Dyslexia but a good reader?

[youlemming]

Sorry in advance if its a bit of a ramble, there's a lot of thoughts flying about in my head.

My 8yr old DD is doing really well at school in most areas but is struggle with writing and spelling, we battle most weeks over the new spellings and eventually get to a point of her getting 7-10 correct but then she often drops to 5-6 during the test.
They have a spelling test after half term covering the first 6 weeks but spellings she could do at the time it's like she's learning completely new.
I know her handwriting is poor but mines not great so I haven't worried too much before now.

We had parents evening last week and her teacher said she's really bright and great at getting involved in class but struggles with writing and spelling.
Her reading is 2 yrs ahead (though I now wonder how much she understands or follows the story as she can rarely tell me much about what she's just read) at 10 yrs but her writing and spelling is 2yrs behind at 6yrs.
She said my DD has a lot of great ideas in her head but can't get it all down on paper and it's very rushed.
She's great at maths but seeing her workbook and her teacher pointed it out also it's very messy and her work is not laid out well.

A week on I'm now kicking myself that I didn't think about it then and ask the teacher could she be dyslexic.
Now on half term and working Mon-Thurs I won't get to see her teacher unit next Fri.

Should I wait until then or would it be appropriate to call and see if there is an opportunity to speak to her on the phone, I know she will be very busy during the teaching day or pre arrange a discussion after the Fri pick up?

My DD is also what I would call cack handed, she really struggles using a knife and fork together and I often have to cut up her food.
Is quite clumsy and isn't great with directions, as in turn left or right.
I know dyslexics can have difficulty with some physical/motor skills.

That sounds more like dyspraxia than dyslexia.

It does sound as if she has some dyslexic symptoms. I’m dyslexic and was always a fantastic reader as I don’t read phonetically but trained myself to recognise the whole shape of a word. So being a good reader doesn’t rule it out. Might be worth asking the teacher what she thinks.

Hello as a dyslexic adult I understand and it does sound like dyslexia. There is 2 think
One if the school has microsoft office 365 there is loads of free tools to help with reading, spelling and writing. They are all free.

For home and school you may want to look at Nessy Learning it a online app that help dyslexic to reading and spell

Yes this is exactly my daughter.

My dd (13) is severely dyslexic but reads absolutely anythig she can lay her hands on. Literally cannot write (touch types onher lap top at school) or spell. She is incredibly bright and gets alot of support at school as well as extra tuition

Thank you all for the replies, will arrange a meeting with the school when open after the half term.

What's the best way to discuss it with my DD I don't want her to think there is something she's doing wrong if she knows we are having a meeting with the school

You could be describing me or my oldest son (y5) when you described your daughter. I'm dyslexic.
DS has an assessment with an Educational Pyschologist at the end of next month, as his teacher feels it is worth investigating further - SENCO last year did a screen, and says no, but my gut and this teachers gut says something is going on - mainly because if you spoke to DS about something, he is clearly articulate and bright. If you read his work, it looks like a different child produced it. He can't copy works from the board, he gets D and B confused (still). His latest writing included "whith" and "befor" - stuff he should have without thinking by now. I'm not in the UK, but am at a British school abroad. Your referral process may be different, but i have had to contact a company and request. It's taking weeks because the Ed Psyc will come to the country that boarders hers and mine- so all of us will get passports out to get the assessment......

He loves reading, but equally reading out loud is littered with mistakes. So the book might say "the mucky wet dog came and sat on the rug in front of his master" and it might be read aloud as "the muddy wet dog sat in front of his master on the rug". If you arent paying attention, it sounds right, and the understanding is there, but it's not current, iyswim?

Anyway, I spoke to DS about what was going on, and basically said he was clever, but his brain and my brain, and some amazing people like Richard Branson brain, are wired slightly differently to most people. This makes some things - like spelling - really really hard, but it also makes them think in a slightly different way, and can produce amazing results (Einstein was thought to be dyslexic). And then we said we wanted him to see someone to help identify exactly what was making the spelling part of his brain have to work so hard, so they could see if there were any ways to help.
He seems ok with it.

But also jumping in here for others ideas and suggestions.

I have dyslexia. In school I always scored at least two years ahead on my reading. My spelling and maths were always horrendous and I really sturggled.

Can you just email the teacher? Some schools are able to do their own dyslexia assessments - they're not as conclusive as a full assessment but it would give you some pointers.

In most areas there's a long waiting list for (free) Ed Psych assessments and then only when the school gets round to referring the child.
If you can afford it pay for a private appointment with an Educational Psychologist who will get to the root of the problem.

I think there are people who are v good readers but dyslexic- I'm married to one, and we also think our y5 DS has dyslexia. There are dyspraxic traits from your description too.

With regard to explaining to DD, what about something along the lines of "we want to make sure school is supporting and extending your learning as much as they can"?

Thanks CantSpell and haba, will use a combination of your suggestions once I has a meeting set up with the school.

Is she ambidextrous?

No I don't think so, she either does most things with her right hand as far as I can tell.

So many things that she has trouble doing now seem to make sense when I put it in relation to dyslexia/dyspraxia.
Today it was tying laces, most of her shoes are still velcro as she can't do laces but today she wanted to wear her converse, we tried a few times before she gave up defeated yet again.

Any tips on learning laces as I know it would give her a real boost?

Had a meeting with DD's teacher today, she say's they can't do anything in regards to an assesment as we would have to arrange and pay for that ourselves.

She says there could be dyslexic tendencies but she thinks that DD needs to work on phonics and homophones which is something that she will look at arranging either 1-1 or in a small group with one of the support staff.

She thinks it's more about her rushing her work and needing to slow down in terms of the handwritting (though even when I ask DD to write out a word in her best hand writting it's still not great), but has given DD and a couple fo others a handwriting practice book (the type where they trace the letter then progress to writting it free hand).

With the spelling she says DD doesn't spell phonetically which is how a lot of dyslexics spell, but instead of spelling purely as it sounds DD add's completley random letters in, then will point out herself it's wrong when asked.

I've recently brought a hand writting pen and pencil where it has the finger positions and that seems to be helping, even if it's more of a confidence boost that the actual pen itself.

Is it worth seeing a GP, wait and see if the additional things at school help or start lookign into a priavte assessment?

I'm a bit lost as to what to do next.

Dysgraphia ?
www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/dysgraphia/understanding-dysgraphia

'With the spelling she says DD doesn't spell phonetically which is how a lot of dyslexics spell, '

People with dyslexia frequently will have weak phonological processing skills including weak phonological awareness - the ability to identify the sounds in words. It's possible that your dd's visual processing skills are stronger than her auditory phonological processing skills which might then impact on her spelling. You won't know exactly where her areas of weakness are unless she has a full diagnostic assessment.
Ask the teacher to break down her reading assessment scores for you - is 2 years ahead on reading accuracy/single word reading/comprehension/fluency? Bear in mind that reading ages are generally not very accurate.

Look up 37 signs of dyslexia

Phonics don't work on Dyslexic kids
Sight reading is better
Look up Nessy.com
Teach her to touch type - lots of free apps available - all good

This teacher Is wrong and you need to step in to make sure your DD gets what she needs.

Is her spellings based on phonics?

I.e. Night bright sight?

If so make a poster with the igh highlighted

And put them on their wall so she can see them - if she isn't dylexic she needs visual aids

Hi it sounds like dyspraxia, she has all the classic signs. My ds was very similar in primary and I was told he could be dyspraxic nothing was ever confirmed and he struggles now in secondary with English but tries so hard. First of all try not to worry and don't overload her with practising all the time. In regards to spelling buy magnetic letters and play doh. Get her to spell the words using these to begin with rather than writing them so she is not worrying about the handwriting side of it as well as the spelling. Use a squirty bottle and get her to spell the words squirting the water onto slabs. Use different colours for different sounds. School should hopefully be structuring her spellings so she is focusing on a specific sound and maybe reducing her spellings to 8 instead of 10. She needs to be successful to build her confidence. She'll prob find it difficult to organise her ideas, so school should be helping with that. Mind maps, post it's that she can re-arrange etc. With regard to fine motor skills get her to pick small beads up with pincer fingers and place into small bottles, get a scrap of material, lay her hand flat on it then get her to pull the material into her palm with her fingers. These are just fine motor skills exercises that may help. My Ds struggled with shoe laces and knife and fork, tie etc but can do all fine now. It doesn't matter if you don't have the label, treat it that she has and school should too because as long as she has the interventions in place to begin with this is what will help her. She will be exhausted after school as she will have tried extra hard so don't overload her. Please if i can give any advice it's to not let it consume you. She has your support and that is the main thing. Building Self Esteem is paramount so hopefully school are doing this. Sorry for the ramble.

Twenty years ago we had problems with a primary school regarding a diagnosis of dyslexia for our son and had to pay for a private assessment. The GP said it was down to the EA. The school brought in an ed psych who just chatted to him for a bit and decided to accuse us of creating problems. Because he's intelligent and we had been supporting him, his performance came within acceptable limits and he got no support at first. But once we were armed with an assessment from an educational psychologist at a dyslexia centre, everything changed. We made sure every teacher had a full copy of the report and checked that they were following the recommendations. It was hard work for everyone concerned but our son ultimately went to university and even studied abroad. He was given extra time in exams from GCSE onwards, extended deadlines for written work, a dedicated tutor to help him organise his work and present himself clearly, IT support (Apple Mac computer, voice recorder etc.) Getting the report was expensive and stressful, but it was the only way the school would recognise his problem. I can't honestly comment on the situation today, but looking back, getting that report was one of the best things we did.

Thanks again for the suggestions and advise on where to go next with it, I will make sure we don't overload her with practice and lots of different techniques.

It did feel like her teacher was trying to say it was mostly down to her concentration and rushing her work.

Will definately look up nessy as that's been mentioned a few times to me now.

'Phonics don't work on Dyslexic kids
Sight reading is better'

This is not true - sorry. A highly structured phonological programme of work which develops phonological awareness is the recommended approach for children with dyslexia.