To be shocked by people's disbelief to dyslexia?

[Bizarrelife]

My dc are bright, intelligent, articulate people. They are however also severely dyslexic.

I have seeked assistance for them as their written work was not matching any of their other skills. I obtained educational pyschologist's report that showed their difficulties. Interestingly they have different dyslexia issues, not the same. One has a photographic memory and can learn 'pictures' to draw words but cannot process audio instructions. The other can process audio instructions but cannot follow images.

Having shown their teachers the reports to get them help I have had the following the responses:

Headteacher - everyone's dyslexic we all have trouble with some words, no help is required

SENCO!!! teacher - there is no such thing as dyslexia they just can't spell.

"Friends" - aren't they just being lazy, they could write properly if they tried, you can't be good at everything...

AIBU to feel so frustrated in trying to get some help for my dc over dyslexia, I thought we had moved on in the last 20 years and that it was now recognised, oh how wrong I am!

YANBU. It's hard enough to keep a dyslexic child (like my DD2) motivated at school without some twonk implying she's not trying or it's a made up problem. Don't get me started on attitudes towards her ADHD, which apparently she can't have because she isn't badly behaved.

On of the leading lecturers on my (very higly ranked, well though of, academic but frankly quite shit!) PGCE course didn't believe in dyslexia (in fact I think all the research might have been his/his fault, he'd certainly written a book on it.)

What I do think doesn't help is that people refer to children who struggle with reading and writing as dyslexic automatically, without a diagnosis. For some children reading and writing is hard because they are naturally of a low intelligence or because they memory difficulties or tracking difficulties or are young for their year/a late developer or any one of a number of other reasons. It doesn't make them dyslexic. Dyslexic is a very specific learning difficulty and I think it is much rarer than our society would suggest (I don't mean really rare, I'm talking maybe 1 or 2 children in a class as oppose to the 6 or 7 who seem to called dyslexic where I work.)

Having said that, a child who struggles with reading or writing is a child who struggles with reading and writing, they all need the same help and support. So, if the term dyslexia helps a child, family or teacher then I don't think ir really matters whether the diagnosis is accurate or not.

My sympathies op, I would try giving parent partnership a ring, they should be able to help you in regards to the senco and headteacher, they helped me with my ds1's old school when they tried to exclude him from fun activities do to his now diagnosed ADHD, unfortunately, there are still very ignorant people who still believe that every issue a child may have is down to parenting or teaching, this is obviously not the case though, and its very hard to break through that mindset.

That wasn't Julian Elliot, was it, manic?

My dyslexic dd is in top sets for English and History.
Your headteacher is being a lazy fecking mare, Bizarre

I can't remember the name LRD! Doesn't ring a bell though. I was at Durham.

I didn't get diagnosed till 14 but still got 8 a's and b's at gcse and 4 b's at alevel and a degree so definitely not lazy or stupid

Sorry 2 b's

I am pretty sure my ds age 6 is probably dyslexic - what age can you get tested and where?

Sorry to hijack - op - yanbu I would be furious for a response like that from 2 education professionals who should know better x

Yep, he's at Durham, manic. So if not him, one of his colleagues. He is an idiot of a man IMO.

joining - you could test at 6, though some would say the results might not be so clear. Educational psychologists (and some other people who're qualified, but mainly ed psychs) will do a test but it is really pricey - could be 350-400 these days. If you google British Dyslexia Association, they have helplines and email, and can advise you on it and help you work out if you could get any support.

This is so frustrating and dismissive Makes me really . My ds is dyspraxic and my mum refers to it as 'that thing you say he has'

Blimey - my DH is dyslexic, though never formally diagnosed as it was called "stupid" when he was at primary school in the 1960s. His parents never thought to query this.
It didn't stop him, in the end, from going to Oxford and having a good professional career.
I thought things had moved on in the last 40-50 years!

Oh bloody hell.... makes my blood boil. It's very annoying and frankly shocking. The thing that the school need to to know is that they should be helping your dc to achieve what they should be achieving if they didn't have the disability (not always possible i know, but working towards that would be good). So not just to being ok at reading spelling, reading etc but performing to the level they could do (and if they are bright this might be well above what some children might attain). I'd be calling up the equal opportunities commission to see what they have to say tbh (and a note of optimism.... I have a dx, primarily auditory and I am about to finish my PhD, although I still can't remember my home phone number!)

There is a reason why some teachers and academics disput dyslexia.

A large research project was conducted, known as The Sheffield Study, a few years ago.

The results of the study indicated that many cases previously diagnosed as dyslexia, were in fact down to inconsistant, ineffective and incomplete teaching of reading aty primary level.
The teaching, not the chosen method of learning to read but the actual poor teacher delivery, was held to be the key to effectivley creating dyslexic-symptom children.
Therefore some teachers will disput that dyslexia exists, and where reading has been concistently taught well, they are often correct.

That's not a reason to dispute dyslexia. That's a reason to dispute bad diagnoses.

I am fairly suspicious of that study, since all it demonstrated was that if children received a lot of excellent teaching, they got better at reading and writing. Well, no shit, Sherlock.

We simply do not know whether or not those children would have exhibited the same problems had they been well-taught from the start, or not. Nor do we know what problems will recur later in life.

Lots of dyslexics seem 'cured' by good teaching until they hit the next hurdle, at which point the same old underlying cognitive patterns reassert themselves.

I would dispute that study too - because it isn't just about reading and writing - it is also about how the brain takes in and processes information.

I was fantastic at reading - I was top in my class till a certain point.

My dyslexia is apparently down to being left handed and being made to be right handed.

Hettie that is the biggest hurdle we're coming up against. My dc are performing above average, but I'm arguing that they are better than that. (If that makes sense).

For example one of my dc has a mathematical age 7 years above their chronological age, a reading age 5 years above their chronological age, and a spelling age 6 months above their chronological age.

Ed psych's response - the spelling will let them down and their writing will mean that they won't get as high in exams as their knowledge would get them.

The school's response - their spelling age is above their chronological age so what is my problem?

Ug that has made me very cross! What stupid things to say, esp from people working in education.

I would look at moving your kid to a school better geared for dyslexia. Don't assume private will be better just cos it's private, try and get a feel for the ethos and support they provide. My private girls primary was awful and I was lazy and stupid aparantly, and they refused to acknowledge the ed psyc report with the dx. I left that school, along with the other dyslexic girl, and didn't continue to their high school. Straight As and a first class degree later, clearly not lazy or stupid.

Mum paid to get the dx done privately, and paid for support after school at the dyslexia institute once a week for a couple of years (Y6 to Y9 I think) Helped loads.

I still avoid writing certain words because I can't work out how to spell them tho :-(

Hettie that is the biggest hurdle we're coming up against. My dc are performing above average, but I'm arguing that they are better than that. (If that makes sense).

I got upset by DD1 teacher this week as she thinks her normal sats levels are to low and this is a mismatch between her ability and her achievement. Unfortunately she put this down to not enough effort . DD1 couldn?t try more ? it brought back bad memories of my schooling ? I was a very late dx of dyslexia and dyspraxia and I heard that a lot.

Last year her teacher was concerned about her spelling but they SENCO decided she wasn?t struggling enough so we ended up doing what the school would have done to support her at home ? sound foundation courses - which means she didn?t miss stuff at school but then trying to do all the extra at home is, was and is a huge strain especially as DS also needs extra help.

I don't know how old your DC are but I've found the primary section full of very helpful and knowledgeable people who can help with specific issues.

Your post made me cry Bizzaer.

I have PTSS related to being dyslexic and im still crying writting this

I totally agree with your statement and think you are a great mum and i will say that to my children when the time comes :(

I have a reading age of 12year old and a writing age of a 13 year old when i was last tested at 18. I cried all the way thru the testing as the ed ph understood me and believed me. He also told me i had PTSS related to being dyslexic and how i was treated.

My mum know i was dyslexic when i was 5 but could not affored a test the teachers didnt want to know i got no help and my mum didnt care.

I learned to read at 11. i got tested by accident in high school at 14 before my GCSE with the result of server dyslexia and above avarage IQ.

I got 9 c at GCSE a merit at GNVQ 3 and a 2.2 degree.

I was called thick, stupid, teacher just wrote me and so did my mum and dad untill i was tested at 15.

I hate the way people treated me because i could not read or write.

Hi, just saw your msg and it made me fume that teaching professionals could be so tunnel-visioned. It's about time that dyslexia (and related conditions) formed a significant part of their training and it weeded out the narrow-minded Umbridge's (from Harry Potter) of the profession. That SENCO teacher should be carrying out an independent assessment at the very least!

If I was in your position I'd use up all my savings to pay someone to do an assessment to show to the school. If they are still completely obtuse I'd take it to the Local Authority.

I would complain to LSA and ofsted about their attatude.

Or

Move children to a different school that better understand the condition, have good stratages and good referances from other parents.

Also its disgraceful to work in a school and treat puples like that

My dyslexic son moved from infants to primary school with an existing action plus statement in place for severe dyslexia, having been diagnosed at huge expense by the Dyslexia Institute (on the advice of his infants school teacher). The primary school SENCO helped by giving him detention for being a slow writer and then when he tried to speed up she gave him detention for being untidy. She said it was to help support his learning but he did notice that he was the only one in detention who was NOT there as a punishment for being naughty.... He was given 100 lines after getting in a muddle with his homework diary, where he was allowed to repeat the same 3 spelling errors per line, one hundred times (since framed and hung in the loo). This sort of thing happened regularly for most of 2 years (and yes, I did complain a lot and he refused to change schools because of a strong friendship group [hhmm].

Anyway, he survived and has enjoyed a more enlightened senior school, plays sport at an international level (GB U17 and U20 teams) and and will soon be off to uni . I know I'm bragging, I'm really proud of him .