How early can dyslexia be picked up on?

[Soubriquet]

Ds is 5 and is in year 1. He’s doing ok with his reading, just the usual mix up between d and b, however, his writing, is really difficult for him.

He starts off okish, but the suddenly words become backwards and words like day become yob.

He knows the word, but he just can’t seem to write it.

Is this is a common 5 year old thing or could this possibly lean towards being dyslexic?

my dd is now 16 so things may have changed but I remember it was becoming quite clear at age 5. But the school said she couldn't be tested until age 7. However the teachers started doing teaching interventions and extra "stuff" to help her from the age 5.

Typical things she did was change b and d around. Also she just could retain the words she had just read on the page before

DD’s best friend had hers picked up on at 5 in year 1. They’ve put some measures in place which help her immensely, like using coloured paper to write on.

7yrs is the standard for diagnostic testing (UK).

Up to this point, teachers should closely monitor progression. On-line
screening tests are not diagnostic and are not recommended by the British Dyslexia Assoc.

Teacher trained assessments are also problematical and not diagnostic. They cannot use the full range of diagnostic tests nor interpret the results. They are trained to administer and score those parts of the tests they are allowed to use. These limited tests are unreliable if there are other SpLDs / ASD, or other learning/medical conditions present.

Email your concerns. Keep a watch on progress and ask the teacher and SENCO to monitor.

Also, phonics doesn’t work with every child eg DS is dyslexic with very poor phonetic ability. On-line and teacher assessment would not have pickEd this up. You could ask the teacher for phonic alternatives to see if your DC makes progress using a different system.

Good resources and the British Dyslexia Assoc. and the Helen Arkell Centre.

www.helenarkell.org.uk/about-dyslexia/parents/faq-for-parents.php

DS1 got his dyslexia and dyspraxia diagnoses in y3 at 8.5

It was clear early on. Painfully slow learning to read at clear odds with his ability to absorb and apply information. Classic dyslexia patterns of difficulty. We were discussing it by y1. In y2 he had a screening using coloured overlays and clicked and could suddenly read with one colour. We still hit a brick wall on getting a diagnosis until late y3 though.

It's frustrating as they need support and intervention, but you don't want to mask the problem for a while until a new level of challenge arises.

Ok thanks for everyone’s help.

I will mention it to the teacher and see if we can come up with a solution

Took till yr 6 before they said my dd was dyslexic. Had measures put in place in y5. She is now nearly 21 and still has some difficulties.