Does this sound like dyslexia?

[Indecisivelurcher]

Does this sound like dyslexia? Not an obvious fit. But I still wonder. On the other hand I sometimes think I am overstressing minor things. 8yo daughter, in year 3.

The main issue right now is spellings. School set 10 or 12 spellings a week plus termly spellings. Dd might be able to learn maybe 3 of those by Friday but they are gone after. She can't remember spellings she's been shown 5 minutes later. The spellings she could learn are more like yr1. When independent writing, the spelling is like phonics gone mad, almost too much phonics.

Examples - seecrechs = sea creatures (ok, that's hard!), soophirse = super heroes, wetlse = I am not sure! Woolyoom (William).

With reading, she is at an OK reading level, in fact one of highest in class. But in my opinion her reading is quite stilted, and I notice that she sometimes swaps out easy words e.g. she might say 'to' instead of 'he'. She is an extremely reluctant reader and has never voluntarily read a book.

She needed extra support to pass the phonics screening (which was done in yr2 due to covid), and her teacher raised a concern with her reading. We took her for an eye test as a starting point and an eye focus issue was identified, so we didn't look into things any further.

Her reading comprehension is very good and she's got a good vocabulary. She likes being read to. She actually wants to be an author. I sometimes wonder if her comprehension could be masking something. But like I said I sometimes wonder if I am being too sensitive and seeing things that are non-issues or will resolve themselves.

She sounds like me. A reading dyslexic. I still don't get phonics, and my short term memory is shocking so spellings and mental maths at primary were hugely stressful.
Always loved to read though!

DS has a diagnosis of dysgraphia, he had good comprehension skills but his decoding skills are poor. He knows there are 26 letters in the alphabet but can only recite them to J, after that he has no clue. He cannot retain the letters on a keyboard so has to scan the keys with every word he types and his spelling is 'interesting' to say the least. He's 31 now, intelligent and engaging but his writing skills remain unchanged from when he was a child.

I am very interested to read the replies you get here, as you've described my son.

I mentioned to school about dyslexia, but they said they don't have anything to do with it in school, and I would have to go to our GP to get the ball rolling with a diagnosis, and even then it could take years and is very difficult to diagnose. Especially as he is so good at reading.

My son is in year 5, so I would like some provisions in place for when he goes to Secondary school next year.

I am a dyslexia specialist and there do seem to be a few red flags for dyslexia but it is a little early to tell. My advice would be to keep an eye on things and perhaps get him some one to one lessons in literacy. Not only would this boost his confidence but the tutor would be able to give you a better idea of what his difficulties are. Are you in England because no school should be telling you they don’t “do” dyslexia. They should be putting extra support in place to deal with his difficulties regardless of whether or not he has a formal diagnosis. As to telling you to go to a GP that is just plain wrong for this country. England recognises dyslexia as an education difficulty not a medical one. You can go to private assessor yourself but if I were you I’d wait until your child is 9 as it will then be easier to distinguish dyslexia from slow development. A private assessment with a specialist assessor should cost you around £500.

I've learnt that many schools and LEA's don't recognise dyslexia as a 'real thing'. They instead talk about language delay.

Who's your reply to, @GrannyRose15 ? I think it must be to @pinkfluffybunny But Pink's son will be older than 9 already as he's in year 5. So pink could presumably look at getting an assessment done, if they wanted.

If you have any thoughts on my daughter (the OP) I'd love to hear them?

I was going to suggest dysgraphia too. How does he go with punctuation and capitals?

Sounds like dyslexia to me or at least worth getting tested. I'm dyslexic could not spell to save my life but my reading was good. 20+ years ago my parents had to go private for diagnosis as school sai I'm not behind not something they will look at. Now with a child myself who very clearly has learning disability I realise the situation is no better if anything it's worse.

Based on my DD (now 19 and at Uni), yes it very much does, OP. Unfortunately, my DD was left to mask like crazy and compensate right up until she couldn’t anymore (the year before GCSEs). Luckily, by then, she was at a school that did realise what might be the cause happening, getting her tested and putting measures in place very rapidly once they realised what was going on. I knew something was wrong years before that, but not knowing any better, I believed her ‘we don’t do dyslexia’ primary school every time I raised issues and they said she’s definitely not dyslexic. I wish I’d known enough to be able to advocate for her more than I did because, when she was finally diagnosed and I asked her how she felt about that, she said ‘Happy, because I thought I was just stupid and I couldn’t understand why I worked even harder than my friends but never got the marks they did’. Heartbreaking. She’s now doing amazingly well at Uni. Though I have to say you can never take your eye off the ball, she’s had to continuously prod them to ensure her reasonable adjustments are adhered to.

The reason state schools don’t really deal
with dyslexia is that they have no funding for extra support. Unless it is very severe and really hampering access to learning, then you might get the SENCO involved and some help.

it sounds very like dyslexia to me. I would make sure you seek out a dyslexia assessment by the time your child is taking national exams as they will be given extra time in the exams. It also will probably help their confidence to know that their literacy difficulties are caused by how their brain is arranged and is not that they are not “clever”. there is a lot of literature out there about dyslexia - and some good organisations to help you. Helen Arkell is one.

There is no magic bullet, just lots and lots of repetition for learning spelling and reading. Try different ways in. And boost their confidence however you can.

Audio books are great so language and vocab continue to be built up.

Yes sorry OP I was trying to write a reply that applied to you both but obviously failed. I would see if you can get a tutor for your daughter and wait until she is 9 to get her tested. School should be putting measures in place to help your daughter if she is having difficulties but you might have to push for them. Spelling is always the most problematic skill for people with dyslexia but there are ways to help. Try splitting words into syllables and relating them to other similar words, or words with the same letter patterns when your daughter brings them home from school. And reward for little steps of improvement rather than expecting 10/10.

Thanks @GrannyRose15 I appreciate your advice! Interesting what you say that spelling is the most problematic skill for people with dyslexia, I didn't know that.

Thanks to the responses on here. School did an initial screening assessment (nessy) and there are three 'reds' which suggests we should get a full assessment.