Dyslexia

[Hurstlandshome]

My daughter has dyslexia. She is a couple of years behind, can read and write, but simply cannot process phonics. I'm unsure how this will translate to exam results in the future.

AIBU to feel annoyed that if she were a boy her job prospects would still be pretty good; tradesmen can earn a fortune, but because she's female her options are limited?

Can anyone give me a steer on possible job routes? And before anyone says 'she can still be an electrician/plumber/builder' - I feel it's unlikely she'll go down this route.

Getting a diagnosis is a big deal. Take some time as a parent to process that before you start stressing. (I know - I have been there...).

My dd12 has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia (to add to a list of issues/diagnoses).

My daughters English teacher - who is also the Head of English in big secondary is very dyslexic! Ive had alot of correspondance from her recently due to my daughter issues. I can tell when she has written an email to me herself and when others have scribed for her - her spelling is awful. She often sends voice notes rather than text. She will phone rather than respond to an email.

Try and focus on what your daughter is good at. She good with her hands - maybe she is more practical? Is she good at drawing or playing with colours? Maybe design will be good for her. Is she of a caring personality - maybe a professional allied to medicine.

But she's 9. Concentrate on getting her the support she needs to through primary. Make sure she is happy and not picked on because of her issues. Make sure they are building in other forms of assessment to enable her to show what she knows. They hate this at primary and will push her to write like everyone else but she doesn't have to. Encourage them to let her use a computer. Teach her to type and how to get her way around ms office, or Google workspace or whatever.

Focus on her being brilliant in her own way. These sort of diagnoses generally come with confidence issues so have your cry by your self - and then slap your smile on and help her thrive by being who she is! She can do anything!

My daughter is 16 just finished school and is dyslexic. We aren’t hopeful that she’ll pass any of her GCSE’s but she took 2 Btecs and has done really well in bith with distinctions. Those have been taken into account for the courses she’s applied for at college. She will have to take maths and English again if she doesn’t pass them.

She had extra support at school and a scribe and extra time for exams but I should have pushed for an EHCP when she was first diagnosed in year 7. Having so much time out due to covid didn’t help.

Sorry you're struggling with this OP. It can be tough.

FWIW, my DD2 has dyslexia.
She is currently at the Royal College of Music as an undergraduate violinist and is doing extremely well. It's a performance based degree and although there is plenty of written work her value there is measured in her performance, which she excels at. (sorry, proud mummy)
When it became clear around yr1/2 that she had difficulties with reading/writing and organisation we made a deliberate effort to identify and support those areas of competence she DID have, in her case music.
In her part time job she is brilliant at solving all sorts of practical problems: arranging concerts, coordinating and dealing with trades, staging fundraising events, prepping and decorating when needed and liaising with artists and performers. Her huge strength is holding all these tasks in her head simultaneously and seeing the wider picture they need to make in completion.
Sometimes she has a wobble when things a more fluent reader would take in their stride throw her, but we'll work on ways together she can approach these less 'friendly' jobs to get to the other side.

What has worked for her is playing to her strengths. As someone once said to me, 'you wouldn' t ask a fish to climb a tree'

But I know all this may sound glib, whilst you're there in the thick of it. School can be very 'one size fits all' and it has taken many hard years for her to get where she is. Good luck. X

Sadly it sounds like the school are not really giving her much support.

My DS is dyslexic (and autistic) and was behind at your DDs age. He also has massive problems with phonics - phonological awareness is the root of his dyslexia problems. His school gave him extra phonics interventions, access to Nessy online to practice phonics, and word mats to help him with his writing. In Y4 they introduced him to Symwriter - symbol based word processing software which enabled him to produce written work independently. He's Y8 now and does all his work on a laptop using a spellchecker and is on target for a decent set of GCSEs. A degree doesn't seem the impossibility it did when he was 9. He does have an EHCP, but none of the dyslexia support he receives is specified in it.

It's not easy, but I think perhaps you should push the school a little harder. And don't worry too much about possible careers yet - your DD is still very young.

Hi op.

You need to help your child yourself.

It's shocking but true that primary schools that know what to do with dyslexia are the exception not the rule.
So any Sen are not taught at pgce level.

So a teacher may think a child can't read because their parents are not reading with them or they don't treasure book's.

The school should have a designated senco.

Ideally this person should be highly trained in Sen, tips, strategies, resources to help children.

Unfortunately, again if your school has one who is little more than a "co ordinator", you are very lucky.

I got my DC reading by forgoing phonics.
Going back to Peter and Jane books and using flash cards.
Phonics was a barrier not a help to DDS reading journey.

She has a tutor for maths who understands she needs visual aids to help her.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with tradespeople!

If that's what your dd want's.

However having dyslexia doesn't mean she can't do what she wants.

Ooh, and I forgot, one of DD1's mates, also severely dyslexic, just graduated with a 1st in Astrophysics and is currently finishing his MA before going off to work at CERNE laboratories.

Never forget. It's not an intellectual impairment.

Take some time to process then get busy finding the work-around - there will be one!

My DD20 has severe dyslexia. Phonics do not work for many dyslexics including my DD which is why reading/writing is delayed because the way it is taught in school just doesn’t work with their brains. I got a specialist cognitive therapist who used the Linda Mood Bell method for my DD at age 10 per recommendation of the private education psychologist who did a full battery of tests and assessments of DD to determine her exact type of dyslexia and therefore, what interventions she needed to reach her potential. So first step for you is to get a full assessment done so you know more about your DDs dyslexia. There are many types and for example, the typical things like coloured paper and one on one teaching not geared to her type of dyslexia also did not help my DD. The school SENCO then had a specific list from the education psychologist of the support my DD needed which included 25% extra time, breaks between exams, oral exams whenever possible over written, lower word count and extensions for written papers and such, copies of class notes (she can’t listen in class and write notes fast enough), etc. At her Uni she gets DSA and part of that includes free printing (reading on a screen is hard for her) and free audio textbooks.

Dyslexia doesn’t rule out being academic or getting a degree at all. You have to fight the culture of low expectations that abounds….we did. We had many teachers and even sencos tell us our DD could not succeed. When all the cognitive therapy was done (3yrs) and the accommodations were in place so she had a level playing field her grades jumped massively, these same “professionals” started to disbelieve she had dyslexia and tried to chip away at her accommodations so it was a fight to keep them every year, sometimes several times a year. We just kept a savings account with funds enough for repeat private assessments to prove her dyslexia had not been “cured.”

She’s just finished her 2nd year at Uni is on the Deans list and is on track for a 1st.

I missed /senco/ blue paper .

Has she had a test to show she even needs blue paper?

All this is coming out now,with the internet etc.

How on earth has this state of affairs been left like this!!

@ApplePippa

Phonics is like a cult.

The aim here is getting the child to read.
If phonics works for them,great but if it's not working,drop it!

It's absolutely terrifying to think of how many DC are being held back and stunted because of this one track illogical obsession with bloody phonics!

I have a friend, teacher who knows my DC journey,how She couldn't read, how I got her reading through flash cards, Peter and Jane, site reading, breaking down words into prefix and suffix....new spelling techniques.
She went up 4 reading levels in a few months!she's a bright girl but couldn't fathom What was asked of her in phonics!

Sorry I forgot to add friend teacher is still insistent that phonics was the only Way? What's going on why are teachers like a cult over it??

I think when they're at primary and the focus is purely on reading, writing and maths you worry a lot about what will happen when they're older. dd is classed as severely dyslexic and dyscalculic - and struggled in primary. Once she got to secondary where other learning becomes important some of her primary school peers were very unhappy when she began to get better marks than them! Her secondary provided good support - scribe for exams etc - and she did well in her Highers and advanced Highers and is now about to start her 3rd year on a highly competitive course at a very sought after university. She did learn to read - it just took more time. Please don't write off your dd's future at the age of 9!

My DH has dyslexia, 20 years ago he had a computer with a voice to text and read out loud programme, he didn't need to read to write essays and in exams had extra time. You can get pens that read books for you now and I'm sure there's lots more amazing tech available. The deputy head of our council communications team is dyslexic.

My 8yo is dyslexic, a couple of years behind and still on kipper and chip book level when her peers are free readers. If she keeps progressing at her slow pace, she'll get by. She has fantastic knowledge and has a scribe and reader when the work is comprehension rather than writing or reading.

She's started private tutoring with a dyslexia specialist. Is that an option?

Oh I don't disagree! I was just trying to give the OP an idea of what support can look like - we have no idea what type of support her DD needs.

As long as she gets the support , dyslexia won't stop her. I know a primary school teacher, another professional and two that work within the NHS (who have severe dyslexia).
Unfortunately my husband didn't get the help he needed, however that hasn't stopped him and he's an electrical fitter.

There are plenty of people with dyslexia in my office. Dyslexia doesn’t mean a manual trade.

I work in theatre and we have previously employed stage managers , prop makers , makeup artist , costume makers who whilst creative and motivated, do not have to be strong readers or writers. Often skills involve talent with colour or hand crafting (such as carving or making moulds) . In my opinion these jobs are v rewarding and might catch the imagination of a young person

In fact , some of our apprenticeships are directed solely at youngsters who haven’t thrived in mainstream education

@Hurstlandshome While not helpful for your daughter now, earlier this year LinkedIn introduced the option to select Dyslexic Thinking as a skill on your profile as employers are beginning to recognise the strengths that come from people who think differently.

Here's a link to the article, with a video that's quite inspiring and shares dyslexic, well-known people across a range of jobs: www.linkedin.com/pulse/dyslexic-thinking-now-officially-recognised-valuable-skill-griggs/

I'm so hopefully that neurodiversity is becoming better understood, supported and accepted in education, employment and society as a whole.

A friend of mine recently shared that her child's school are pushing to test all children upon school entry for dyslexia (and possibly other ND disabilities), so that they can better support them where needed. I don't know what it will look like but I'm so glad they're being proactive with it rather than letting children struggle through.

@Unbored
my adult son is severely dyslexic and is mildly autistic

he is 27 he drives (I just bought him a new car ) and he is buying a flat this year

he’s been driving since 18

work wise he went into security getting his SIA badge at 18 and has always worked since he was 15

worked in McDonald’s while at school and college

initially he was doing door work on clubs and bars then festivals like Glastonbury and Reading & V festival

he worked for a security company that would place him in different security roles like Aerospace &
Universities
Then he moved to work in security in a university for 2 years
Then moved to his present job as security for one of ASOS manufacturing hubs

its long hours but excellent pay for security work which is normally seem as low paid

I think he is on about 35k plus regular monthly bonuses

plenty overtime that is payed at 2.5 times regular pay and if he is on call then a flat rate of £150 a day

And he still works on the odd weekend doing door work as he likes the atmosphere

my friends son who is also autistic & dyslexic just did his SIA badge on my recommendation and has got plenty of work straight away

it’s about finding a niche that they like and can be confident in doing

my son couldn’t deal with a lot of paperwork but can deal with reporting via a voice messages to his boss

The dd had an ehp? At the time. She got extra time and the use of a computer, exams in a different room.
I put my foot down about various things, having to write the long date and the lessons ILO. I also refused to let her do detentions for low spellings. If a teacher makes every spelling in her work regularly I complained.
Eg
Basically you have to fight for them.
She got good gcse
She did well at sixth form
Didn't want uni so trained as a software coder and is on more than I have ever been.

@PorkPieForStarters .
It's has astonished me that this doesn't already happen!

No wonder so many people who can't read end up on jail.
It's a stain on our society.

It didn't take long for my dd to learn once I realised she just needed it taught in a slight different way.
Good on that school but where is it and why is that school progressive and proactive and others are allowed to be stuck in the dark ages??

If someone hasn't already mentioned this, the website/organisation www.madebydyslexia.org is great - very positive, & would be good to show your DD too.
My DD11 was diagnosed May 2019, but only got a EHCP in September 2021 & finally funding from LA for the support she needs. PUSH school for an Ed Psych assessment, PUSH for an ERSA (this requires EP assessment), PUSH the Senco & school for action. Not going to lie, it generally takes a fight to get the support your DC needs as it takes the school work & funding from the LA. Don't be fobbed off.

On a positive note, the future is very bright for dyslexics. Technology is moving forwards & is a huge help for them. Attending a specialist dyslexia school once a week (privately funded) was life changing for her. Oh, & learning touch typing is key - no more remembering spellings, just using muscle memory, so more effort can be spent on ideas etc

@Summerwhereareyou It's a great idea, isn't it! It's just a small school in the Yorkshire Dales, perhaps due to their size they're more able to try things like this. Hoping it works and can be used as a case study for wider adoption.

That's brilliant you were able to figure that out for your daughter, though of course you shouldn't have had to! I'd love to see schools embrace different ways of learning.

My 10 year old is dyslexic. Have you had a full assessment? if you get a full assessment it will outline the support needed. Then you can work with skool to put in place the necessary adjustments. Ny daughter gets 25% extra time for exams but very little other interventions, she sits near the front and has an iPad to photograph the board as she can to track. She uses overlays to read but doesn’t technically need these.

Does your child have iep that outlines the extra support she gets and has targets etc attached?

She'll be absolutely fine. But please don't push the mentality that women can't do physical jobs, certainly not on your daughter. Primary is really the hardest time to be dyslexic, it just gets easier and easier, the further in studies you get the more support you get I found. And working with animals is much more about getting as much experience as you can. So volunteering at shelters, working on farms etc is far more important than being a fast reader.