Have just started to wonder, could dd by dyslexic?

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

Have posted elsewhere about concerns about dd who is 6 in nov

she started primary one yesterday and she seems to be going backwards (back on old reading books and moved to lower group)

she is very bright in almost everyway but struggles with reading gets things back to front, had no short term memory when reading and writes letters and numbers back to front too (getting them mixed up when reading b for d and so on)

her report was really good at the end of reception but the reading and writing is like a wall and i am starting to wonder if there is a reason

can anyone offer any advice?

[LIZS]

I think she is still of an age whne these things can suddenly click, reversals are common into year 2. It would have to be very significant an issue for it to be assessed as dyslexia earlier than 7ish. It issnlt unusal to go backwarsd over the summer break and hopefully it will give her confidence to move forwards. If you are concerned speka to the teacher and ask if there are any startegies you can use to help at home ie some reading books have questions at the back to prompt the memory and rereading skills.

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

I am getting quite anxious about this as dd is one of those children that are deseprate to do well

she was so upset when she found out she was in a different group y day.I tried to reassure her that it was first day and perhaps everyone else was changing but she bounded in tonight saying she is the only change and threw the reading book on the floor

i do everything with her,read,write,play with words on paper and magnets,flash cards but there is a block.Its the mixing up of letters and no short term memory as in

dad said "Lets go"
mum said "Lets go"
biff said "Lets go"

she struggles each time

[bruffin]

DS is dyslexic but reads well because he was taught synthetic phonics. His reading didn't click until Year 2. He like most dyslexics struggled with word recognition. Back in the 60/70s they tried to teach DH a method called Look and Say which is based on word recognition and he didn't read until he was 10 when they started teaching him phonics.

So I would avoid the flash cards and concentrate on phonics.

My DD isn't dylsexic but she actually was reversing letters until a lot older than DS, I think it's quite normal until they are 7 (dd was about 9 or 10 and was still reversing the odd letter)

DS is 14 next week and his main problems now are writing/spelling

[SixtyFootDoll]

DS2 is like this - yr2 now
He was late talking so may be developmental
He also has glasses
maybe worth getting her eyes checked - just to rule out
He just looks at words he has previously read as if he has never seen them before - I am going to push this yr for an assessment as he is very bright but the readin is just not happening for him

[Wonderstuff]

Sounds like dyslexia a definite possiblity. The short term memory problems are an indicator. I teach secondary and am not sure what assessment is available at primary but would definitly have a chat with the SENCO.

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

i have been reading up on it all night

she has poor short term memory but fantastic long term memory

she was walking and talkig very early on

she so bright that the reading/spelling/writing bit stands out like a sore thumb

shes clumsy always tripping up

shes very sensitive and has a strong sense of justice

she gets letters back to front and can only count using fingers

i ould go on and on

im going to ring school monday and ask to see teacher

[minko]

I am worried about my DD for the same reasons (she has just turned 6). I looked at the Dyslexia Action website and could answer yes to 90% of the 'Dyslexia checklist'. I spoke to her teacher at the end of her last year (she has just started year 2) and she said they can't assess till they are 7. You can have an independent assessment done but that can cost up to £750 and as they are still young can be non-conclusive.

It is very frustrating as we have to hang around for up to a year now and DD is struggling and her confidence is suffering. She is a bright, very creative girl who loves school but her reading, writing and numeracy are hopeless. She struggles to count after 20, her writing is illegible and she's in the bottom sets for everything. And I'm not sure how to help her.

[Wonderstuff]

Did she crawl?

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

no she didnt crawl

i am not letting her suffer until shes 7, god thats made me feel really upset.

it all seems really clear now.i have been so frustrated with her as shes really bright,some of the convertsations we have, her understanding of the world and so on

tonight she was really trying and i was looking at her thinking why does she not get it?

[Wonderstuff]

Minko even with out a dx they should be trying to look at how they can help your dd. Dyslexia is by nature very frustrating, I went to a lecture recently and the prof said that there was a square root rule, eg if it takes a non-dyslexic 100 attempts to get something it will take a dyslexic 1000 attempts.

Jean Augurs book 'This book doesn't make sense' is very good.

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

i know that if dd got past the 'block' she would excel and it worries me that she will be sat on the 'bottom' table being ignored

i am dissapointed that i could not see it sooner

[bruffin]

Ds didn't crawl properly. He went from comando to walking at 10 months.
He had would forget a sum between reading it on the board and looking down to write it on the paper. He also has no sense of time. Until he was about 12 he wouldn't know what day of the week it was. He knew it was wednesday because he had PE or he had seen it written on the board, better now but still loses track of days in holidays
He can still spell a word 3 different ways on the same page and mispell a word that is at the top of the page.

However saying that he is a deep and abstract thinker and is doing really well in the top set at secondary school.

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

is he dyslexic?

[Wonderstuff]

Lots of dyslexics don't crawl, thats why I asked. I think that school is really hard for dyslexics and the diagnosis is less important than the schools attitude towards teaching. Phonics are key for many dyslexic children, but not all, some dyslexics have poor visual memory, which makes phonics important, others have poor phonic awareness, they can't hear the sounds and have to focus on sight reading. Every dyslexic has a different set of issues and it is a spectrum disorder, some people have dyslexic tendencies but read and write well, a few will never learn to read and write, I have one boy who learnt to spell his address aged 13, but he is the most severe case I or my colleagues have seen.

There is a move in the US and to some extent here to see it as a 'difference' rather than and disability. It gives people a differnt insight to the world that can be very valuable, iirc 40% of the UK's millionares are dyslexic, only about 4-10% of people have dyslexia, so clearly a disproportionate number. Da Vinci was dyslexic.

SEN provision is underfunded but the LEA and the SENCO have a legal obligation. The children with the parents who shout loudest/know most get most provision.

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

i can shout very loud believe me..

i feel (strangely) like a weight has been lifted and will ring school on mon

thanks everyone for advice,much apprecaited.

its been a crap week,had lump taken out wed so still sore and waiting results...

i will get onto this and at the least it will keep my mind occupied

[Wonderstuff]

6 is still very young! Don't beat yourself up. Every year I come across a child in secondary who wasn't diagnosed in primary. Dug up one poor girls paperwork from primary where the SENCO is describing her as 'bright but lazy' she has a non-verbal reasoning ability of 15 but can't spell at all

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

when she brought that book home today i knew something wasnt right

she knew too that upset me more

[Wonderstuff]

Take care of yourself. Off to bed now. Did a postgrad course in dyslexia last year. Let me know how it goes in school and I'll see if I can help at all. The book I recommended is by the mother of 3 dyslexic boys, its really interesting.
Buffin's son is definitly dyslexic

Hope the results come back positive (or rather negative I guess).

I'm sure your DD will be just fine with you fighting her corner. Self esteem is the key thing ime.

Good luck with all
x

[GrimmaTheNome]

Choc, its really hard to tell at this age. Your daughter sounds a lot like mine did at that age (except the counting on fingers, and she did crawl). Reading was a struggle, lots of letter and number reversals, writing was bad. I was pretty worried, wondered about dyslexia...

Till suddenly in yr 3 it 'clicked' and she climbed up the Reading Tree like a money. She's started yr6 now, having won her form prize for best exam results in year 5. Her spelling is still pretty erratic but apart from that its all fine now.

So... obviously find out all you can but really it may resolve in the next year or so anyway. Good luck!

[bruffin]

At primary they said he wasn't dylexic because he could read well, but he was on the special needs register and got a lot of extra help with spelling, but thankfully I never really had to shout too loudly at school. I was told he got the help because he was so obviously very bright and his spelling/writing was a long way behind the rest of him ie in Year 4 he wrote a story which his teacher longed to give him a level 4 (equivelent to yr6) because of the discriptive language he used but because of the spelling and punctuation it pulled it down to a level 2 which is a big difference.
At secondary the SENCO has said he is almost certainly dyslexic and is on the SN register again. She said he could read well because he was taught synthetic phonics.

Hope everything goes well Chocolatepeanut.

[minko]

Oh crikey, DD bum shuffled and finally walked at 17 months. Yet more weight to my suspicions...

I will speak to DD's new teacher and see what they plan to do to help her.

[SixtyFootDoll]

I was told it could just e a 'global developmental delya'
DS2 was late talking - nearly 3, so could explain why he is not getting the reading/writing as quickly as his peers/

[teamcullen]

Chocolatepeanut- My DSs are 7 and 10 and have both struggled with learning to read. They have both had lots of help but were at the bottom set level for literacy, although they are very bright verbally.

DS1 goes to secondary school next year and we were getting really worried as his literacy level had'nt improved in 12 months.

We started looking to see what help we could give him at home. I soon discovered by reserching dyslexia that DS1 ticked many of the boxes which indecate dyslexia. I have now asked the school for an assessment. I think the reason my DS hasnt been tested is because he is a happy confident boy who tries his best and doesnt cause his teachers any problems.

I also realised that even if he is diagnosed with dyslexia, it will not improve his reading and writing overnight and will still need lots of help, wwhich kept me searching for things we could do at home.

We found a system called EASYREAD and after trying out the free trial, we signed both boys up.The boys have one lesson a day online which lasts about 10 minutes and over the past 6 weeks since they began their reading skills and confidence has came on leaps and bounds.

It teaches reading through what they call "Trainer text" which displays their own unique charactors which indicate the sounds made, over the word. So for the word "WAS" it will have pictures over each letter telling your child what sounds they make. The pictures make the sound " WOZ"

The system may sound expensive (£425) but you are getting results, whereas the price of an independant assessment for dyslexia will only get you a diagnosis.

DS2 has what is called Irlen's syndrome. He was like your DD where he would not seem to learn the same word even though it was repeated time and time again. The reason for this is that reading black print on white paper becomes distorted or seams to move around so the words do not stay in place on the paper for him. The solution is to put a see through coloured plastic sheet over the paper. Each person is different and differnet colours work better for different people.

[angelstar]

Your dd sounds like my ds. I knew from year one that something wasn't quite right and the teachers knew that too I think but he still didn't get an IEP until year 2 and they wouldn't asses him for dyslexia until year 3. His assesment came back as strongly as risk of having dyslexia (they only assess for a risk factor) I asked and asked in year 2 but they wouldn't do it until he started year when they did it straightaway.

[minko]

Sorry, but what's an IEP? And what can the school do once there is a diagnosis of dyslexia?

I'm wondering where special Dyslexia schools come into the equation. I haven't done any research but I guess they're private and cost a fortune. But how can a normal school cope with a child with such different abilities?