Your child will get there—and with the right support, they won’t have to arrive quite so exhausted.


Sources


What dyslexia is, and isn't

Reading borrows the speech brain

How dyslexia shows up in speech

The body beneath the brain

Signs, evaluation, and support


 
 
 

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