Should I get my DD assessed for dyslexia?

[HotToast]

Hi all, I am in a quandary about whether to get a private assessment for my DD. She turned 6 at the end of May and will be going into year 2 in Sept. She has been behind generally at school from reception and I noticed early on that her progress with reading and phonics was very slow.

She knows all her letter sounds and can blend words – and she did actually pass her phonics screening test in the summer. But she seems to be stuck there. Over the last year I kept thinking that at some point, the penny would drop and she would start to read more fluently but it's just not happening. Confusingly, she has phases when she seems to be improving and reading a bit more easily without having to sound everything out, but then she'll suddenly seem to be back at square one again – having to sound out almost every word on the page, taking aaaaages on each word. It's painful and very frustrating.
Her teachers know that she's behind and struggling but their only advice to me so far has just been to not worry and keep practicing.

I spoke to a friend who happens to be a dyslexia teacher, and she said that I could just sit on it for another year, because her brain will develop a lot at this age and things might suddenly fall into place in year 2 – or they might not, in which case we've delayed her getting help for another year. I've been doing some reading about dyslexia and I think it's highly likely she has it. I'm just getting worried because I have an older child, and I know how much more will be expected of her in year 2 and at the level she's at now with reading and writing, she's going to get very behind very quickly, which could hugely affect her confidence.

So I was just wondered if anyone has any advice; should I pay for her to have an assessment now, aged 6? Or hold off for another year until she's 7 and risk her getting even more behind?

Sorry for the essay!

If you pm me with an email address I can send you a leaflet I wrote with ideas for games to help.

@kivas thanks so much.

@EducatingArti That's very kind, I will do, thank you!

My eldest was seen by an EP at 8 and not diagnosed with Dyslexia (he was given another diagnosis and we were told he needed to be monitored for Dyslexia but not definite at that point). Reassessed at 10 and diagnosed. I personally wouldn't get them assessed too early as you may just be told to wait and see. An older child can also engage better with the tests and is less likely to be stressed by it. Having a diagnosis or not won't make any difference to the support school might (but likely won't) offer. However a dyslexia assessment would give you a good insight into her strengths and weaknesses which would help you help her better. It can also be really good for the child's confidence to know why they are struggling.

I would recommend audio books, reading to her and discussing a book, games for spelling and reading. My youngest really liked Reading Eggs. I wouldn't push too much at home though, if she is struggling at school she is probably finding it really exhausting.

@turtlestarlight a belated thank you for this, only just seen it. Thank you for the advice re assessment and you're absolutely right, she does find it exhausting when she's doing lots at home as well as school. We've tried to do a little bit of reading each day over the summer - sometimes literally just a sentence or two - which she seems to have found manageable as she's not exhausted by school. I'm going to try out lots of the suggestions I've been given here and also seek advice from a local tutor I've found who works with children who are struggling. Hoping she might be able to do some sessions with her from Sept.🤞🏻But won't be pushing her beyond what she has energy for.

Just in case, ask your DD what happens when she looks at text - ie, do words move or blur? Normal eye tests don't pick this up and if it is happening your DD won't have told you because she'll think everyone sees text as she does. My son has this issue. He happens to be dyslexic, but you don't have to be. Post again if she says yes and I can tell you how we got some help for DS.

Also, again just in case it helps. I know a lot swear by phonics, but in my son's case it really didn't help. He's not necessarily typical, but the relentless push of phonics, actively made things harder. He found it baffling and the more school pushed it the more stupid he felt. As soon as we realised and stepped back on it all at home, he relaxed. We let him read whatever he wanted - comic books were key for him - graphic novels are amazing these days and really helped his literacy soar. Audio books also helped and we read to him a lot too. He went from not reading, to reading fluently by the end of year 2. His spellings remained ropey, but trying to get him to learn a word phonetically was torturous - basically he was concentrating so much on the phonetic breakdown that he couldn't then remember it. For him it helped if he wrote it down so he could see if a word looked right. He found that far easier than spelling it phonetically as he's a highly visual learner. That's not as uncommon as people think. Phonics definitely helps lots, but it isn't the key for all and can be actively unhelpful. I thought I'd just say that in case the same's true for your DD!

This is exactly my daughter too.

Also, (speaking as the mother of a dyslexic teen) make sure to keep up with the fun reading! Reading to her, magazines that she is interested in, graphic novels, get her into audio books so she can keep all sorts of literacy going, and doesn't just have an association of grind and difficulty with books.

How is your daughter doing now @HotToast?