Possible dyslexia - not sure what to do next

[CoffeeAndCakeBringMeJoy]

Hi,

I’m a first-time poster but long-time lurker. We have a nine year-old DD (year four in a mainstream state primary school) who is showing some dyslexic traits, particularly with spelling. She is bright - very articulate, plays two musical instruments and reads music well, and her maths is at least meeting, if not exceeding, age-related expectations. She’s also very sporty.

A few weeks ago I contacted school, as her spelling difficulties seem to be getting worse, and she does show other signs of mild dyslexia, such as poor phonological awareness and word attack skills. However, she reads with fluency, although it isn’t her pastime of choice despite having been showered with books and read to daily, from birth. The SENCO replied and said that they would observe her, speak to her teacher, do some work with her, and then invite DH and myself in for a meeting after half term to look at next steps. We have heard nothing since, and according to DD the SENCO hasn’t spoken to her or been in her classroom recently. We’re doing lots at home to try to help, and we’re doing our best to keep it lighthearted and fun in order to build up her confidence.

I work in education, so I’m highly aware of the pressures schools are under, and know that DD’s needs are not as high as others’. I’m not trying to make this bigger than it is; it’s a very real challenge for DD, who is starting to struggle with confidence as she feels she isn’t making progress, but fully recognise the pressure staff are under and that there are only so many hours in a day. However, I am concerned that she is going to slip under the radar, particularly as she is incredibly well-behaved and does everything she’s asked to do, making the most of all of the opportunities school offers.

I don't want to make a nuisance of myself with her school, but equally want to ensure she is able to access additional support, including self-help through additional resources (she’s currently trying using overlays which we have bought for her to use, and she says this does help). The weeks are rolling by, and transfer to secondary is on the horizon although not imminent. She doesn’t cope well in noisy classrooms, and can’t bear it when other children don’t follow the rules and listen when they’re asked to do so. She loves to learn.

I really don’t know whether to contact the school again; continue working through the extra resources we have bought to use at home (CGP guides mainly); arrange for her to have additional tuition; or start to consider other schools (this has been building for a while). She would be sad to leave her current school, which is warm and nurturing but not always wonderfully organised, but in the long term may benefit from the smaller class sizes and additional support in an independent school, which we could consider if needed. I just feel she’s slipping through the net in the tragically overstretched and underfunded SEND system, where those with milder SpLD, if that’s what this is, often can’t receive any additional support because neither the time nor the money is available, so they simply need to find their own coping mechanisms. I fully recognise that there are children with much more severe needs than hers, but am also very aware that something isn’t quite right.

Thank-you so much for reading and for your thoughts and ideas.

Edited to amend a typo.

My dd is dyslexic, only diagnosed after I picked up issues in year 9 which had been totally missed/ overlooked by school - always poor at spelling, so in fact in year 3 dyslexia was briefly considered then quickly dismissed after some kind of screening test (I also didn't suspect at this stage). Never chose to read despite being in a family of avid readers and much encouragement. Yet always on target for reading in primary school and greater depth for writing.
I only realised in year 9 when she seemed to be put on a lower academic path than I would have expected (still doing ok, from school point of view). Looking into it, I noticed spelling still very erratic and bizarre (heightened now that we were presumably moving on from the phonics rule of using 'plausible' spellings) but also what became more evident was that she really struggled to process what she was reading (despite being able to 'read') which was highlighted as she was faced with more challenging texts.
I had her privately assessed for dyslexia (didn't even bother asking school, but did check they would accept a diagnosis from the service). It showed she was dyslexic but was massively masking/ overcompensating - her reading processing speed was on first centile and phonological awareness also very poor though short term memory ok, which is often a problem.
She has had adjustments for exams etc but now she has started GCSEs it is becoming really evident especially in English how much she is struggling - have got a tutor and really hoping she actually passes sufficiently to progress, as her other subjects are better.
So, my answer would be that if you can at all afford it and have a high degree of suspicion to get her privately assessed, as you are right school won't prioritise a child who is doing ok from their point of view and any assessment will not be as thorough.

You need to get her privately assessed by a proper dyslexia assessor. I found one via the British Dyslexia Association (BDA). We waited months and it cost £500 plus but it is worth it. School would not give her any additional support or extra time in exams until I could bring them in the report.

My DD10 is dyslexic. She's very bright, reading and comprehension is exceeding expectations. Spelling is atrocious and not consistent. Poor phonological awareness.

She knew herself something wasn't quite right. Her confidence has improved since finding our. A spellchecker and a Dyslexia tutor has helped. Overlays aren't really that useful for her.

Youngest has a diagnosis of Dyslexia although she is Dysgraphic because they are forever reviewing the thresholds and what sits under each area. I would have a conversation with school about what they have observed and what options there are to support her. Support is not dependent on a diagnosis and if something helps her they should be considering it now rather than waiting.
Daughter had a computer for her written work despite being an excellent reader and speller she now falls under dyslexia.

I think I would pay for a private assessment first and then decide what to do about schools, etc. on that basis.

my dd is in an independent, receiving additional literacy support and probably going to require further assessment once she is old enough for it (y2 now and I think they only do dyslexia assessments from 7yo). She sounds very similar to your dd in many respects, although younger. Our indie has been brilliant at identifying needs and providing support (some embedded in the classroom and then one weekly session with a specialist which we pay extra for), but it also has a strong reputation with dyslexia specifically so possibly not representative of all private schools. I think if you know what you are looking for support wise it is much easier to ask the right questions and make sure the change will be worthwhile.

Be aware that bright kids can "pass" a screening test and get identified as low risk of dyslexia, because they have developed coping strategies for the level assessed.
For us, the biggest tell was the massive difference between verbal and written work. Verbally he was bright, and near the top of the class. Written work he was middle-low - but not failing so badly it got picked up on by teachers and assessments. For us, dyslexia stops him meeting his potential, rather than failing, iyswim?

If you can afford it, get an Educational Psychologist assessment - unless you are convinced it can only be dyslexia. We got dysgraphia (and gifted) identified at the same time.

I would get a full assessment with an EP which will identify your DD's strengths and weaknesses and should recommend some things you and school can do to help. Personally I'd see someone who looks at the whole picture (ie is not just assessing for dyslexia).

The SENCO replied and said that they would observe her, speak to her teacher, do some work with her, and then invite DH and myself in for a meeting after half term to look at next steps. We have heard nothing since

She said she’d get back to you for a meeting after February half term? I’d wait till after half term and drop her an email to follow up.

You are unlikely to get a dyslexia assessment via school (certainly not in my LEA) though, so I would probably do some investigating into a private assessment if that’s what you want to happen.

The SENDCo said she'd get back to you after half term, so I don't understand why you've expected some contact before then. Or is your half term over now? S/he would have gathered information from those who know the child best - they don't necessarily need to see the child personally. Maybe they'll use an online screener.

At your meeting you'll see the evidence in order to take the next steps. Your daughter appears to have other SEND traits. Maybe a dyslexia assessment isn't the way forward. If it is, they might be able to suggest possible assessors. That's the way it would work in my school.

Good luck with getting the right support for your daughter.

Get her assessed asap. Dts were finally diagnosed beginning of y8, covid has a lot to answer for and the waiting times around here were a year for private.

The difference in their achievements has been incredible, one has visual stress as well as dyslexia, using overlays her reading speed increase 45%. The other one now uses a laptop in school, and again significant improvements.

Oh and just to add they both passed the screening in reception, y1, 3 and 6 that was on the Nessey platform. Their Y6 teacher said they were were masking and able to almost 'trick' it.

Thank-you so much to everyone for your answers, I really appreciate it. There definitely won’t be any budget for a full assessment to be done by the school or through LA funding as she isn’t of a high enough need to access anything, so I’ll start looking into private assessments tomorrow.

Many apologies if my original post wasn’t clear, the SENCO said that they would speak to DD and do some work with her this half term, and asked our permission to do this, as well as observe her in class and speak to her teacher, with a view to a meeting during the first week after half term. Our half term is next week, but I was surprised when DD said that the SENCO hasn’t spoken to her and hasn’t been in her classroom recently. I don’t mind at all if I don’t hear from them until after half term, but was just surprised that it seems as though nobody has spoken to DD. The school is beautifully nurturing, quite gentle in the modern world, which suits DD well as she thrives on kindness, caring and praise, but their organisation isn’t brilliant - lots of last minute letters, announcements of non-uniform days etc., lack of organisation re. homework, so maybe I’m feeling a touch sensitive with this as we have had so much happen at the last minute in the past.

While the official assessment will need to be organised (and paid for) by you, I would ask her teacher for a meeting.
We're just getting started with going down the assessment route for DD (8 years), she really struggles with reading and writing (but is way ahead comprehension-wise).

Her teacher/the school have been really supportive. They agree that there is a good chance that DD could be dyslexic and have set up an individual support plan (ISP) for her - without an official diagnosis (which after reading the other posts, I am so grateful for). She gets extra reading/writing/spelling time with a TA, and they are monitoring her very closely. The ISP will be reviewed with us once a term.
They recommended that DD gets a visual stress test, which we just did.
Even without an official diagnosis, we've been reassured that DD will get extra time/support in assessments and in her SATS.

We'll still get the official assessment, so that we have in time for secondary school.

@cloudjumper that sounds fantastic, we would be delighted if those kind of arrangements were in place. We’ll also organise a full assessment so that if she is diagnosed, we have the report available in time for transfer to secondary, and as evidence for any exam access arrangements which might need to be in place.

Definitely go for a full Ed Psych report not just a dyslexia assessment.

We were lucky that Primary organised this for DD in Y3 - she's severely dyslexic and it was rather obvious by the time she did the assessments.

My experience is that most of the hard work will fall to you, especially if your child is hitting targets and likely to pass things. DD has almost never hit targets and there is a huge discrepancy between what she should and does achieve and we still get next to no help as she's still on track to pass GCSEs etc.

The main things that have been useful for us have been moving to a laptop for everything. Getting the 25% extra time (not a definite with dyslexia). All teachers being aware and they don't mark DD for SPAG (even with spell check and grammarly, it's still creative to say the least).

Exam access arrangements for GCSE are done at the beginning of Y10 as there is a time limit on them, but you need to show 'normal way of working' so best to get things like laptops and extra time in places as early as possible to support that.

Also watch SATS. I planned to withdraw DD as they are used to set things like GCSE targets and for secondary school sets etc. In the end Covid meant they were cancelled. Secondary did their own banding and CAT tests. Unfortunately DD is really, really good at NVR and so has sky high targets that she cannot meet and that cannot be changed. School are understanding but it's miserable for DD when every school report for years is 'well below target' when she's actually doing very well considering how severe her dyslexia is.

Definitely go for a full Ed Psych report not just a dyslexia assessment.

Just to say you will be extremely lucky if the school organise and pay for this for you. There is a huge lack of EPs and most are only doing statutory work at the moment. Obviously there are private EPs you can contact but this will be considerably more expensive than an EP assessment.

Similar situation with DS9. Going completely under the radar at school as he ticks all boxes, is well behaved and in a class with many kids with higher needs. We got him a tutor about a year ago to support with maths in particular and he has identified various traits and helped us find an assessor so we are going ahead with a private assessment next month. We're actually moving him to private school so the plan is to use this to make sure he gets appropriate support at his new school.

The dyslexia service I used did a free online consultation (just spoke to me) first, which was useful as a way of deciding to go ahead with an assessment. I didn't actually have to wait that long - a couple of months (I think we got a cancellation).
My dd has not had a visual stress test - wondering if I should get this for her now. Though she does not describe the typical letters moving/ words running off the page, it is (I think) the time to read an process the words that is the issue and affects comprehension - particularly if she encounters a word she does not know, so a nightmare trying to read Victorian novel for GCSE.
Has anyone's child used a computer reader? Have asked school about this for GCSE English language, which she is really struggling with, and they have the software apparently but it is not quite ready - they said she can trial
it. Hoping this will be soon, and that she can have her exam access arrangements adjusted if it is helpful.

I know a number of kids who are using reading pens with headphones and they all love them. They have them for access arrangements in exams too.

My DD - who normally embraces all tech - has refused to consider one (also won't use audio books) for some bizarre reason she currently won't share. I have had to resort to using a ridiculously wide vocabulary with her in the hope of some of it sticking in her head!

Would love to know how you get on with it, as they do seem good.

The read back function on laptops is handy and apparently there are online programmes you can copy and paste stuff into that will read webpages to you (DD will use those).

We tried all the overlays, eye tests etc, but DD doesn't have issues with words moving so none of those were helpful for her.

Thanks @OhCrumbsWhereNow - she has a reading pen, it's really useful for things like science when there are wordy questions, but it's way too slow for using on the giant block of text they get in the English language paper so she is not using it if there is a lot of text.
I think the read back function could be useful as frequently what she writes has minor grammatical errors so sentences don't quite make sense - don't know if they can use this in exams? I think with the computer reader you could use it to read the passage but also read what you've written (?) I'm not exactly sure how it works though.
I suspect the overlays won't be helpful either but possibly should try if only to exclude.

Search on the Patoss website for assessors who are qualified to level 7. They can do an assessment for you.

Thank-you so much everyone. We’re now in the process of trying to organise an independent assessment, which we know we’ll have to pay for. We’re also organising some additional tuition at a lovely local tuition centre where the owner is a qualified teacher who received a dyslexia diagnosis in her 30s, having experienced very similar difficulties to DD.

DD’s school haven’t been able to do anything this half term, so DH and I have said that we’ll wait until the end of the second week back after half term, which will be six weeks after they said they would observe her and do some one to one work with her before putting together a support plan if they felt it was needed. If we haven’t heard anything by then, we thought a gentle query/reminder (nothing accusatory - I know how busy they are) wouldn’t be entirely inappropriate. We’re now half way through the academic year, and the weeks seem to be passing very quickly.

Longer term, we’re starting to consider whether an independent school might be better for the secondary school years; our local independent school has a lovely, nurturing ethos and an excellent track record for supporting bright dyslexic students. She would really struggle to cope, both academically and emotionally, if she ended up placed in a large group at a larger state school where there were boisterous/disruptive students who weren’t particularly interested in learning what was being taught.

Thank-you again to everyone who has replied on here, I’m so very grateful for your understanding and support.

If you can afford it get..

Ed pshyc report, and
If overlays are working get her checked by an optician with colorimetry facilities.
You say no reading struggles but if at some point she does, then the charity listening books are fab if she wants to "read" age appropriate texts but cannot access them due to dyslexia.

My son is severely dyslexic, and I knew at 6 there was an issue, despite fighting we only obtained a fully disagnosed outcome, with glasses, in year 9, and it was all private.

He left primary with a reading age of 6. Honestly, if you'd talked to him you'd have known that didn't make sense - he was interesting to talk to and articulate. Resources were just not there and that was 15 years ago.

The school only gave him in-school and exam, adjustments following their rules but our reports helped the school focus on internally assessing and implementing them.

I should say that despite school struggles, he went into IT at 16 and is absolutely flying in his career .

I remember in year 3 complaining as he was given the spelling "beautiful" to learn. He couldn't spell "you".

The teacher just looked at me blankly and said "that's the word of the week - he has to learn to spell it for Friday's test". I can't tell you how many problems in a class that one sentence would unravel - differentiation anyone?!

I'd put money on that he can't spell beautiful now! Despite being late 20s and in a fab career!

We had suspicions re dd in year 5 ( well I had suspicions before that but covid closures made it hard to do anything about it). She could read but tended to paraphrase ( like she was getting the gist but not being able to read every word) and struggled to spell. In particular she had a lot of problems with homophones. Also had trouble digesting longer style questions in maths ( she’d forgot the start by the time she got to the end). She passed the school’s own screening test but because she scored particularly highly in one category ( one that relates to filling gaps in info) that was apparently a sign that she might be able to compensate for her dyslexia to an extent. I had her privately assessed. She doesn’t meet the threshold for dyslexia but had some phonological and working memory problems. She now uses a laptop for long form written work and that helps her a lot. She tried the electronic pen but didn’t find it helpful so if you go down that route try to trial one before you commit to buying it. The working memory issues seem to have resolved and so could have been related to covid learning loss because she did less of this type of questions than she would have had she been at school. She is still a bad speller but it’s improving.

I would get a private assessment - I used a dyslexia specialist rather than an Ed psych which was cheaper and shorter waiting list. It was still a v thorough one day assessment.