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Original poster

To question the school on this? Bilingualism/dyslexia.

10 replies

TinyOcelot · 22/09/2026 13:28

9 year old DS is behind with literacy, reading and writing. For specific reasons we have suspected that he might be dyslexic and have asked the school for support with looking into this.

They emailed today to let us know they're going to have him assessed for the programme to support children who speak French as a second language. It's not really French but for illustration purposes imagine we live in France and DH is French and I am British. The programme is designed to support children who have an immigrant background, which technically DS does and he is bilingual.

But DS has lived in France all his life. French is not his second language, it's actually his strongest language. I always say he has two first languages because he learned both from us as a baby, which is the academic definition of first language. But if he had a first and second, then English would be his second language. He has no trouble with French vocabulary or grammar.

I just don't think this applies to him and I really don't think it's the reason for his literacy difficulties. I'm not going to stop them assessing him for it if it could help, but I don't want this being pigeonholed as a bilingual immigrant problem if that's not it. Would I be unreasonable to ask why this has been suggested?

OP posts:
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Original poster
TinyOcelot · 22/09/2026 15:12

Thanks for the excellent advice and insight!

OP posts:
Bigtrapeze · 22/09/2026 15:06

Hi OP. If your son has been in the same education system since he started school I would personally not be considering his ability to speak a second language as relevant here. The school I work in has many children who don't speak English until they start school and most learn to read and spell with ease. Those who still struggle tend to have language disorders that affect both languages and the ability to learn language or specific literacy leaning difficulties like dyslexia.

Whilst obviously impossible to diagnose over the internet, you sound like you are very sensibly asking for an assessment of his literacy abilities. I don't know how the French system works but where I am we don't assess for dyslexia within education but allocate support based on need. This is for a range of political and pragmatic reasons. We help the kids with the greatest literacy learning needs regardless of diagnosis.

As a parent, I would invest in a private assessment for dyslexia so you know what you are trying to support. I think that is your best bet to reassure yourself that you have done everything you can. I think you are being completely reasonable to do this and should come away with more understanding of whether your son has needs that require support or not.

HolyRavioli · 22/09/2026 15:04

I am in a similar situation - my ds is bilingual, we speak English at home but German everywhere else. He has severe dyslexia which has (obviously) massively hampered his reading and writing in German, and the fact that he has another language to cope with makes is all much, much harder for him.

I would assume the school knows what your son struggles with, OP - he might have good spoken French but actually be having real difficulties with the grammar etc when writing/reading, so it's good to check both the language aspect as well as assessing for dyslexia.

My ds has support for both the dyslexia and the language aspects he struggles with, and they both help. I'd let the school go ahead with the assessment but also make sure he gets tested for dyslexia (we also had to do it privately, not through the school, although it was free).

Original poster
TinyOcelot · 22/09/2026 14:54

Yes, we can pay to have it done privately, but shouldn't the school help as a first port of call? He's not educated bilingually, everything at school is in French. He only speaks English to me and some other family members. It's not at all certain that he is dyslexic (at least not completely obvious to me as a non-expert) but there are enough signs that I'd like it explored one way or another.

His difficulties are specifically to do with slow reading, slow writing, muddling up letters, writing letters and numbers backwards, spelling mistakes that involve putting letters in completely the wrong order rather than phonetic issues iykwim - issues in that vein, not issues with vocabulary.

I don't have any objection to him getting extra support with his vocabulary if it can help him but he's been at the school since he was 6 and there's been no suggestion of putting him in the programme before. I've looked up the learning materials used (it's a state programme) and they are all about learning French. I suppose either way if it's not suitable for him then the assessment will show that and no harm done.

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EntirelyUnnecessary · 22/09/2026 13:55

I don't have any experience myself although have seen bilingual friends whose primary language is English sometimes struggle with fairly basic vocabulary (eg saying "breakfast" when they mean "lunch"). It's not entirely surprising as they have twice as much to remember and are used to speaking the second language at home. Even if it's the stronger language the bilingualism can still have an impact IMO.

I think in your situation I would want to ensure that any dyslexia assessment will still take place, but I suppose there would be no harm in trying this as well/in the meantime and seeing if it is beneficial to DS if it is something that they will let him do on a trial basis.

Twoweeksinaugust · 22/09/2026 13:53

Can you pay for an educational psychologist to do the dyslexia assessment? IME bilingual schooling doesn't work for dyslexic children in lots of cases unfortunately.

Original poster
TinyOcelot · 22/09/2026 13:43

And I was wondering if there was anybody here on MN who works in a school and has some experience of support for children who speak English as a second language - would you expect to be able to help a child in the same position as DS? I.e. a child who had always lived in the UK, had one British parent and one immigrant parent, was bilingual but stronger in English? Is there something I'm missing?

OP posts:
Original poster
TinyOcelot · 22/09/2026 13:35

DensityOfAWatermelon · 22/09/2026 13:31

Are they saying he's not dyslexic, he's just (half) English? I'd ask if there is any reason they can't persue a dyslexia assessment at the same time as curing him of his English mother the second language support.

Well I don't know, they haven't exactly said that explicitly. But I'm definitely getting that impression! There's been no mention of looking at possible dyslexia alongside the second language support. Which is why I wanted to probe their plan a bit more.

OP posts:
DensityOfAWatermelon · 22/09/2026 13:31

Are they saying he's not dyslexic, he's just (half) English? I'd ask if there is any reason they can't persue a dyslexia assessment at the same time as curing him of his English mother the second language support.