Dyslexic or poor speller? Please help!

[1AngelicFruitCake]

I’m really worried about my daughter in Year 1. She’s a summer baby but always been towards the higher end of the class (going off what teachers told me) articulate, good ideas, reading well to the point they said she’s above what they’d expect. She’s sociable and physical so learnt to ride a bike at 4, ok swimmer (sorry if not relevant). I had noticed her handwriting was a bit messy but it’s legible and evenly spaced. Her spelling isn’t great, she spells words by reversing the consonants e.g. ia for ai and reversed some letters and a few numbers.

She’s still 5 so I don’t know if this is typical for her age or she could have dyslexia or dysgraphia. When I’ve taught her spellings as a sight word or using a mnemonic then she remembers it.

Help! I’m worrying about how best to help her.

She's still very young, if her reading is good then I wouldn't worry just yet. Perhaps work on fine motor skills, make bracelets so she has to pick up beads, give cheerios as a snack so she picks them up individually. Get a pencil grip so she has something chunky to hold on to. Practice lots of colouring together to build up her finger muscles.

Thank you for your reply! As you can tell I’m really worried about her after an acquaintance mentioned it when looking at her writing.
I’ve always been of the opinion that she’s young and we make learning fun. Great suggestions for things to do thank you. She’s a very neat colourer so I assumed her writing would be fairly neat!

She is still very young - her fine motor skills will not be honed yet.

It is very common for people to reverse consonants etc. I still do - good ol' spell checker just kicked in there. Even if she's has poor handwriting - it's not the end of the word. Was a nurse is a previous career and it's not myth about doctors' hand-writing. My spelling is dodgy - can't hear the phonics of a word yet am educated to Master's level in the days before spell checker.
As PP suggested encourage her fine motor skills but don't worry.

Thank you! I really appreciate the advice.
She’s much more creative than I am and I’ve always encouraged that so suddenly had a worry I’d neglected the writing side.

I’ll do more fine motor and ignore unwanted advice from ‘well meaning’ people like today!

I wouldn’t worry-she is very young and it is extremely common to reverse at this age. If you want to support-do some fun fine motor activities with her- cutting and sticking, Hama beads, sewing, threading, playdo etc

Most dyslexia screeners are notoriously unreliable until 7/8 anyway.

Thank you, that’s really useful.

She is incredibly young and only very severely dyslexic children are obvious at that age and even that is iffy. There is a reason why most specialist dyslexia schools/support staff from year 3/4. From the things you've mentioned I wouldn't worry at all.

Thank you, that’s very reassuring. My ‘friend’ was only trying to help but I’ve been worrying I’m not supporting my daughter properly.
Glad I posted on here!

As an aside our Senco was telling me that there is an architects firm in London that predominantly recruits people with dyslexia because of the creative way they view problems and building design.

That’s amazing!

Yes your daughter is still a bit young for formal dyslexia diagnosis but has weak spelling. Why wait 2 years to find out? I would recommend Dylsexiagold online spelling tutor programme. Little and often. Too many people get hung up on formal dyslexia diagnosis like it will wave some kind of magic wand. The bottom line is you want to Improve her spelling and dyslexia friendly programmes are much easier for all kids to understand.
I would also recommend Ron Davis ‘The Gift of Dyslexia’ . It gives you a thorough overview of dyslexic traits.

Don’t expect much help from school. Sadly most schools don’t have the resources.