Could ds2 be dyslexic, and who diagnoses this in Germany?

[Nighbynight]

I have read a few other threads, but would really appreciate people's comments on ds2 and his reading problems.

He is nearly 9 years old, and reads VERY slowly. I mean about 10 minutes for 5 lines, if there are words he doesn't recognise. He doesn't pick up the meaning of what he is reading most of the time, as he's forgotten the start of the sentence by the time he has laboured to the end.

He has had a confusing history, as he did kindergarten in france, where he learned the basics of reading in french, and then moved to germany, where he had to forget everything and re-learn the sounds in german.

He still confuses b and d.

Today we were reading and he read "nach" (after) as "an" (on).
Also "Fertig" (ready) as "fetrig" (has no meaning in german).

He often reads "ein" as "eine" or similar mistakes.

He spent several minutes trying to figure out "Kakaobaum" (cocoa tree), and "Kakaosamen" (cocoa pods). Now this is a big problem in german, because words tend to be made up by sticking a lot of shorter words together, where in english we would use the shorter words separately. Ds seems to be unable to recognise the shorter words, he just sees the whole big word.

He is very good at maths, and has no problems with number patterns.

His handwriting is rather tidy and good, but his spelling is atrocious.
For example, a "f" sound in german can be written as either "f" or "v". Ds cannot remember which words have f and which words have v. He is quite capable of writing "vahren" for "fahren" (to travel).

Does this sound like dyslexia?

Who should diagnose it, the doctor, a psychologist or a specially trained teacher?

[Nighbynight]

.

[finknottle]

We had this q with s1 2 yrs ago. Went first to our Kinderarzt who said we needed to find one who does the tests, not all do. Tend to be Kinderärzte who also do Jugendpsychiatrie. Spent a lot of time on the phone just asking.

The local Elternberatungstelle do it but had a 3-mth waiting list. Don't go to any Schreibhilfe orgs, they just want you to sign up for courses which may help but they can't give you a diagnosis. If he has dyslexia the schools (?Bavarian too?) have to make allowances with his Rechtschreibung Noten.

We found a good doc eventually and the tests were quiet detailed, 5 hr-long appts. Turned out s1 didn't have dyslexia but a visuelle Wahrnehmungsstörung, we were so relieved to find out what it was. S1 didn't fit the classic dyslexic pattern so his teacher was v dismissive, we knew something was wrong & did wonder if it was at partly caused by bilingualism but nope, turned out to be something completely different. You need a proper diagnosis.

Still have this bookmarked, will have the Bayern info on it.

[Nighbynight]

hi finknottle, thank you for this very helpful info. Forgot to add, ds wears very strong glasses, but he seems to "see" stuff wrongly in spite of them (eg sometimes he sees R instead of T, that sort of thing). We can't figure out if it is in his brain or his eyes, but as you say, something is def. wrong.
None of my other 3 children are like this.

Have just spoken to his teacher, who is unfortunately old and lazy, and doesnt seem to know a lot. She wants to just put him down into the class below. I pointed out, that this wont solve any disorder, he will just get unmotivated.
The marks are unfortunately being affected across the board, even in maths, as he has trouble reading instructions, and usually just guesses what task he should do.
She has booked an appointment with the school psychologist, as she says that this is the correct person to diagnose him.

I will check that with the Schulamt in the light of what you've just told me. Also with our Kinderarzt, who is super.
Am just off to read your link now

[finknottle]

Shout if you need me - I remember what a nightmare it was - for s1 most of all. He's a changed boy now

g u s s i e a t l i n u x - b o x p u n k t d e