dyslexia/dyspraxia/speech delay...where yo get help

[jellybean321]

This is going to be abit long winded sorry. Im looking for advise with regards to my 5 year old son. I.went to his review meeting at school for speech and language as he has a delay with some of his sounds. The teacher suggested we look for another referal as she had concerns that may be dyspraxia/dyslexia. I did raise concerns previously to SALT about this and his paediatrician but didnt get to far. He is clumsy,still cant remember numbers to 10, cant remember still where his tray is in class,gets confused with instructions if they are not part of his normal routine etc. I have previously looked into verbal dyspraxia but again.was told they werent sure at this age. He has also got glue ear. So im now waiting again.for referals..but is there anyway I can.move things quickly by either paying private,going thriugh gp instead of school etc? He is falling behind already and I just want to give him a fighting chance! Ive been.asking for two.years and a bit fed of of being fobbed off . Thanks

Look up the dyslexia association good advise
Most won't test until 7 but shchiol should advise what interventions they will try before then - usually Ed Pyc wants to see what's been done at school
Have you had his eyes tested with an optitian aware he may be dyslexic?

We (Optometrists) aren't qualified to diagnose dyslexia and its too early anyway. Its quite normal for little children to reverse some letters.

But please do get his eyes tested, undiagnosed visual problems really don't help children who are having other issues and sometimes a either correcting a refractive error or sorting out a binocular vision issue can really help concentration and reading.

On a personal level, my middle son has an auditory processing disorder and had speech delay and at one time had a stammer. At that age he really struggled with verbal instructions, especially outside his normal routine (and still does a little although academically he's now flying). We had a SALT come into school every week and he loved it, she really brought on his speech and after a couple of years worked on his actual comprehension.

I under stand you aren't qualified to diagnose dyslexia! I never said you were.

DS recent appointment I told them he was being tested and the optitian having a daughter with severe dyslexia said he 'found what he expected in a dyslexic child'
Therefore recommended glasses to help with his concentration so he doesn't concentrate straining his eyesight - please look it up

Green - I'm not entirely sure how to reply to you.

Some dyslexic children have visual problems and some don't. It varies. There is some discussion, but generally it doesn't help dyslexic children to have other visual problems as I said before. There was a recent paper which showed that dyslexic children generally had no visual issues and it was panned by the optical community and there is also a optometrist who believes that all dyslexia is just down to "binocular instability".

My practice specialises in children who have visual issues and I can't say that they are the same in each child. Some need coloured filters and some don't, some need glasses for long-sightedness, some for short-sightednedness, some have antimetropia (which is one short-sighted and one long-sighted eye), some have latent squint and some a manifest and some have convergence insufficiency.

Some have no significant visual problem at all, yet they have huge visual processing issues.

I'm sorry to slight de-rail your thread OP, but there seems to be a huge amount of mis-information about eyes recently and I don't want someone who googles your thread at a later date to come back and take something away from it that isn't correct. Evidence based medicine is very important to me.

Our SALT covers dyspraxia things, I would suggest a private one. The NHS provisions are disgraceful, absolute embarrassment . He has come on very far with his SALT, it's expensive but worth it.

Some dyslexic children have visual problems and some don't.

Which is why I asked if he'd has his eyes checked

Have you had his eyes tested with an optitian aware he may be dyslexic?

Some parents don't realize there's a link and a good optitian would want to know surely?

www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/eyes-and-dyslexia#Visual%20Stress

Here

Thankyou for your comments he has recently had his eyes checked and they are fine. Tigerbasil yes we did pay for a time for private salt and she was great...much better than the nhs offering or lack of but its very costly. I might look to pay again with regards to dyspraxia

What is auditory processing disorder please underneaththeash ?