11yo DD - starting to wonder if she has dyslexia/dyspraxia or similar

[RainbowDashed]

Following on from this thread in which I was moaning about dd's total lack of organisation, I'm really starting to wonder whether some of the posters have a point and she may have an undiagnosed condition which is contributing to her "dippiness". She is 11, just started secondary school.

In a nutshell:

• She is extremely disorganised, doesn't write everything down at school, forgets kit (I know this bit is normal but she's off the scale with regularity), I am in contact with her HOY and the school's progress co-ordinator with regard to her non-academic progress as she's so scatty. At home she has to be reminded daily to do the same tasks.
  

• She seems to live in dreamland, for example she'll try to get on an escalator to go up, but she's at the bottom of the one coming down as she just hasn't looked or paid attention.
  

• She could hardly read or write well into y2 (aged almost 7). Teacher at the time said it was down to her being a summer child / late bloomer. She now reads brilliantly with a reading age above her actual age but her handwriting and spelling aren't great, despite a lot of work going into both.
  

• Academically she's bang on average with all her grades, but she's always struck me as a bright child - I always put this down to me being a bit pfb about her. She took her 11+ last year, didn't pass, but wasn't far off. We're always having long chats about all sorts of things, and her spoken vocabulary seems much better than the standard of her written work.
  

• She couldn't ride a bike until she was 9
  

• It took her FOREVER to learn to swim and she's always struggled to be as athletic as her friends, can barely do a somersault whilst they're all cartwheeling etc etc
  

• She is quite anxious at the moment, especially around school. There have been issues with friends that she's blown out of all proportion and she's also been lying to them to get attention. This seems to be settling now with some support and guidance and heavy policing of her online activities.
  

• All her milestones as a toddler were met but towards the later end of the normal scale, eg walking at 15 months where most of her peers were on their feet before then. She never learned to roll over, did it once by accident then didn't do it again until she was much older. I was never concerned at the time and she sailed through all her development checks but now I'm not sure.
  

So I suppose my question is - is the above to ask for a referral? She manages OK day to day, other than the scattiness.

Also how would I go about it? Do they have Senco's in secondary school?

Thanks in advance :)

[RainbowDashed]

Thank you :)

[isthatpoisontoo]

I didn't comment on your last thread, but I did think "that poor girl sounds just like me." I was always forgetting/losing things as a child, and I got so scared of my parents' reaction about it that I ran away from home when I was 9, rather than admit losing my new school jumper. The policeman who found me sleeping at the bus station in the early hours didn't understand my motivation.

Anyway, as a teenager my English teacher pushed for tests and I found I was dyslexic. Life would have been pleasanter if my parents had known this earlier, I think. I never changed, but people might have been more understanding! I'd definitely ask the school for tests. I can't describe how horrible it is to feel so awful every time you're scatterbrained, and be told off for it, too.

[blaeberry]

My ds has dyspraxia and some of that sounds familiar (he is quite a bit younger). I would certainly ask the school for a referral to an educational psychologist for assessment. However, it may also be worthwhile asking (school or GP) for a referral to occupational therapy as they often diagnose dyspraxia or are involved in its diagnosis.

[madhairday]

She sounds like my dd who is dyspraxic. She's 15 now and we've worked hard on strategies to help with her organisation etc. What you describe with the bike, swimming etc ate just like dd and typical markers for dyspraxia. Definitely push for assessment - dd wasn't dx until y6 and it would have been better for her if it was before, but teachers were always reluctant and 'didn't want to label.'

Since dx she gets a lot more support. On an register, uses a laptop instead of having to write etc (she's bright but can't write as fast as others due to poor coordination, it really hurts her to write and she just can't keep up or write legibly. She'll be able to use it in her GCSEs next year.

All the best - do ask to speak to senco.

[madhairday]

Should be are and SN

[TeenAndTween]

I would say ask for assessment sooner rather than later.

We didn't have DD1 assessed until y11, I wish we'd done it sooner but some issues were put down to other factors, and others didn't really show themselves until y9 onwards.

A year later at college and we are still playing catch-up.