To consider if my 13 year old dd might be dyslexic

[Violettaparma]

I'm wondering if anyone might have experience of forms of dyslexia which are subtle/ may go unnoticed.
My daughter is in year 9. She is relatively bright, mid to high ability, in upper sets for all subjects, but not the very top. She is also very good at art, and creative - interested in interior design and with an eye for making things look good. She has never been a reader (we are a family of readers, so I have tried!) despite always enjoying being read to when younger (she has not wanted to be read to for a few years, though I do still read with my 11 year old, who enjoys it - recently I have suggested we should restart reading together, and she was horrified).
In around year 3, her primary school briefly flagged dyslexia as a possibility (said at time her spelling was not in line with her general ability) - they did some sort of test, and then said they didn't think she was, which I didn't query at the time, but I imagine it was not particularly in depth, and involved testing gross motor skills etc, which are all fine.
My concerns currently, as she approaches GCSEs are that I might be missing something which might cause her not to achieve her potential. I've recently had access to her 'flight path' which predicts a level 7 at GCSE English based on her SATS (which is reassuring) although it also stated her reading age for year 8 (assuming towards end) to be 12.0 (she would have been 13.6 then). Her spelling is not terrible, but again not great, and seems to be something she has a bit of a block with (asked me yesterday how to spell 'being'). She has always scored better at writing than reading, and again this was commented on by her English teacher at parents' evening last year. She has said she finds it hard to work out what is going on and follow a text (eg a novel), and recently she commented that if she has to read aloud in class or follow as someone else reads she uses a ruler to follow the lines otherwise she loses the place.
I'm wondering if, although she has no problem reading individual words, and her handwriting is good, she may have some issues with reading and processing when it comes to larger pieces of text, and whether this is worth getting assessed? Any advice welcome.

@BreakfastClub80

Where did you get testing?
As far as I'm aware it's private? Costing min £600!

At @Stag82

What school test!

Ours doesn't even. Believe it's a thing.

We have to call it literacy issue's.

Even the ed pysce

@Stag82

My dd floundering with phonics for so long..

It was home school and COVID that meant I took charge... sight reading and got her up several levels .

In a few months.

@Violettaparma - thanks for replying, I'm kind of glad they are different in that way, it was getting a little spooky!👻

I've had a chat with DD this evening, and I now feel awful for not having picked up in this sooner, so I am really grateful you started this thread! Along with the things already mentioned, there are various signs, I think:

DD says if there's a lot of writing on the board, she won't attempt to read it, but will instead wait for the teacher to start talking about it and will then take notes.

If they're asked to copy down work from the board, she says she literally looks up and notes one word at a time and doesn't actually take in any information until she has finished and reads it back to herself.

She also told me that when she's reading, sometimes the letters appear to increase and decrease in size.

DD says that they did a 3 part comprehension mock exam at the end of last year, and at the end of the exam, she had only completed 2 of them. I can't believe no one told me at the time!

I feel so guilty for not picking up on any of this, we are super close and she and I sit down for around an hour each day and she will tell me all about her day, literally lesson by lesson, what they learned, what they discussed, who she hung out with at break etc.. I think I just put her poor spelling down to not reading much, because she has a great vocab, as she's always asking what words mean.

DH, DD and I have discussed and I am going to contact her English teacher (who DD loves) and ask him for his advice. School are really good and I'm hopeful of a helpful response.

Good luck with your endeavours, I'll try to come back and let you know how we fare.

@mycatisannoying

I'd love to know where your boss operates; ..in our part of the world dyslexia doesn't even exist; trying to get it recognised and supported takes deep pockets!

Having a diagnosis of dyslexia doesn’t mean you get any special help. You get the help based on the specific difficulties experienced not on a label of dyslexia.
If you have problems spelling you might get spelling interventions.
If you have problems reading you might get Reading interventions and in an exam might get assistive technology.
If you have delayed processing speed you might get extra time in an exam. The amount of time depends on your processing speed.

Unfortunately if you have dyslexia it is very hard to achieve your full potential in an exam -10% of the maths in English, Geography, History and RE are given for spelling so you are automatically disadvantaged if you have dyslexia. It’s not a level playing field at all.

A different perspective, I was diagnosed aged 19 while I was in my first year of Uni. It was my tutor who referred me to get tested because I had similar traits to her daughter.

I'm bright, enjoy reading and was an enthusiastic pupil which is why I got so far without being noticed.

Reading and comprehension is where I struggle and it slows me down a lot. Beyond Year 9, I really struggled in school but had already set my parents and teachers expectations of what I was capable of. I got through my GCSEs, scraped through my A Levels and completely flunked my first year of uni. After I was diagnosed, the University made allowances (25% extra time in exams and extended deadlines) I also attended sessions on "how to learn" which helped me with processing information and particularly how to help with exam revision.

I now have a good understanding of my capabilities and how my brain works, and I've gone on to do a Masters and have a good job. However I do think if someone had noticed earlier in my life that I was dyslexic I could have had an easier time at secondary school and worked smarter not harder. As it is I put all my energy into trying to succeed academically and still fucked up but also had no social life.

Sorry for the waffle, but anything you can do for your child now if SEN/dyslexia is suspected will only have a positive impact on their future x

Good evening,
Letters changing size/ moving is one of the symptoms of Irlens
Also, dislike of looking at board with white background

@BetsyBigNose really interesting that you've identified similar experience - I'm glad the thread has helped you as well, I think even if it turns out my dd does not have any form of dyslexia I will feel glad to have explored the avenues. Good luck with looking into it further.
@MarigoldPetals I hadn't even really thought ahead to special help (and I doubt she'd get much in class) - but the targeted adjustments you mention are what I was thinking about really. Also for us to understand what she might struggle with, and if she needs extra help, eg tutors to try and look for ones with experience of dyslexia (if there is such a thing!)
@PennyPinkPineapple Your experience is really interesting. My brother's ex gf had a very similar experience of being diagnosed in first year uni, having done fine in school exams, and was then given some extra help eg computer (going back 20 years!) so I was aware it's possible for bright children to slip under radar. Starting to struggle from year 9 is exactly what I'm concerned about, as the demands on reading, processing and comprehension become greater. Also interesting about ways of learning - I've become aware that although she is diligent and makes beautiful revision cards as instructed that she maybe isn't studying in the correct way to actually learn (I guess this is probably a technique most people have to develop though) so this is also something I'm trying to monitor/ help with.
I think as she has always had excellent reports and top 'effort' grades in first couple of years at school the fact that her actual attainment could be better has slipped under my radar (they don't actually give any information about this, I only know now as I specifically asked for it after an issue with school). I have largely let her get on with it, but yesterday we went through the work she has done in English this week, and although the content was good and it is neat her spelling continues to be a real issue - eg repeatedly spelling names of main characters in the text they are reading incorrectly, and various other words which I feel she should know. Some of this was stuff she had copied down from the board as well.
Going to look into the private assessment this week. I'm not sure about contacting school first, she has a new English teacher, who can't be expected to know much as yet. She did like her teacher last year though, I guess she might potentially have some insights.

@Violettaparma - I hope you don't mind me resurrecting your thread, but I'm hoping someone here might be able to advise on where we go from here with my DD who I mentioned upthread please?

I spoke to school about our concerns and they arranged for her to take a test (WRAT 5 Blue, if that means anything to anyone?!) and DD has scored 'average' in reading and word comprehension and 'slightly below average' for spelling.

School say that this means they won't put her forward for a dyslexia assessment, but they do think she would "benefit from some extra support". We are finding this very confusing. DD is in top sets for everything (so wouldn't we expect her to be scoring 'above average'?), but really struggles with reading and spelling. She has to read a paragraph once, word by word, to ensure she understands what the words are, then again to get the meaning of the paragraph. With her spelling, she still spells lots of words phonetically and can often spot that she has spelled something incorrectly, but can't figure out where she has gone wrong.

We are concerned that because she is now 13 and is bright, she has come up with all sorts of coping mechanisms to mask how hard she finds processing the written word, and that it just hasn't been picked up on this specific test. Additionally, DD says that the SENDCO administering the test only ran through about half of the test paper - does anyone know if that's usual?

I'm confused because school obviously recognise there's an issue, otherwise why offer the extra support? Could it be a budget issue - perhaps she's not 'dyslexic enough' to qualify for the school to pay for an assessment? DD is upset, and convinced she's "just really rubbish at reading and spelling", and doesn't want us to kick up any fuss with school.

Is going for a private assessment our only option here? Any and all advice gratefully received please!

@BetsyBigNose

It's awful isn't it. parents of children struggling and we can't make any sense of why or what to do to help.

Have you ever taken her to a behavioural optometrist? They do an in-depth report on the eyes. They can't diagnosis anything though.
It's expensive but perhaps something to look Into.

@TheHouseonHauntedHill - thanks for your reply. We haven't, but I do think it's more an issue processing the written word than a problem with her eyesight. She has regular eye tests and does have some very weak glasses for reading, which she does wear. It's certainly something to consider if we get further down the line with no answers.

I just want to get this looked at now, so that if she needs some extra time for her GCSE exams for example, then we are in time to get it sorted. I feel awful that I haven't picked up on this before now, I just thought that she didn't like reading! DH, DD1 and I are all big readers and DD2 has never enjoyed it. I now know it's because she finds it exhausting, rather than boring.

The NHS eye test and this test are appels and pear's.

It's about two hours, looking at letters on line, tracking, colour's all sorts!

Betsy I would pay and get whatever help you can yes if you can afford it.
But look into this other eye test

@TheHouseonHauntedHill - I think we will end up paying for a private assessment. Unfortunately, it's not something we can easily afford, but it's something I don't think we can afford not to afford! I just wonder if it's worth trying to convince school that they should get her assessed through them. Looking for an private assessor, they seem to be more than 100 miles away from where we are.

I'm another one with a spookily similar DD! Whereabouts are you? There is a dyslexia centre in Yorkshire - the cost is really putting us off though. I'm also aware that going for assessment almost certainly leads to diagnosis so I'm conflicted. It does seem unfair that more affluent families can level the playing field for exams whereas those struggling cannot.

My friend's dyslexia were only picked up during their PHD

For private assessments look for a proper qualified and registered educational psychologist. Best money we have spent. Report was very detailed, highlighted the weakness areas with pages of strategies to use.

I've found the following books useful with my dyslexic dc but they are severely dyslexic. There is a free test on website to see which book is suitable to start - word hornet (more basic) or word wasp (more advanced). The original Toe by Toe book was recommended by educational psychologist who carried out my children's dyslexia assessment but Iv found Word Wasp (same authors) a but better as makes the person spell the words as well as read. You can buy the books online off multiple sites then just work through them.

www.wordwasp.com/

My DD was similar as despite being very bright never quite got the grades she deserved. Some of her teachers said they suspected she might have some dyslexic tendencies but was doing quite well at a high performing grammar school. After 6 months of VI form where she seemed to be struggling more, We actually paid to have her assessed and it turned out that she wasn't dyslexic but has a severe visual processing disorder. A number of recommendations were made and her school were amazing. She had additional time in her exams and a laptop, all handouts and exam papers on yellow paper. She did really well in her A levels.

Audio books are also great, mine listen to the going to sleep instead of reading

Thanks everyone!

@fruitpastille - we're in Devon. We're really going to struggle to find the money, but I'm hoping that generous Grandparents might feel it's something they'd like to contribute towards. DD2 doesn't do any extra curricular clubs etc. (she's always completely exhausted after school) and I pay out around £100 a month (which is a real stretch, but she loves them) for DD1's various theatre groups, so I think I'll try and reconcile the spending by thinking of it as balancing things out a bit!

@Hankunamatata - It looks like an EP is about £100 more (£750 as opposed to £650), so may well be worth the extra. Thanks for all the recommendations.

@KnottyKnitting - can I ask what the visual processing disorder is? Did you use an Educational Psychologist to get the diagnosis, or is there a different route?

We used qualified educational psychologist who we saw through the dyslexia institute. DD has Meares Irlens/ scotopic sensitivity which can look like dyslexia. We knew she was bright but took such an age to learn to read because her tracking and processing is so slow. Poor tracking was picked up by an ophthalmologist when she was nine ( wore glasses from very young) but we always attributed this to long sightedness and never thought there could be an another reason for this. The Ed psych was shocked at how bad it was and said the only reason she had achieved so well was because she was bright and very determined.

I got my daughter tested in year2 through school.

Hi, @BetsyBigNose thanks for resurrecting the thread! Interesting what school have picked up but also frustrating that they won't assess further. I also spoke to my dd's school (who apparently won't do any dyslexia assessment, though I wasn't really expecting much) but before this I had a free consultation with a dyslexia service my friend used and recommended. It was really helpful, and I have now put her on the waiting list for assessment, which will apparently take a few months. I think it's worth paying, but like someone else has said we are lucky that we are able to afford it - it does seem inequitable!

The person who did the consultation told me to ask school to do assessment for 'exam access arrangements', which I have also mentioned to school. I had never heard of this before. Apparently this is an assessment school will do to determine if the pupil would be permitted extra time etc in exams - they do the assessment, but will take account of any assessment obtained privately. My daughter is in year 9, so I presume this is done in advance of GCSE. Might be worth asking school about.

Hi, I am just returning to update having started the thread. I had my daughter tested privately, which revealed that she is definitely dyslexic - she scored extremely low (first centile) for phonological processing of verbal and auditory information and for processing speed. Short term working memory was ok, though this is typically also affected in dyslexia as I understand. Her scores on these things were totally at odds with her general ability, other scores in average/ high average range.
So, it was definitely worth testing, and interesting, if concerning, that this has never been flagged up with school other than briefly at age 7 when it was quickly dismissed. If I had not queried she would probably have continued on through GCSEs, which she is about to start, achieving mediocre results.
I think it has taken until now for me at least to pick this up as it has only become evident that she is struggling as school demands have got greater - she has clearly been massively over compensating to keep up. At least now she will qualify for exam access arrangements, extra time, and school have already put things in place such as a laptop, reading pen, extra literacy support and she is flagged up as on the SEN register. Still no idea how she will do ultimately academically but at least she will have the support in place.
Thought it might be helpful to feed this back for others who were having similar concerns.