over reaction to dyslexia -any advise welcome

[bejeezus]

my dd is in year 1. She is very bright and enthusiastic about school and learning new things. She has struggled with reading and 'sounds' and is not interested in practicing. Today her teacher told me they are quite sure she is dyslexic. She is already getting extra help in class and is taken out of class. They said she will get more help. They said she has problems with symbol recognition. She has apparently developed good coping skills.

Ridiculously, I cried. I feel inexplicably really upset about it. I dont know why really. I dont want her to struggle and loose interest in education but I was never determined that she would be a lawyer or a doctor or anything.

I need to read about dyslexia but wondered if any of you have any experience/ advice;

what DOES it ACTUALLY mean for her life?

are there personality traits associated with dyslexia?

is it a given that she will not do well academically?

is it stigmatised? do your kids get picked on for being dyslexic?

in some ways, I feel a bit relieved-it is explains quite a lot

Chaz - an assessment now won't get you extra time in exams when he is 15! He'll need a recent assessment (not more than 2 years old) for that.

And in fact if his writing is slow he can get extra time just on that, without an EP report. If his writing speed is less than something he automatically qualifies for extra time.

Could his improvement not be done to addressing his retained reflexes? Or have you not started that yet?

'the work I am doing is highly appropriate for his needs (though they think it is unusual to find a tutor outside Dyslexia Action taking such a multi-sensory approach)'
I've worked for D.A. - I don't know what they mean by that. I know plenty of dyslexia tutors/specialist SPLD teachers that use a multi-sensory approach which is very similar to the programme used by Dyslexia Action. In fact I don't know any that don't.

Hi,
In a nutshell, a regular optometrist looks at common visual defects. A behavioural optometrist analyses the way the eyes communicate with the brain. So, my DD's initial assessment consisted of:
A normal eye test followed by
Wearing special goggles which measured her eye movements separately as she read. They look to see how many times her eyes get stuck, digress and if she can move smoothly to the next line of text. This was done several times in different ways and her eye movements were plotted simultaneously on a computer screen. They also check for Irlen's and colour blindness.
She had previously been diagnosed as long sighted in her left eye. The B.O. found that her left eye was actually flickering and it got worse with fatigue (like a pinball between bumpers). Her brain was intermittently seeing two distinct images. Limited visual convergence and an over reliance on the 'well behaved' eye was making it very difficult for her to see words on a page and made her sensitive to visual noise. She wore a patch on the 'good' eye and specs with a prism to pull the problem eye into line. Then, the dyslexia tutor took over and worked on the skills her brain should have acquired when she was smaller. Visual patterns etc. DD had decided by this point to write with her right hand most of the time as it wasn't so smeary- still does everything else with her left. The B.O. sees her every 6 months now and readjusts her prescription. At the last visit he increased it for the first time in 3 years. DD was quite upset but he explained that she's now doing so much reading (a novel a fortnight) that she needs some extra help to support her eyes.

Indigo he'll probably be doing the Common Entrance at 12 so I was thinking about an assessment when he is about 9 so we still have time to iron out any issues. I note what you say that an assessment isn't necessary but I think we will probably get one to make sure we have picked up all his issues.

Once we have done the main retained reflexes work we will do a specific handwriting programme with the OT so his writing may improve.

We will also take him to a BO once the reflexes have been integrated as the OT showed us that one of his eyes does jerk and flick when tracking movement but that may stop when the reflexes are integrated.

sorry should read
"...assessment isn't necessary to get extra time..."

Bit harsh of the school to lable her straight away! Is her teacher a specialist in this area? I've an 8yr old in my class who I was convinced was dyslexic (as was his mother) and he was sent for all the screening tests - all came back saying he isn't, just has a few of the tendancies. :-)

Can I recommend the book "The Gift of Dyslexia" by Ronald Davis - an excellent read, encouraging and uplifting whilst informative and useful.

Chin up chuck - at least she has a mummy that loves her and will do anything she can to help her, she's a lucky girl :-)