Dyslexia

[25R10h82]

Hi all! My DD10 has recently been “diagnosed” with dyslexia 😔
I’m not sure where to start when it comes to supporting her and I’m not sure what I should be expecting from her school...... we were told about this in November and haven’t heard from the school since! I’ve requested a meeting with her teacher in the hopes of getting some guidance as to what we should be doing at home.
Does anyone know of any resources available to us? We are in Scotland
Thanks 😊

My son is in year 2 and school
strongly suspect he’s dyslexic. School has 1-2-1 interventions put in place and he attends group booster sessions twice a week. he’s too young for a formal diagnosis yet, but we meet regularly with the teacher and senco, and have support and goals for him both at home and at school identified. there is a lot of focus to make sure he keeps enjoying school and doesn’t feel negative about himself.

Thanks! This helps give me an idea of the questions I should be asking the teacher x

How severe is her dyslexia? How far behind is she?

Things that have helped for mine
Specific targeted phonics work like Toe by Toe or Dancing Bears
Clear written instructions
Homework put on the school website so even if it’s written down wrongly in class you know what it is.
Scaffolding such a story plans to help organise thoughts
Kit lists / Equipment lists
Timetables including kit needed as organisation can be a challenge
Time limits on homework so a tired child isn’t slowly ploughing through work that should take 20 mins for an hour.

At home
Audiobooks allow a child to access stories more sophisticated than their reading will allow.

Barrington Stoke books are designed with dyslexics in mind.

There are various techno tools that might be helpful, eg. Sometimes it is easier to read words on a yellow background than white or with underlining etc and there are computer programs that can do this if he has any homework that he has to do on a computer/tablet.

I was at school in the 90's and not diagnosed until I was in GCSEs so got extra time at exams and a few pointers about mind maps and coping techniques. Got a computer funded at uni. I am sure that they are much better these days.

If anyone suggests toe-by-toe shoot them and buy a fuckton of wine. I mean do it obviously the results are amazing but dear god is it hard work.

More seriously see if she is allowed to photograph the board and print it at school rather than taking notes.

Will she be typing? Can she touch type?

Orwen

I already have!!!
In my defence I’ve also mentioned Dancing Bears
TBT is boring as fuck but it really did work for mine.

My ds 11 is dyslexic. Its been obvious from as far back as nursery in hindsight but it was about p2 school took notice. He's basically working to his own individual learning plan rather than what the rest of the class are doing and he goes to a support class regularly. At parents evening we get a meeting with his class teacher and the support teacher. He can be very distracted in class as you can imagine it's not as straight forward to learn in the way the other children do. We also paid to have a mears irlen eye test. Not all opticians do them. Since the test he has had special made glasses with blue/green lenses to help him and he actually likes them/thinks they help.
Before the glasses he was given a blue strip overlay but he wasn't so keen with that.
He starts high school after the summer. I'm very worried about it. Although he is very clever, he can't get his thoughts on to paper. His teacher has said he will get extra transition to high school time and there is a big probability he will get a laptop or something so he can dictate his work rather than write it.
If you Google traits of dyslexia there is so much more to it than problems with reading and writing.

British Dyslexia association is a good starting point. Does she have a the Scottish version of the educational health care play? (like a statement of extra needs.) She may not get one but if she is behind she might and then these are legally binding (in theory.) Talk to the school senco. Dyslexia can effect in many ways a third are also dycalculate (like me0 and a third have some for of dypraxia (like me) Do be "THAT" parent and push.

Attack is an old system and a bit dull but it really helps, There is a programme called Dragon Don,t know much about but that is meant to be good. There may be a bDA branch near you.

adding g to my comment above: Toe by toe is what our school uses in 1-2-1 sessions - it works very well. can’t comment on how boring it is as they don’t send it home.
our home targets are mainly around keeping motivation up, and loads of reading together (my son is only 6, and they’ve bern doing that for about 2 terms now)

I'm dyslexic & so are my 2 DDs. The National Dyslexia Association are pretty good for an overview & information, especially if you don't have dyslexia yourself. My DDs both wore glasses with a coloured tint to the lenses which helped to filter out yellow light as they got severe headaches from the bright classroom lighting.

They also did something called Retained Reflex Training which helped enormously, but it's not cheap & I realise that this isn't an option for some.

I think the MOST important thing is to reassure your DD that even though she might be struggling at school, it doesn't mean she's stupid..... She just processes things differently. Mine REALLY struggled with this when they were first diagnosed because they felt so adrift & found things, that their peers could do easily really hard. A day at school for dyslexic child can be utterly exhausting so as a previous poster mentioned, make sure that homework doesn't becoming overwhelming for her.

I kept telling my 2 that school doesn't last forever & it doesn't define who you are. They both dropped languages when they got to secondary school as they literally couldn't process the lessons. They had help with extra maths & english when everyone else was in French or German.

With help, both mine passed their GCSE's & one is now at Plymouth University studying 3D Design & the other is just finishing her A levels/Btec & is hoping to become a Speech & Language Therapist.

I'd also recommend a book (ironically) called Creative, Successful Dyslexic. It's full of stories from famous dyslexics in their own words that are really encouraging.

Look up the local Dyslexia society - they can be a great help.

Your DD should be getting extra tuition in school - I live in Ireland and here it is called resource teaching, where your child gets additional time per day for English teaching. My son gets it now in his secondary school as an allocated class per day.

Your dyslexia society will have a parents resource page and will tell you what you can expect from your school. You will then have to ask the school for this - this is the start of a life of advocacy for your child, parents have to pester the school system for what their child is legally entitled to. Your allocation is dependent on where you live and how in tune the school is.

Please PM me if you want further information. You will be able to support your child to flourish now that they know there is a reason why they find all this stuff so difficult. My child listens to books on Audible which is amazing.

I'd also add (as a PP said) that's its not just a reading/writing issue. It's a whole host of other sensory processing issues as well. Neither myself or my DDs are good at recognising that time actually passes! We have to have a visual reminder of a deadline.

We can also get totally absorbed in a task & not notice anything else (including a teacher giving verbal instructions). I'm hopeless at maths, but can read a book in day (my particular form of dyslexic is more spelling/maths/organisation). Neither of my DDs read well but the eldest is good at maths, whilst my youngest still writes her numbers back to front at 17.

Crossing busy roads is really difficult for them. They had NO ability to judge the speed of cars or to work out left & right. We did a great deal of practice before they went to secondary school. It's sounds a bit over protective but I was really worried about them being distracted by phones & friends and not bring able to properly pay attention. They both understood why the road thing was important though because I'd spent every school run saying "please stop talking for a minute while I pull out of this junction... I need to really concentrate" 🙄... We all drive automatics as they're much easier. It frees up brain power to concentrate on traffic & directions and not which gear you're in.

So it's a case of slowly figuring out how your DD is affected - what she struggles with, how daily life affects her & also what she's good at. Then she has the knowledge to tell people, especially teachers, "I'm dyslexic.... I'm finding this hard, but I will try to find another way to it... one that suits my particular way of thinking". I found that some teachers were great with dyslexic children & others had NO understanding at all.

This does mean that as others have said you will have to push for help/extra time etc. I wrote SO many emails & had so many meetings to ensure mine got what they needed, especially if they are quiet & well-behaved and just puts their head down & try their best, because schools have so many things to deal with & they can get overlooked if you don't speak up for them.

Sorry it's a long post. I'm really passionate about dyslexic children getting the help they need. I was at school in the 80s, at a very academic public school & no-one knew about it then. I was really great at "talking" my lessons & I know that I had a good level of intelligence/knowledge, but when it came to exams I just couldn't do them & then got labelled as lazy & problematic which made me feel like a failure & I just ended up living up to that and being a difficult pupil.

Agree with DimpsieMizzle, dyslexia comes in different forms.
My son really struggles with writing (left to right, upside down, right to left, all in one paragraph). his reading is coming along nicely (but still at the lower end of the spectrum), but he’s very organised, reliable, very good at maths (apart from number writing). he can’t deal with noise or harsh light.
i’m dyslexic as well, but read very quickly - but with a completely different strategy than other people. i can read upside down, right to left etc

www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/

Who has diagnosed dd?

The only thing to add to all the advice is to find a specialist dyslexia tutor if you can afford it. We found an amazing one She made all the difference to DS1.

Sorry, not read everyone’s comments so not sure if it has already been mentioned...but we have found Nessy very good. The school used it and now we use the home ed pack for my ds 10.

Daughter asked for a private tutor primary 2. The remit I gave the tutor was to follow my daughter's lead. I was happy if she just wanted to talk or play. Daughter used the time well. We did lots of mental tasks - adding subtracting when shopping etc. Toe by toe was done daily! Barrington Stokes books are amazing. Another child with overlays (and still uses them). Swimming weekly. Very important everything is documented.
Secondary school seemed to just want her to drop subjects because she was dyslexic. I felt as long as she did her best she should be given the opportunity to do the subjects. We did end up with tutors for most subjects! An expensive business. She has completed her Master's and other qualifications with distinctions.

There are ome face book groups but dind,t find them supportive. I got shouted down for sugesting that dyslexica can actally learn to read and write and not all jobs have access to computers. I had loads of help because myu parents pushed I had a support teacher from 9-10 she helped in class, before school and afterschool individually and in small groups. But it never goes away. Always doubting my spelling, my writing isn,t great, mental arithmetic makes my mind go black. 9it,s not ven I can,t do it i just get scared..) But i retook my English GCSE and dome how got a B.

I’m an English teacher so only able to offer a secondary school perspective. You’ve had lots of really great advice from previous posters. I’d echo the importance of programmes such as Toe by Toe to help reinforce phonics. You can also find lots of online games which will help too - it might be worth checking with the school to see if they are using any online phonics or spelling programmes.

It’s really important to encourage DD to read for enjoyment if you can. Read together, make use of dyslexia friendly publishers such as Barrington Stoke and use audiobooks. If DD is reading aloud, practise in short bursts and work on building her confidence. It can be very tiring trying to concentrate and she will already be tired after school.

Try to avoid focusing on mistakes in her written work as this will dent her confidence. Plan before writing - she might find mind maps useful - and work together to brainstorm a word bank of key vocabulary. I would also try to begin developing her touch typing skills as she may benefit from typing responses during assessments/exams when she is older.

A number of companies recognise the positives of dyslexia rather than viewing it as a drawback. People with dyslexia tend to be creative or display strong problem solving/strategic thinking skills. Try to find children’s books which portray dyslexia in a positive light. Sally Gardener is a brilliant author for older children - it might be worth checking if she has written any books for younger readers. If I remember correctly, she is dyslexic herself and her website has various interactive resources.

First thing - get your hands on the report they used to make the diagnosis, and find out what her specific weaknesses are. Then work on reinforcing those skills, and putting in systems to deal with deficiencies (so, say phonics and organisation are weak, get toe by toe (plus the wine), and get things at home to help with the organisation like a big family weekly plan with what is needed each day).
Little benifit in working through things if those aren't weaknesses identified.

I would start with the touch typing tho, whatever us mentioned. We liked dance mat, then typingclub.

I have a 10 year-old daughter who was officially diagnosed at 7. High VR and NVR and ridiculously low Working Memory.

We are aiming to get her touch typing this year (Dyslexia Society has some dyslexic friendly touch typing courses that don't use nonsense words) and then she can use a laptop for everything including exams.

There are a wide range of problems that fall under the dyslexia label and so every child is different. My DD has beautiful handwriting, but everything is spelt "creatively" and sometimes 5 different versions of a word in 1 paragraph. If you can read phonics then you can read what she writes - which is helpful!

She finds reading a chore, and the books she can read at a level where it's pleasurable are a bit too young content wise, so her school have bought some books designed for dyslexics that are simple but interesting. I buy a lot of audio books and quality films so that she is at least getting the vocabulary.

Biggest issue we have is that her mind works faster than her secretarial skills - make sure they check your child for hypermobility as well. DD has massive problems with pencil grip and so it's a nightmare to get things down on paper. We dropped cursive quite fast as it was making things massively worse (for some children it works better due to muscle memory) and now she just prints which has improved things a lot. Hope is that with a laptop, she can get her thoughts down fast and then go back and edit - far easier than pages and pages of crossings out.

DD's primary were very good about getting the Ed Psych reports and proper diagnosis. Unfortunately there has been very little in terms of daily 1-2-1 help. She's Y6 now and I imagine her SATS results will be fairly dire - we've taken care to explain that we actually don't care if she even sits them, let alone the results. It can be so hugely damaging to their self esteem to feel stupid when they are not.

DD will be entitled to an extra 25% time in exams - it annoyed me that the school don't give her this in normal tests as she consistently doesn't finish and then never quite passes onto higher levels. I assumed she had been getting the extra time since Y2 and only recently discovered she doesn't, so worth bearing that in mind and fighting for it.