dyslexia testing before 7yrs?

[lola88]

has anyone had their dc tested before 7 years? School have told me not to waste my money having DN tested until she is 7 (they won't until then) however she is the youngest in her class so won't be tested until she is almost in primary 3, my argument with the age thing is she might be 6 but she is doing the same work as 7 year olds so why can't she be tested like they would.

She is almost going into her 3rd year of primary school and can't even read the touchy feely baby books 'that's not my pirate' etc surly I shouldn't be leaving her to struggle for another 8mo+? the only thing the school are willing to do until she turns 7 is give her time with a learning support teacher only if the teacher has time after her timetabled kids so far she's had an hour in 6 weeks.

any advice would be much appreciated

Lola - I'm guessing you're in Scotland. Have you phoned Dyslexia Action to see what they think? 39 Napiershall St Glasgow G20 6EZ
0141 334 4549

DS was tested there when he was 8 (I really wish we'd done it sooner). As far as I know the 'can't test until 7' thing is largely to do with one of the diagnostic criteria (at least as far as school/additional help is concerned) is that the child is 2+ years behind where they should be - and that can't be assessed until there is something to measure them against hence the age of seven. We ended up paying for him to be tested because the school only put him on the list on to be tested when he was nearly eight and there was going to be a huge wait for it to actually happen. We felt we'd already wasted enough time and fortunately had some help to pay for the testing.

hi

that's who we are going to be tested with tomorrow I was there to see them last week, they have said that obviously she needs to be tested first but she does sound like she may be dyslexic.

The seem to be just annoyed that we have went over there head IMO, they gave her a behaviour card for not finishing her work on time and take away her golden time pretty much every week to the point she doesn't even care as far as she see's it she does the best she can and gets in trouble so whats the point in trying :( I'm really worried if we leave this another year she's going to end up hating school and giving up all together.

I'm really sorry you're going through this - it's almost exactly the same scenario we had with DS except he was a year or so older. He was starting to hate school too. I hope you get on okay tomorrow - be warned the testing is KNACKERING for them - DS was in there for 3 hours and pretty much came out on his knees! I'd take a hearty treat-like snack along for afterwards :).

DS's school was pissed off too but when presented with the report they did give him extra help. Ultimately however we moved schools - a bit drastic but the whole experience left a really bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully you'll have an easier ride!

Generally children are not tested for dyslexia before 7 because many of the dyslexic indicators are also relevant to young children. So testing young would create many false positives.

In this respect the school are not trying to fob you off. You can get privately tested, although I'm unsure if they will do it before 7, but the school is under no obligation to take any notice of it.

You need to find out from the school what they intend to do to support your daughter, diagnosis or not. They need a plan. Not the hope of a spare five minutes from the teacher. They should state where she is attainment wise, what she needs to work on and most importantly what they intend to do to help her to achieve.

Well put Soapbox.

thanks for the replies

At the moment the school are just refusing to do anything until she is tested i'm hoping getting her tested will help with the school, if not at least I know that it's not just that she's lazy and will feel more confident fighting her corner knowing that she genuinely can't do the work. I'm prepared to do anything I need to to help her.

Has she had her eyes tested ? I
might be worth a test to make sure she can see what she is trying to read and her eyes work together correctly.

Actually Lola - there's a place in Edinburgh that does the special eye-tests, I'll see if I can find them for you.

Optician

Can't remember how much it cost - or even if it did.

I would suggest a standard and free test with a good ( probably independent ) optician first if she hasn't had one, Then maybe look for more specialist after.

She has had her eyes tested got glasses now but not having the glasses wouldn't have prevented her reading, she's also booked for a hearing test and speech therapy but the wait for them will be a while.

OP Didn't get DD tested until 9 but in Year 2 we agreed with teacher that there were warning signs, there is a lot of dyslexia in our family, so we instituted a programme, which was led by the SEN teacher but we had to do most of the exercises at home, that would be appropriate for a Dyslexic as well as a child who had fallen behind, using phonics, lots of practise in letter formation etc. Organisations like the Dyslexia Association will be able to advise. We managed to get her reading writing and spelling up to average level, and it has stayed there. Still a considerable gap with what you would predict given her ability, and obviously plenty of issues caused by her poor processing and working memory now we are at exam stage but I certainly don't regret that early intervention and I can't see how it could have done any harm. Sadly there is no getting away from the fact that if you have a dyslexic child you are going to have to give a lot of support at home

How did you get on today Lola?