Help! Advice needed on how to get dyslexia diagnosed

[tangerinecath]

Can anyone out there give me any advice to pass on to my 14 yo sister, she is generally a bright child and is doing very well at school, but has always struggled with spelling and learning by rote for things like times tables etc. She thinks that it takes her far too long to do her homework as she gets confused over written questions and it takes her a while to figure out what she's being asked to do.
One of her friends has suggested to her that she may be dyslexic as she has similar problems to a family member (of the friend) who was diagnosed as dyslexic recently.
My sister has done a test that she found somewhere that says there is a good possibility that she is - although personally I don't know how much to read into this sort of thing.
She says she can't speak to our Mum, she thinks that Mum will say that she's being silly or that she's attention seeking, because she's doing well at school so there can't be a problem. (sadly, I have to agree that this is the reaction that she'll get ).
She has also looked at the BDA website and thinks that she has most of the indications of dyslexia mentioned there.
I suggested that she should speak to her form tutor or head of year at school but she doesn't like either of them and doesn't feel that she can discuss this with them.
I think she genuinely believes that she may have a problem and has asked me for advice but I don't really know what to say to her.
Any advice would be appreciated
TIA

bump

What about talking to her doctor?

Does she wear glasses? I'd be sneaky and say I was worried I had eye strain with all the work at school/letters a bit blurry. Get an eye test and mention it to the optician while there. It might be an opener. This is so important maybe she'd let you talk to her tutor or a support teacher at school. The only way for dyslexia to be diagnosed is psychological testing but teachers are very aware of symptoms. The problem is that bright children can cover these up.

It may not be dyslexia, but if she thinks she has a problem it needs to be sorted before it affects her confidence and work too much.

I'd look on the BDA website for the phone no. of a local representative. Give them a call - they are usually parents who've been through this so they should have advice and are apparently very supportive.

Unfortunately I live 200 miles away from my sister so talking to someone at school may be tricky. I'll have a look on the BDA website and see if I can find a local representative in her home town and give them a call myself.

She already wears glasses, but that was a good idea though

I'll advise her to visit her doctor too, but it might be tricky doing it without Mum knowing.

It's a shame she doesn't feel she can talk to Mum but they don't always have a very good relationship and Mum tends to brush these sort of things off.