Dyslexia Assessment

[Copper]

My 10 yr old ds has just been to the Dyslexia Institute at Staines - after years of 'is he/isn't he' on my part and of 'he's ok, he's just a bit below average' from his school.

He turns out to be definitely dyslexic (D on a scale A = not dyslexic to F = most serious dyslexia) - and exceptionally intelligent! When we explained the results to him, it was like water in a desert and all the seeds flowering at once. You could just see him feel better about himself.

Apparently one in a hundred children would have his IQ, and only 1 in a hundred with that IQ would have his level of dyslexia. Am I right in making that a 1 in a 1000 chance that his teachers would have taught a child like him before?

His intelligence has pulled up his reading/spelling so that he appears just below average - whereas if his intelligence were average, his reading/spelling would be bumping along the bottom.

Looking back he was such a bright happy cheerful boy in the infants - and so (sporadically)miserable angry and frustrated from the age of about 7 - why didn't I act earlier?

Back in 2005 Prof Julian Elliott from Durham caused a big rumpus in the media because he argued that seeking a dyslexia diagnosis was pointless because all struggling readers and writers benefit from the same type of help: one to one support.

All English-speaking countries have far more dyslexia than ones with better spelling systems, such as Finnish, Italian or Spanish.
Dyslexics have above-average problems with identifying sounds in words and linking letters to sounds. The 69 English spellings which have more than one sound (e.g. a ? and, any, apron; o ? on, only, once, other, all of which are shown at englishspellingproblems.blogspot.com) make making the link between letters and sounds much harder than in other languages.

Many dyslexics start to feel much better about themselves when they have it explained to them that their difficulties are largely the result of the irregularities of English spelling. It?s often a case of a highly logical brain having trouble coping with the illogicalities of English spelling.

Any parents who want and can help their children themselves should concentrate on the Sight Words page www.englishspellingproblems.co.uk for reading and irregular spellings, such as ?blue shoe flew through to you two too?, for supporting writing, drawing attention to the crazy parts of those words.

Hmm - old thread but interesting. I help out voluntarily with reading at school - all levels. In my day (I'm very old) everyone at lower group levels (apologies for that awful terminology) would have (shockingly) been dismissed as 'slow readers'. Just hearing children read every week enables you to grasp that the types of difficulties they face can vary enormously. On the other hand I have come across children in the 'higher' groups who cheerfully tell me that they are 'dyslexic' when I can discern no problem whatsoever. So, to repeat a question raised earlier on this ancient thread - does anyone know anyone on MN who has paid the ?£500 for a dyslexia diagnosis and not actually received one.

Back in 2005 Prof Julian Elliott from Durham caused a big rumpus in the media because he argued that seeking a dyslexia diagnosis was pointless because all struggling readers and writers benefit from the same type of help: one to one support.

All English-speaking countries have far more dyslexia than ones with better spelling systems, such as Finnish, Italian or Spanish.
Dyslexics have above-average problems with identifying sounds in words and linking letters to sounds. The 69 English spellings which have more than one sound (e.g. a ? and, any, apron; o ? on, only, once, other, make making the link between letters and sounds much harder than in other languages.

Many dyslexics start to feel much better about themselves when they have it explained to them that their difficulties are largely the result of the irregularities of English spelling. It?s often a case of a highly logical brain having trouble coping with the illogicalities of English spelling.

Any parents who would like to try helping their children themselves should concentrate on the Sight Words listed at www.englishspellingproblems.co.uk for reading. Writing difficulties stem from irregular spellings, such as ?blue shoe flew through to you two too?. Drawing attention to the crazy parts of those words is therefore the crucial bit.

Sorry about posting the same message twice. I couldn't see it on the thread when looked for comments and thought that I must have been interrupted before posting it. (Have been a bit busy the last few days.)

You have to pay to advertise on Mumsnet, readall.

I've just had a look at Yes we can read... it seems to be one to one phonics instruction so I'm not sure why you are agreeing with Masha who claims phonics won't help while we have our current spelling system U relee need to reed wot Masha sez befor agreeing...
I think we can all agree that 1-1 teaching will have a positive impact on learning but as to the rest ...
yeswecanread.co.uk/photos.html
Our unique phonic alphabet, in which each object begins with the phonic-letter sound it represents and is also shaped like the letter itself. We use photographs because many people with dyslexia see letters three-dimensionally.

wow what a break through in teaching!