Do I need a further specific dyslexia assesment?

[mulranno]

My daughter 8 nearly 9 has been struggling with her reading, spelling etc...we had an ed psy report done last year - which demonstrated SpLD , short term memory, vocab, etc were highlighted as issues but it did not say she was "dyslexic"...is dys a sub set of Spld?...do we need to then go on to have a futher specific assesment?...what would this measure or achieve that has not been done in the ed psy...are there diff tests?...which route should we take?

[maverick]

'Because of their inability to give a legitimate diagnosis, a specialist dyslexia teacher or educational psychologist's written report will not include the concrete label of 'dyslexia'. Instead, it will substitute words such as, 'has a specific weakness in phonological development', 'has deficits in phonological awareness', or it will be hedged about with words that avoid commitment to a definitive diagnosis; 'literacy difficulties follow the pattern of a SpLD known as dyslexia', 'has dyslexic traits' or, 'is at risk for Dyslexia-SpLD', with the clear cut 'dyslexia' label only given to parents verbally'

See - www.dyslexics.org.uk/should_I_have.htm

[aprildays]

Both the borough specialist and the ed psychologist gave my child a diagnosis of dyslexia based upon standardised and internationally recognised tests

[LJS666]

Have you considered APD - auditory processing difficulties? I'm not saying that's what your daughter has but it is one of those under-diagnosed things.

Basically has difficulty following lessons, always trying to catch up. My son has dys/dys and they tried to diagnosed him with ASD which I knew was not the case.

I have paid £275 to an independent assessor and it has helped enormously with getting extra LSA hours etc. Mostly because the LEA don't know what APD means.

It doesn't mean much, just that he doesn't get it 1st, or 5th time around. But will understand eventually, and then it sticks.

[maverick]

aprildays, I've read many dozens of ed.psych assessments (private and LEA) in my time as a remedial reading tutor and I've yet to see one that says in bald terms that a child is 'dyslexic'.

As I wrote above, the written reports substitute words such as, 'has a specific weakness in phonological development', 'has deficits in phonological awareness', or it will be hedged about with words that avoid commitment to a definitive diagnosis; 'literacy difficulties follow the pattern of a SpLD known as dyslexia', 'has dyslexic traits' or, 'is at risk for Dyslexia-SpLD'.

There are no internationally recognised tests for dyslexia, just is there is no internationally recognised definition.

The tests used for reading difficulties in countries like Spain and Italy are completely different from the tests they use in English-speaking countries. English reading tests assess accuracy of word recognition but, because of the high reading accuracy in countries with transparent codes, these tests cannot be used and reading speed is assessed instead i.e. the term dyslexia means something completely different in these countries.

[ClenchedBottom]

Maverick, and I have also read dozens of private and LA Ed Pysch reports, and plenty of them diagnose dyslexia and are not afraid to say so! Please be aware that your experiences are not necessarily universal.

And I agree that dyslexia has different implications in countries with more transparent alphabetic codes, but to me it's not 'completely different' - in these other countries the implications would be more from processing speed/memory/sequencing issues etc etc whilst in English speaking countries the issues include these too, but also with the literacy difficulties.
Sorry, bit muddled today, hope you can work out what I mean!!!!!

[maverick]

I would seriously question the credentials of any ed. psych who is willing to put in writing (though they may say so verbally) that someone has 'dyslexia', without that word being hedged about with other words that avoid commitment to a definitive diagnosis.

No-one can diagnose dyslexia as a discrete condition as there is no scientifically valid definition. The IQ-discrepancy definition used to be used but that was dismissed many years ago and nothing has replaced it. Ed. psychs may use the RTI definition but that based on personal opinion not scientific evidence.

The tests used in countries with transparent codes are tests of reading speed but slow reading' is relative. The optimal reading rate varies across ages (reading speed is on a continuum) with individual differences, but MOSTLY across writing systems.

'Slowness', it seems, is a function of the writing system, not a property of the child...(T)he content of the reading material also determines reading rate. Difficult material is read more slowly' (D.McGuinness Early Reading Instruction p191-2)

Present evidence indicates that many slow readers have poor verbal IQs and weak verbal memories i.e. language and memory difficulties, not a specific 'brain glitch', 'dyslexia'.

[ClenchedBottom]

Ok, so clearly our experiences are very different - I have seen many EPs use the word 'dyslexia' in reports, and these are all fully qualified, experienced and chartered EPs, both private and LA - the private ones are of course usually falling over themselves to get it in the report because the parents have paid £700 for the assessment......

[KidsCanSucceed]

If you have a diagnosis of dyslexia, you don't need a further assessment. Dyslexia is sometimes referred to as a specific learning difficulty ( SpLD) but that term can also be used to cover other difficulties such as dyspraxia. Quite often if a child has one difficulty, they may have another (known as comorbidity).

[cremeeggs]

We had a psych report from Dyslexia Action that did state clearly that DD has dyslexia. Also listed lots of other stuff like working memory probs, lack of phonological awareness, auditory processing issues etc etc but definitely listed dyslexia as her overall prob more than once!

[maverick]

Well, it sounds like these ed. psychs are going against their own professional association's guidelines -the bps use the 'response to intervention' definition for dyslexia i.e. a person cannot be described as dyslexic until it's been seen how they respond to a 'well founded intervention'(this is a problem of definition in itself!)

When they first come to be assessed by the LA or DA, presumably they haven't as yet received a 'prolonged and systematic reading intervention'

[aprildays]

Maverick - your statement "Present evidence indicates that many slow readers have poor verbal IQs and weak verbal memories i.e. language and memory difficulties, not a specific 'brain glitch', 'dyslexia' is not the complete picture

People with dyslexia - including my own child - can have a high verbal IQ but poor literacy skills. That is why it can be described as you state a "specific brain glitch" rather than poor verbal IQ. Indeed, I dont think people such as Richard Branson, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Gates who all have dyslexia have poor verbal IQs

My own child has a very high IQ, very high verbal reasoning scores and very poor literacy - he is dyslexic.
Secondly, before assessment he had a extensive programme based on phonics which certainly didn't cure his dyslexia or deliver any real improvement.

He is still dyslexic and only learnt to read later when my mother [a very experienced teacher] sat down and taught him using a mixture of all methods - phonics, word recognition, contextual clues.
One method doesn't suit anyone and dyslexia certainly exists.

[aprildays]

Sorry that should read "One method doesn't suit every-one"

[gigglewitch]

All the stuff April says is pretty much what I was coming to post! Maveric, so true - the dx of "dyslexia" is not an easy one to get. The EPs will all mention it in conversation - and say features of dyslexia etc in reports but never actually be quoted as such.
There are other tests - but debatable whether they're worth slogging through, better just to use it all as a guide and find out what works for your dd as an individual.

aprildays - would love to keep in touch with you - your ds and mine sound very very similar, not something I have come across with anyone else.

[aprildays]

Hi gigglewitch - that would be good is there a way to do it

[gigglewitch]

I'm giggle witch at google mail dot com if that's any help
(take out spaces, insert punctuation etc)

[aprildays]

Hi gigglewitch - i will email you this evening

[gigglewitch]

Fantastic, ta