Could my daughter be dyslexic ??

[OohMrDarcy]

DD is 8 (9 in feb - year 4)

She is an intelligent girl, with a reading age more than 2 years older than she is and comprehension even higher... however (I've been reading through the dyslexia website so some of these don't sound obviously linked)

• spelling is roughly 1.5 years behind where it 'should ' be, and not consistent
  
• Sentences often don't make sense, but if she goes back and reads them she can see errors
  
• Phonics seem to be poor, she passed phonics test but barely... I see a marked difference in her phonics ability to her brothers (3 years younger)
  
• Seems to sight read, will often guess a word and not always correct it if it doesn't make sense in the sentence
  
• disorganised in general
  
• Found it hard to learn telling the time, only got the hang of it in the last year
  
• naturally creative / musical / sporty
  
• her dad is dyslexic
  
• low self esteem ( working on this with her)
  

Is all this enough to constitute investigations, or does she just need a bit more assistance? Spoke to school teacher today about helping her with some maths / spelling / sentence structure stuff which sparked these thoughts...

[Chinesealan]

It sounds as if she may be but the fact that she's bright and reads well will mean that she has skills to compensate.
In a state school I don't think she'd be prioritised for assessment. If you're planning for her to sit entrance exams for independent schools, you might want to consider getting an assessment of working memory, speed of processing etc. to see if she'd qualify for extra time.

[WhoKn0wsWhereTheMistletoes]

She sounds a lot like my DD, who is a year older (Y5) School aren't really concerned, and certainly aren't going to do any formal assessments
but I'd like the full picture in the run up to secondary school admission, so she is having a private assessment shortly. I'm aware that it might not gain her any extra help at school, but she has private tutoring for the spellings/writing and it would help tailor that, help us to help her more at home and also, I think, be good for her self-esteem to know why she has these difficulties.

[StrangeIdeas]

She does seem like my DD also y4. She was diagnosed last year. Very scatty and very clever. I got tinted glasses which help with the words moving on the page. The diagnosis helped cos she was starting to think she was stupid now her spellings improved and her teacher said she very knowledgeable have a look at the dyslexia website cos there's useful info on there. Doubtful if the school will do much but you could talk to the senco with your concerns. Good luck

[StrangeIdeas]

Also, I've found she's better at reading on a screen.(Minecraft anyone). With paper an off white background can help. And vast amounts of patience. She drives me mad with her scattiness

[OohMrDarcy]

thanks for all the input... quite surprised to see people agree I might be right!

I did tell school about her dad in year R (they did some potential dyslexia observation thing) but they basically brushed me off as she was a good reader - I think thats whats always thrown me, and its only since she moved up to juniors that her problems have become apparent - and as time goes on they seem to be more so rather than less.

Can it happen that dyslexic children can have not too many reading issues (apart from the occasional substitution of words - which isn't often to be fair) but the issues manifest with spelling / sentence construction more?

I guess the next step is to raise it as a potential cause with her teacher and see if we can get some support - as I have a strong suspicion that they won't want to diagnose

[Chinesealan]

Poor reading is obviously a typical factor in Dyskexia but children can read well yet have other difficulties.
I don think a diagnosis is necessary unless you want to use it for something e.g. Exam access arrangements. However some further assessment might help you and school to give an idea of necessary support. The school senco should be able to do this.

[OohMrDarcy]

Right well its out there now, the teacher was in a meeting so couldn't talk fully however came and listened to what I thought, she was surprised and asked what made me think that.

I told her I had been on the dyslexia action website and printed off the list of potential signs in primary aged children, she ticked a LOT of the boxes - almost all of them under written work... hardly any under others but some in every section.

She asked if she'd been assesed before, I said no so she said she'd talk to the SENCO and she would do a teacher assesment and let me know

so I guess one way or another I'll know soon enough

[WhoKn0wsWhereTheMistletoes]

Well, that's good news, well done to you for pushing for your DD, having a parent who is informed and willing to push the school will stand her in good stead. Our school have brushed me off fairly consistently with this (I think there's an element of "oh no not her again", as my older DS has much more severe SNs and I didn't allow myself to be brushed off). Which is why I have gone ahead with the private assessment.

I had an informal one this time last year and have gone for the full diagnostic one this time round, it was in fact this afternoon, but I didn't want to say that yesterday till I'd seen how it went. I will have to wait for the assessor to calculate all the results and provide a written report, but her verbal feedback confirmed much of what I had thought. It's an expensive thing to do, with no guarantee of any real gain in what you get from the schools, but in my case, I have thrown everything I possibly can resource-wise at getting the best for my DS's education and it seems only fair that I do the same for DD. I also feel I'd far rather do it now while she's coping ok than wait and possibly find that things get much harder at secondary school. Forewarned is forearmed.

[OohMrDarcy]

oh wow - a big day for you yesterday then. Hope it went well and you'll be able to get the support you need for your DD.

I have no idea what will come of my chat with the teacher - left her with the list I'd printed with ticks / crosses next to what I thought she struggled or had struggled with, I'm more convinced than ever personally - but we'll just have to wait and see what they say now I guess (and no idea how long that will take, though I suspect it will be reasonably quick)

[Readysteadyknit]

OP just be aware that dyslexia screening that schools carried out is not necessarily accurate - my DD was "screened" twice at 2 different schools and subsequently found to be severely dyslexic when I eventually paid for a full AMBDA assessment. She reads very well which masked her difficulties and has developed strategies to cope with written work - she got an A* in her English A level but still can't reliably identify/produce a rhyming word or sound out an unfamiliar word.

[Readysteadyknit]

Just to clarify, following the school screening, I was told that she was not dyslexic

[OohMrDarcy]

Thanks for the heads up ready!

[NWgirls]

ReadySteady: was the screening GL, and did you get a report with scores in six areas? Any more thoughts on why your DD was not spotted?

My DD2 (year 4) just got screened with "no signs" of dyslexia, but her two ability-scores (missing pieces/NVR and vocabulary) are higher than the scores for word sounds and reading, so I still fear masking...

She also failed her phonics test a couple of years ago, still reverses some letters and is an inconsistent speller - although scored above avg on spelling in the screening. (And she has terrible, very immature handwriting, but this is mechanical and is being dealt with)

Thanks for the warning! Will take it with a pinch of salt for the time being, and also discuss it with the school

[RunRabbitRunRabbit]

Much dyslexia in DHs family and our DC.

For diagnosis and support try Nessy. Their Dyslexia Quest app is brilliant for home diagnosis.

[OohMrDarcy]

Well they screened her yesterday and she came back with no risk of dyslexia. Showed weakness in 'rhyme' and 'one minute writing' - significant weaknesses, age equivalent came up as 6.5 on those but I guess not low enough to be a risk?

Other than that she came out very well all her age or significantly higher - which is a bit confusing considering her spelling was a known weakness in class, and thats come out as an age of 8.5 (a year older than the last time the teacher and I discussed her spelling!)

Anyhoo - she will now be getting 121 support weekly in the areas of weakness to help her and I'll just need to cross my fingers and wait and see for a bit

[sashh]

She sounds like me - good reader but - well let's say spell check and word processing are my friends.

I'm dyslexic - been found to be on 2 tests (ed psy and uni) but not on the screening test when I was doing an FE course alongside uni!

[SugarPlumTree]

I wouldn't necessarily trust the test to be honest , DS is another who passed the 'dyslexia test' at school In year 3 and I know of another one locally who passed then went on to be diagnosed with dyslexia. Guess it depends exactly what the tests were.

DS is now year 7 and was diagnosed in December following private Ed Psych assessment. I've got an old thread on here wondering if he might be from a couple of years ago.

I knew school would laugh me out of the room if I asked for assessment (moved up to middle school now) as he is one of their high achievers getting level 6 in the SATs reading test last year and getting 5b in the SPAG paper.

However things that were flags for me were:

Hated reading aloud
Comments from teachers that spelling poorer than expected.
Performance not consistent .
Strong family history
Difficulty learning French
Difficulty in remembering months
Poor handwriting
Difficulties concentrating in noisy class
Big differences in CAT score results
Very stressed about homework involving lots of writing

The assessment showed he has a massive range of scores ranging from the 3rd percentile up to the 99.8 the percentile and he has developed a range of techniques to mask his difficulties.

We have yet to hear from school about it, they've had the report for a fair bit now so must chase it up. With his writing he'll need a laptop for GCSE as his writing 'borderline illegible' but we have a lot of time to get that in place.

[KateBeckett]

I was similar to you dd, and didn't get diagnosed until I paid for my own assessment after I had finished uni.

Sounds like she has some good coping strategies, which make life easier for her, but also mean school is less likely to pick up on her issues. Sounds good hat they are giving her 121 time to work on her weaknesses though

[Pythonesque]

Good to work on weaknesses. That in reality is what you really want to gain from any assessment. Potentially in the future a more detailed assessment might be helpful, but again in order to focus a period of additional support to weak areas.

My daughter has a real spelling weakness. Proper work through year 2-3 got her spelling up well, but I knew that in her written work it was still atrocious. Teacher's wouldn't mark mistakes. Changed school year 5, I raised the issue of spelling, was reassured repeatedly she's fine. Finally year 7 her english teacher says, are you aware she has problems with her spelling? I more-or-less said, yay someone else has finally noticed. She could score very well on a structured test, but it wasn't reflected in her actual work. Being expected to improve it has helped, but her recent (year 8) report included a number of common words to work on spelling and/or using correctly. Her father also remembers being identified as the "worst speller in the year" on starting a selective school at year 7 ... He was 2nd or 3rd overall in his year by the end of highschool. Still has hangups about his spelling!

[Railworker]

The school screening is quite a rough and quick one according to DD's school SENCO.
We had similar issue - great reader but once it came to putting things on paper it was another story. Still struggling to get telling the time using an analogue clock in year 3, but top group for maths. Just lots of little things over the years not quite adding up.
You can be a good reader and be dyslexic as there are different components to it (as my dyslexic friend has told me).
We finally paid for a full private assessment (these are 4+ hours of in depth tests), and I think it was worth it. Highlighted the 'jagged' profile of the bright child who has found coping mechanisms, but is def exhibiting 'dyslexic characteristics'. Has been useful in pinpointing weak areas so that the gap between these and her cognitive strengths will not widen over the years ahead (with the right, specific support). It was expensive, but for us I think worth it.

[Alison01]

My son nearly 8 yrs has just been diagnosed with moderate Dyslexia, the school r going 2 help him as much as they can with extra support etc but does anyone know of any good teachers out there that specialise in Dyslexia and r in the Thurrock area of Essex who teach privately ? I was thinking on top of school maybe 1 hr per week?

[Flanks]

www.patoss-dyslexia.org/SupportAdvice/TutorAssessorIndex/

You can search for assessors and tutors here.

[Alison01]

Thanks Flanks!
I will do that.

[NancyBoon100]

Not sure where you live but I've just had an assessment done. Found the assessor on the PATOSS website but would definetly recommend if you live in London. She travels to you. Her website is:
dyslexiaassessmentlondonandkent.com

[OohMrDarcy]

Just an update for anyone going through similar....

I ended up booking and paying for a private Educational Psychologist assessment through Dyslexia Action - the school had started to tell me her only issue was her attitude to learning (which had withdrawn because she was finding things harder and harder)....

Had the assessment on Friday, awaiting the full report but I've been verbally told she has a classic dyslexic profile. High IQ, extremely poor working memory and visual processing. I've had an informal chat with the teacher this morning and will arrange a full meeting with teacher and senco once the report comes through.

I'm also going to try and push for them to plan in an inset day on training about dyslexia awareness as no one joined any dots in the school apart from me. I've been left feeling I might be mad for thinking it, and told she's doing fine - there are others struggling more. I haven't been told that she had stopped making ANY progress at all in her reading comprehension, so what I once had down as a strength is now a weakness (only found that out when the school had to fill in the questionnaire for assessment and I queried it).

Hopefully things will improve now