Private dyslexia diagnosis please help!

[daffodilgold]

Dc has just had their mock exams before 11+ they have done quite badly in their English paper but when things are carried out verbally she can answer every question. She regularly skips words when reading and music teachers have picked up that she can't read music despite years of trying (not sure if that's related) but she's managed to listen to the music and repeat it to compensate .

Can anyone recommend me a dyslexia service that can diagnose her asap as ideally id get a diagnosis before the exams. I have brought it up with school but was met with lots of she's doing fine for her age. But I know something isn't right, she skips lots of generic words every time she reads, it changes the sentences she's reading and this makes her get the english comprehension questions wrong. TIA

Go here
https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/services/assessments

it might be too late for exams this year though.

Thanks @ChopperC110P they do look fully booked though.

I went private and I had to wait 7 months - where are you based?

Brighouse Dyslexia if you’re anywhere near Yorkshire.

Second brighouse dyslexia, had an appointment within a month

Thanks will look into these. Am happy to travel wherever

@TheCheeseTray I expect we won't get the assessment in time but it's worth a try. We are in SE

My dd has dyslexia and dyscalculia which I had privately diagnosed when she was around 8 or 9 because the schools would not recognize it. (We are in the usa). Once I got the diagnosis and the appropriate accommodations (took another few years), she flourished, skipped multiple grades, started taking university courses by age 14 and is now in her final year of University (majoring in Philosophy no less....could it involve any more reading and writing than that) at age 20.
All of this is to say, I love your attitude of being willing to travel to wherever to get the testing done. It really will make a difference!!!

Could anyone who's used Brighouse give me a rough idea of costs please, I can't see anything on the website.

I paid a private educational psychologist £1000. She did an IQ test, tests of reading and established an enormous gap between the 2. Hasn’t done much for child in school who is still seen as managing fine (not as a hugely bright child who can’t get her words on paper). As we go forward will be asking to sit exams on a laptop and use text to speech though. The diagnosis has helped though, less pressure, abandoned the weekly spelling homework.

A specialist teacher should be £400-600

Try the PATOSS website. Many assessors can assess remotely over video link so search widely.

Check in with the exams officer for the 11+ to ask about evidence requirements and timelines.

I am a specialist dyslexia assessor and agree to look at the Patoss website as there is an assessor index on there. You may get lucky and find somebody sooner but a few months wait is typical.

For the South East around £500 is typical for a specialist teacher assessor.

I work in this field. Google PATOSS tutor register. It will give you a list of qualified teacher/assessors which you can search by location. To get exam arrangements in GCSEs etc you not only need a diagnosis - the arrangements have to be the pupil's "normal way of working" so you'll need to work with the SENCO on that aspect. Hope that helps.

About 10/12 years ago Dyslexia Action helped us find an assessor.

https://dyslexiaaction.org.uk/#top

It looks like they’re organised slightly differently now but they still might be able to help.

I was only diagnosed with dyslexia when I went to a grammar school for 6th form, until then my schools had said that I wasn’t C/D borderline it wasn’t worth putting help in place even though I never had time to finish my exams. When I spoke to past teachers afterwards they said they knew I was dyslexic. I wish they’d have bloody told me! Best of luck getting everything in place.

It might be worth discussing this with the grammar school that she’s sitting the 11+ for. They may have some advice on where to go. And I expect they’ll be more helpful than your current school as they’ll me more familiar with clever kids being dyslexic.

https://www.smdyslexia.co.uk/

Sarah is lovely and her diagnosis and report helped our child when they were diagnosed about the same age. She can also do via zoom I think?

@daffodilgold By the way, DC’s inability to read music after years of lessons was a trigger for us to investigate too!

Thanks for these replies I've had one company say they can do a next day report for £780 this week. Sounds so much money to us, is this reasonable though? I'm so upset I have brought this up with the school but they have said lots of excuses but some things to me seem quite obvious. She's had 6 years of music lessons and can't really read any of the music.

That does sound like a lot - is it a specialist teacher assessor or an Educational Psychologist? Specialist teacher assessors tend to be more like £500 in the SE.

I would personally be a bit wary of the next day report service. I work in the field and you really want to make sure that time has been properly infested to make sure that the report is personalised to the child and focused on their specific needs. A report will stay with the child across their schooling so I would be wary of rushing into something unless you feel confident with the company/assessor.

I'd agree about being cautious both about that cost and the timescale. The assessment should take a holistic view about what's going on, and the assessor should want to obtain information from you and/or the school to support the assessment, if it's being done properly.

Another specialist assessor here and I’d also be cautious about that time scale (although feasible in practical terms). I work on a 1-2 week turnaround. It’s pricy too, although I’m Nw based so may not be as expensive as your area.

They may have had a cancellation - many of us are booked up at least a term ahead.

Private Dyslexia and Dyscalculia assessor here if anyone wants advice. It's a bit of a minefield of a subject, though.