Dyslexia advice needed.

[CWUK85]

I have an 8 year old son for the past 2 months his behaviour towards his teacher and other students has been getting steadily worse. His attention span is very low he becomes easily frustrated if he doesn't understand something he cries alot when he gets told off even though i speak to him calmly. His spelling is ok i guess but sometimes writes numbers the wrong way around and his handwriting is not easy to understand it is very messy and full of crossing out. His teacher tells me he is very smart and is in top groups for everything. But he becomes frustrated when asked to do homework saying he doesn't understand before he even tries. And also in school if he is asked to re-do the work he becomes angry. When he reads to me he isn't very fluent and easily loses his place on the page. If someone walks in the room while he is reading he is immediately distracted. He has been bullied for a while and thought maybe this was the cause of his changed behaviour but it seems that he is starting to go after the boys who have bullied him instead of going to tell a teacher and becomes quite aggressive with the boys in the yard. One boy in paticular talks all of the time while doing work and my son becomes frustrated by this and says he cant concentrate. He also struggles to finish school work at the same time as everybody else. When he speaks he is hard to understand as he doesn't pronounce words properly and speaks very fast and also has a noticeable lisp. He also doesn't know how to fasten his laces. I would never make excuses for my sons bad behaviour but if i can find out the cause then i can help resolve the situation. I just wanted some advice from parents who have children with Dyslexia. Do these sound like symptoms? Do you think i should speak to his teacher about Dyslexia being a possibility?

Could be any number of things ? Have you spoken to his teacher/SENCO? You could approach GP about speech and behaviour but Dyslexia comes under Education rather than Health so needs assessment ultimately by an Educational Psychologist. There is however often an overlap between Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Autism/Aspergers, ADD, Visual and/or Auditory Processing etc

No i haven't spoke to his teacher about what it could be. According to allot of the research i have done online today schools don't like to say children have dyslexia because they cant afford the money it would cost to support him and get it diagnosed. I only thought about this today and was just wondering whether to bring it up with his teacher or would i have not been taken seriously or would she think i am making excuses for his behaviour. My partner (my son's stepdad) has Dyslexia and he thinks it could be a possibility. I looked at the symptoms online and even took a test and that seemed to lean towards yes he does have it. But i don't want to make something out of nothing if you know what i mean. I don't really know where to turn or what to do.

You should discuss his class behaviour and problems with homework with teacher in the first instance and put forward this as a possibility. Don't make assumptions that it won't be taken seriously . Remember most teachers have taught children with SpLD at some point and may recognise the pattern of behaviour. Meanwhile have his hearing and vision (including Tracking and Visual Processing) checked.

I have spoken to her about his behaviour as i am very involved with the school and like to keep track of how my kids are doing. It's only the Dyslexia issue i haven't discussed with her. She hasn't taught anyone before as this is her first teaching job so maybe she wouldn't notice the signs. Thanks for the advice i will speak to her about it and see what she thinks.

Oh and i know his vision is fine as he has regulaer check ups at the Opticians it's his hearing and speech i worry about so off to the doctors we go!

But sight is different to vision. You may decide to have a specially trained opthamologist to examine him too. Lots of M'netters advocate Visual Integration therapy as a way of counteracting Dyslexia symptoms. Take a look in SEN section .

Have a read up about dyspraxia as I think he possibly ticks some of the boxes for this. As said above, several issues can overlap so still worth checking the dyslexia concern and also ruling in/out ADHD too.

My boyfriend had similar behaviour in school which from reading his old school reports seems to have just been put down to naughtiness. His parents never got him checked or anything. He later became very bad at going to school and left with average qualifications. Somehow he managed to get into uni where he paid I think £75 to be tested for dyslexia. It turned out that he has very strong dyslexia, irelen syndrome and a very poor short term memory. However he also has an extremely high IQ and according to his psychologist if he had got assistance when he was younger he would have had a much happier time at school and got hugely improved grades. He's just finished his 2nd year of uni and receives huge amounts of support via one to one tutoring and technology to help with the dyslexia all paid for by the government. If you think your son may by dyslexic please don't leave it too late to get him tested, there is so much support out there once you get a diagnosis and it really will help him immeasurably.

Sorry forgot to mention, a teacher may not notice it in a class full of children, if you get a private appointment with a psychologist specialising in these things they will be able to tell you exactly what is wrong in a 2 hour appointment. Worth paying for in my opinion.

I'm dyslexic and one of the most obvious way it shows up for me is getting numbers mixed up. I also can't concentrate if someone is talking... at a dinner party or restaurant where there are several conversations going on, I get a bit stressed because my brain can't cope with it. Worth exploring further whether your DS is dyslexic - there's an easy test, and it's better to get these things looked at early. Good luck!