I’m a dyslexia assessor AMA

[Yawnyyawny]

Maybe interesting, maybe not. Often people have ‘ooh my child does this, could it be dyslexia’ type questions…if so, ask away!

Hi, I think it’s an interesting topic. My son is 5, just recently learned to spell his name and writes it backwards. Also learning to identify words such as ‘the’ ‘and’ and ‘to’. He picked out ‘to’ from ‘dont’ but written backwards. Anything I should be concerned about?
thank you!

Hi my ten year old often misses out words when writing and still forgets punctuation such as full
stops. He knows how to spell words if you ask him but struggles when writing sentences. He also finds checking his work difficult but will recognise immediately once pointed out. He can often be distracted and day dreamy.

My ds2 is 17 and was diagnosed around his 8th birthday. I'd been raising it for a while as my Dh is dyslexic too.

Anyway, he's super bright and looking to head off to uni in September, but still struggles with working memory in every day routines. I've put as much in place as I can to help him plus obviously I'm here to remind him of things..

How can I help him to continue this when I'm not around? I'm a list maker/ alarm setter / creature of routine and habit. He is not any of those!

ooh, I have a question!

My Dd is 15. She learnt to read fairly early and progressed well in primary, finished all the book bands etc. I think she’s pretty bright, separate sciences for GCSE etc. she’s predicted 7+ for English and doing well in history too.

However - As she’s got older she hates reading. Finds it very difficult, especially reading aloud. She says the words move around on the page. Her spelling is absolutely dreadful - probably about the level of an 8 year old. She can’t spell friend, or quite/quiet, fairy or lots of other pretty simple words and it seems completely out of step with her general intelligence. She was dyslexia screened in year 2, but only by the class teacher using some sort of app, and they concluded she’s not dyslexic, but her high school has referred her for formal screening.

Is it possible that she is dyslexic despite the early reading and previous negative screening?

@December11 Reversing letters and numbers is is often associated with dyslexia, and it is something we sometimes see. But it’s also a common thing with children learning to read. Just that on its own would not be a worry. Dyslexia isn’t a visual thing, it’s difficulty with phonics, working memory and processing speed.

@Janeyraemer does he struggle with tracking when reading? Is he missing words because he loses his place or because reading aloud at a reasonable speed is impacting his ability to read accurately? Are words blurry or do they seem to be moving or shimmering on the page?

Hi thanks for coming back to me. Yes when he reads aloud he often misses words too. The teacher has said that his reading speed is slightly lower than expected. He has never mentioned about words moving on a page. He doesn’t seem to be aware of missing words.

@KateyCuckoo has he applied for DSA? He will be entitled to when he starts Uni. This could pay towards a mentor who could support him with strategies for this kind of thing. Otherwise it’s a case of reminders on his phone, checklists, organisers etc.

Can you also assess dysgraphia?

Hi, I volunteer at two schools and help with reading. Does Toe by Toe really work? I am using it with a Year 7 boy who missed several years during Covid and has been almost illiterate. I am seeing progress but it is SLOW. He has no support at home, is one of 5 siblings.

Oh really? I'd not even heard of that being an option.

Is it really not possible to assess under 7? My son is almost 6, I looked at the “signs of dyslexia” on the British Dyslexia Association website and he ticks virtually every one, but school seem stuck on “we can’t screen until 7”.

Often they don’t mention words moving on the page because they think that it happens to everybody. Slow reading speed could link to processing or phonological awareness. How’s his comprehension? Does he have to re-read multiple times before he can extract meaning?

Are there overlaps with ADHD symptoms? I've been a bit lost knowing what to get my daughter referred for (so now trying everything). She's 10. Never grasped phonics, poor spelling, poor attention, tires easily. Poor written work. Has the knowledge of an encyclopedia!

@Pushmepullyou yes that’s entirely possible. Often it’s spelling that really suffers and screeners are pretty unreliable. I assess a lot of older teenagers (particularly girls), who have managed through sheer hard work to get through to GCsEs and A Levels undetected.
If words are moving on the page she should be seen by an Optometrist for visual stress. Coloured overlays or tinted glasses can make a massive difference.

My DD is 9. She can read and write fairly well, but regularly does these things:
misses out words when reading or writing.
doesn't fully pronounce the word e.g misses off the 'ing' or 'ed'.
will change tenses randomly but correctly so the sentence as a standalone still makes sense (that one is hard to explain!).
doesn't seem to be able to hear/process all the sounds if I sound out a word e.g she might write 'sound' as 'soud'.

I think there's something going on but don't know whether she needs an assessment. For what it's worth I think her dad is possibly mildly dyslexic and one of her older half sisters. Sister has not been assessed but her school gives her extra time in tests etc anyway.

Any ideas as to whether there might be an issue would be greatly appreciated.

@KateyCuckoo hi, ex university history tutor here (I taught first years whilst studying for my PhD). If it's any comfort, my dyslexic students were among my most intelligent. I'm sure he'll do brilliantly. Do signpost him to learning support services at his university, they'll be able to help with study skills etc, if he finds that side of things a struggle.

@HalfasleepChrisintheMorning I don’t assess for dysgraphia, some assessors do dysgraphia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia but I just do dyslexia.

How did you train to be a dyslexia assessor? I have considered it but these seem to be many different courses/qualifications.

Also I showed DD some examples of distortion to see if any of it happened to her and she said this one does.

Most assessors don’t assess under 7s because young children all develop at different rates and it kind of separates those who are just slow starters from those with potential difficulties. I mainly do that as I hate having to say to parents that there isn’t sufficient evidence for a diagnosis and to have them tested when they’re a bit older. I don’t like wasting people’s money like that. I would offer a screener though which would use the same tests but would only write a minimal report (rather than the 25 page full diagnosis). Then if I felt that a diagnosis was a strong possibility I’d give parents the option to up it to a full assessment. Screeners a school would be able to use (unless they have a qualified assessor) would be quite unreliable.

My child is a great reader but often misses letter when she writes for example bcause, troble, mgic, the list goes on. She also forgets the use of basic grammar such as full stops and commas.

When she uses a computer it happens less but she can use spellcheck. It isn't infallible though. She is nearly 13.

She didn't meet the threshold for official dyslexia testing due to very neat handwriting and her reading and comprehension level. She had extra support in primary but secondary this hasn't been offered. I have challenged this but the school have a lot of issues so I am supporting where I can. Can you provide any advice to help? She does struggle with maths and processing as well.

@Mynewnameis Yes, ADHD, autism, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and dyslexia are often co-occurring difficulties. People often work through assessments for different conditions, ticking them off as they go!

Is there a decent online tool you'd recommend as a first step in seeing if a child you suspect may have dyslexic traits actually does? I've searched but the internet is saturated and it's hard to tell what's useful and what's someone just wanting you time buy their product.

Thank you. He is indeed super smart, I.just think he'll need some extra guidance to get organised and understand processes. He'll often ignore lengthy instruction emails for example so having someone who can just bullet point the necessary info would be helpful!

@NerdyBird dyslexia is mainly difficulties with processing sounds. Being able to hear sounds in words is a biggie. It also runs in families. How is her memory? Can she remember multi-step instructions or will she just remember the first or last one? Is she good at organising herself? Remembering what she needs for school? Any issues math sequencing the days of the week/months of the year? Can she hear rhyming words?