Confused about dyslexia and dyslexia assessments after talking to SENCO

[TwoMountains]

We’ve had some concerns about the possibility of DS1 having dyslexia for a while, as he has been having ongoing difficulties with his English work and his handwriting. DS1 is in Year 5 and has ASD.

We’ve raised our concerns with this year’s class teacher a few times, but it’s taken till now to get a response, and I’ve now had a conversation with the SENCO about this.

One thing she said, is that the council doesn’t use the term dyslexia - because they don’t like to label children - and instead they talk about difficulties with English.

She’ll look at putting DS1 on a list to have his difficulties with English assessed by the council’s educational psychologist (with disclaimers about long waiting lists etc), says the school will support DS1 with his difficulties, but not to expect any kind of formal diagnosis. Because the council doesn’t like labelling children.
And apparently the primary school will pass over all SEN support plans to whatever secondary school DS1 goes to, so she says we don’t need to worry about this not labelling children causing any problems with DS1’s difficulties with English being overlooked at his next school.

I’m a bit confused. And a bit suspicious that there might be some cost cutting motives on the part of the council.

Is dyslexia really an outmoded label that’s no longer used?
And also, if a child is assessed and does turn out to have specific difficulties with English, is it really such a bad thing for them to have a diagnosis (or label, if you like) that confirms they’ve got a problem in that area? This is a different scenario, I know, but DS1 was diagnosed with ASD towards the end of Reception (while attending a different primary school) and there was a definite increase in the level of support he received once he had a formal diagnosis.

I am now wondering if it would be worthwhile trying to get DS1 assessed privately for dyslexia / difficulties with English, and also whether the schools in our area would have to take any notice of any diagnosis that might be made.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Dyslexia is not just difficulties with English, what a crap response, it covers many many different areas and in your shots of be lookin for a specific diagnosis.

My son has dyslexia, wrapped up with dyspraxia. He can read, but can't spell. Had difficulties telling the time, left from right, processing speed. He also lacks Co ordination, can't sit still, gets distracted easily and lacks fine motor skills. He is very disorganised, very slow hand writer, gets his words back to front verbally and gets stressed because of it all.

As you can see, very little is too do with difficulties with English. What a load of absolute tosh. Stand your ground, whether the council likes it or not, your son has difficulties which may or may not have anything to do with English

That sounds daft to me. My DS is dyslexic and it has really helped him to have a 'label'. Rven though his primary told us that they were confident he was dyslexic, there was a long waiting list for assessment (over a year!), so we got him assessed privately. It definitely helped him understand why he struggled with some things and his friends didn't. A proper Ed Psych report gives you a detailed breakdown of what the issues are in terms of learning and that's incredibly useful, both for helping at home, but also for pushing for help and allowances at school.

Op I think no matter what else you you do it would be interesting to let your local dyslexia society know this.
Something funny is going on around dyslexia and labeling it and calling it literacy issues and so on. It's even become a political football, with many left leaning teachers believing that getting the diagnosis gives those dc an advantage because of the "pushy" parent, getting those dc funding... Whilst others get left behind.

Can you pay yourself to get a test done? Have you seen a behavioural optometrist?
Has she mentioned ehcp? Do you know how far behind he is?

• yes those with dyslexia diagnosed as adults have said it's been enormously helpful.

Sorry one more question thing, you can self refer for an ehcp but you'll need too read up all about it, the process etc.

But once you have it it's a standard that should be adhered too, a yard stick. Without it, it's all a little wishy washy really.

My sons Educational Psychologist said the same. Basically, they don't like to label the children because 'dyslexia' affects people in different ways, so she focussed on the adjustments the person needs and not the label.

There is some sense in that - the difficulties often overlap with other SEN eg dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia etc.

I was confused when the EP was trying to explain it and in the end, I pushed her to tell me if he was dyslexic or not and in the end, to shut me up, she said yes it was dyslexia.

My son does get the support he needs, so I think the 'no labels' approach is probably accepted in schools. But as a lay person, I find the label helpful, for when I'm speaking with non-educational people.

This might help explain how diagnosis helps. My DS's dyslexia means he has issues with working memory and processing, so qualifies for extra time. His primary used to do those against the clock times tables tests and he'd be kept in at break time for failing. I talked to the teacher and she'd forgotten he had an issue as he was in the top maths group. Now okay, that was a useless teacher, but without the dyslexia diagnosis, I'd have found it far harder to complain and he'd probably have had to stay in at break and feel increasingly more stupid. So being labelled was actively helpful and stopped him thinking he was bad at maths. He got an 'A' at both Maths and Further Maths at GCSE. Honestly, I could tell you countless examples of things like that. Get your DS assessed if you can!

To add...

I found it much more helpful to get a private report, through an SEN assessor. The EP report through that school was 4 pages, but our private assessment was closer to 30 pages and much more in-depth and helpful.

DS is starting secondary school in September and I was concerned that the school may not accept a private report, but our local Dyslexia group said that schools are much more accepting of them now as SEN is actually quite common.

Surely it's not up to the educational pyscologjst to make that call and deny the child and parent the name of the issues that are are impeding their learning?? Surely that's the call of the parent once they know.

There’s a big hoo-ha in the EP world at the moment about dyslexia, because there is no clear cut diagnostic test, no agreed cut-off point on cognitive assessments etc.

The BPS definition of dyslexia is vague and over 20 years old.

Dyslexia and other SpLDs are ‘out of fashion’ for EPs right now.

…and so on. Have a look at the Cambridgeshire and Warwickshire LA documents for further info.

However. It is a disability protected by the equality act and so EPs have an obligation to acknowledge it. Your council should have a policy or a pathway. Good luck!

The term dyslexia has never troubled my child so it's like political correctness has reared its ugly head and just complicated matters further.

In terms of a diagnosis if you get in touch with the dyslexia association they can point you towards places local to you where they hold assessments and can diagnose your child.

My local one was ironically held in a local library, they took him and he had a few exercises to do on a computer. It doesn't give you a detailed assessment but rather an idea if your child is dyslexic. My child was deemed to have a very high chance of being dyslexic.

This assessment was at that time (15 years ago) accepted as a diagnosis and the school had to then act on it.

In the mean time the school should be putting things into place even before any diagnosis especially if he's struggling.
On a personal note, trust your gut instinct on this. I was told that my child was simply bone idle and lazy by one teacher. The right teachers make a world of difference. My child had to work a lot harder than other kids just to get the basics down but it paid of and he passed all his exams!

I’d get a private assessment if you possibly can. What utter nonsense. Dyslexic us is a processing disorder that is so much more than ‘difficulties with English’ 🙄
What a shitty response.

@NachoTime

Thank you so much for posting those documents.
It's an absolute nightmare where I am and trying to get any information is so hard even about my own child.
Our school is notorious for not recognising dyslexia or sen and to read in that document "it should be the class teachers responsibility to recognise dyslexia and try and flag for it" is music to my ears. The only things I have from our school is what they can't and won't do and said in a very firm our way or the high way.

I agree a private assessment is well worth the money.
It’s not about the label, it’s about how it effects each individual and what can be put in place to help them overcome those difficulties.

OP interestingly I’ve been told exactly the same thing by the SENCO ( although my son is also undergoing assessment for ADHD so I hope his processing issues will be picked up there).

I’ve also been dismissed because he can read - but he can’t spell and he also can’t do those times tables tests!

Dyslexia tests are incredibly in depth and you will find it both a fascinating insight into your child and a useful resource to help you work with them in a way which they can access. Even if a test concluded that the specific learning difficulties your child has didn't fit the pattern that is called dyslexia, you would still get the above benefits from the test.

Most schools should offer the assistance your child needs without the test, and that is the right thing IMO as not all parents are proactive. Check whether they will offer extra time in Sat tests etc.

I'm totally certain the council are using this approach as a way to save money though. It is pretty cynical. Simply removing a label doesn't automatically help the person for whom you were seeking the label! It doesn't actually effect much change! But this is so often their approach to disability in general so I'm not surprised.

Thanks all, this is all very helpful.

Sounds like getting a private assessment would be useful, we’ll look into where we can get one locally.

@Lemonmelonsun what’s a behavioural optometrist? Is that something to do with eyes? DS1 has had regular eye tests at our local opticians since he was 4.

Also he doesn’t have an EHCP, the school said that he wouldn’t get one so there’s no point applying. I’m not sure how far DS1 is behind, his reports just say he’s “working towards” age related expectations.

@TwoMountains the optometrist test is because irlens is often associated with dyslexia. Sometimes coloured lenses can stop the words moving about on the page. Different colours help different people. Not all people who have dyslexia, have irlens. One boy in my sons school wore some very fetching turquoise coloured lenses to help him but my son doesn't have this and can read of normal pages just fine.

Go private for the assessment.

Primary schools are crap with dyslexia imho.

Fought for years to get help for DD2 then they turned round in year 6 and told me she wouldn’t pass her SATS.

You might find the secondary school stage provides better support. We certainly have.

This really annoys me. I was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia as an adult. I am very intelligent and so my “weaknesses” I could mask, putting in coping mechanisms.

You know what despite being the most well behaved diligent child I got labelled, but they weren’t dyslexic or dyspraxic it was:

“Clumsy”, “careless”, “doesn’t check her work”, “thinks before she speaks”, “messy”, “rushes things”, “hasn’t bothered to learn her spellings again”.

So all that happened was I became even more anxious I wasn’t trying hard enough. It was like a shameful secret. It was liberating being diagnosed. I am really open about my diagnosis and amazingly in work no one suggests I’m “rushing my work” or “careless” or “messy”.

Hi op, the really sad thing I've found on my "journey" Is that for whatever reason actually the Senco maybe there to manage you instead of actually wanting the best outcome for your child.

Budgets, culture... Whatever so its not surprising that the Senco has said your child doesn't need an ehcp because its sooo much easier to get you off her books and budget then leave you to secondary where it will probably take another 18 months to get wheels in motion for an ehcp.

To be honest I'm finding the whole system utterly repugnant.

And often agaisnt the law... I had a quick read of those suggested council website posted above, op why not glance at them and start to gen up on this whole thing.
It's absolutely loaded agaisnt dc with needs and also parents but helping each other, linking each other up is the way to some success.

• so so many parents are wrongfully mislead by Senco that children won't get an ehcp. . And so many do get one also sadly and I'm happy to be corrected but off the top of my head, about 80% ehcp Request get turned down but a huge amount are over turned at appeal (by which point parents are on their knees)

I work in this sector across all levels of education. The school may be calling it 'difficulties with English' because that is all that their assessments would show. In the main, school SpLD assessment is done to identify where a child is struggling compared to their peers and what adjustments are needed. A full diagnostic assessments has a set of standardised tests and is much more comprehensive, check out the sasc website-they set the standard for testing for dept of education. It is expensive though and worth considering if it would help as suppport in school, especially primary, is often minimal. As he has a diagnosis of ASD already the support should be there to deal with the impact of that which at primary level will likely be very similar to SpLD support.

That's not to say the system isnt shit, it is and very much designed to reduce cost-no formal diagnosis=not covered by Equalties Act. Feel free to pm if you want anymore details about the tests and variations in levels.

Sorry op, a behaviour optometrist is very different to normal eye test, it looks at the tracking of the eye and more into its movement and they can prescribe excersise if the eye it's weak.
It's not cheap I've been putting it of for about two years. About 150.but I'm hoping it will be clearer as to the pattern of her reading. @TwoMountains

OP I have just come across this very well laid out and clear website, it has template letters and also tick lists of suspected dyslexia and...a £30 test to screen for it - which is good before anyone takes that several hundreds pound plunge...

www.dyslexia.uk.net/contact/

@TwoMountains