Is it worth pushing for dyslexia test?

[anothermummymoment]

Does anyone have any experience of thinking their child could be dyslexic and what their schools did?
My daughter is 7, in year 3 and school are supporting her a lot with small group and 1:1 work but don’t seem to think she is dyslexic.
Is it worth getting a private test done?

[PathOfLeastResitance]

What is it that makes you think she is dyslexic? Why dyslexia and not another condition? Is she very behind? If she is, has it always been this way? What happens in the small groups? What do school say about her?
By all means get a private assessment but also investigate fully with school first. It sounds like they are doing lots anyway and you need to ask if anything would change if you had a bit of paper with a diagnosis on it. It could be they are doing all they can and are addressing her needs to the best of their ability and resources already.
If you go for an assessment I have had a few cases where the school gets a wodge if paper with thousands of words to justify the parent spending £X.

[ilovesushi]

Yes! If you suspect dyslexia and can afford it, I would really recommend getting an assessment done by an education psychologist. It will give you a really clear picture of your DD's strengths and weaknesses and hopefully lots of recommendations for things you can do as a parent to support her as well as recommendations for the school. Beware of basic screening tests the school may offer as they can throw up wildly inaccurate results! Get a proper assessment. I found it invaluable for my son.

[BrendansDanceShoes]

We ended up getting a private test, school did not believe us and our evidence before that to put our DS forward for testing. If your DD is already getting 1 to 1 help and support there is nothing to stop you asking school for a meeting regarding her progress and see what they think then. Read about dyslexia and other learning difficulties before you go. There are many online resources to look at to evaluate for yourself if your DD is showing dyslexic traits, or any other specific learning difficulties which may need support

[Norestformrz]

Before you spend your money I think you need to ask yourself what you want from a diagnosis. Is it a label or support or something else.

[anothermummymoment]

All great advice, thanks.

What I want is to know everyone is doing their best by her. I'd hate her to get to secondary school and realise if she'd had more/different support life would have been easier for her!

Got parents evening in a few weeks so will discuss with teacher again and then decide the best way forward.

[CAAKE]

Our DS is 8 and in year 4 at a big primary school in London. We went ahead with private testing for him when he was in year 2. School were adamant that he wasn't dyslexic but had behavioural problems and that these were the cause of his issues at school. We knew he was misbehaving at school but his behaviour there was so completely unlike what happened at home we had real problems understanding what was going on. It turns out, following a private ed psych assessment, that he's severely dyslexic and wasn't coping with any of the work they were doing at school so he was doing everything he could to play up to deflect attention from this.

School are now doing what they can in terms of 1:1 and other support (he uses a laptop with literacy games etc. for part of the day each day). He is also seeing a private dyslexia tutor for 2 hours of tutoring per week. She is really fabulous and has made an enormous difference. He is now starting to read properly and is finally writing - something he has refused to do at all up until this point.

[coldlocation]

Just had one of my dc privately tested. He was flagged as likely dyslexic in yr1 by school, its been all managed by primary but he moves to secondary in Sept and we decided to fork out for the test so that we can push for the support he needs. I didn't think he was really "that" dyslexic and it was all a bit of a fuss about not much, that in time his spelling would come right etc but the school dyslexia lead had some concerns. It turns out he's really quite severley dyslexic and being held back by the difficulties he has. The report states what might help him learn etc and should be a useful tool for assisting us in getting secondary to put in place stuff to help him.

[user789653241]

If you really suspect it, I would do it privately. Then you have a grounds to demand the change. I think it's hard for the children who may have something, but performing well enough so the school don't see the needs to pursue diagnosis. I do assume my ds has something, but not severe enough for school to pursue. In a way, I think we are lucky that he doesn't suffer too much. But a moment if he started to show the difficulty, I would pursue it, even if school don't.

[coldlocation]

In my case school advised us to go for an assessment so we would have an easier time getting the secondary on board wth the support he needs but we left it till yr6 as primary had put in place all the support they could for him anyway (and we never pushed for this as school flagged it all in the first place, it helps a bit that exH is an English teacher so has been able to help dc with stuff like SPAG more usefully than I could).

[redcollargirl]

My daughter is 7, in year 3 and school are supporting her a lot with small group and 1:1 work but don’t seem to think she is dyslexic

Have they said why they don't think she is dyslexic? Interventions need to be targeted to have maximum impact. I assess quite a few children who are receiving lots of extra help in school, but the intervention is not appropriate for their particular needs, so they only make minimal progress.