too early for dyslexia assessment? WWYD?

[becstarsky]

My DS is about to go into yr 1, aged 5. He's really struggling with reading - tears when we do his school reading, lots of 'I hate it, I hate it, I'll never be able to do it, I'm stupid' - and he isn't normally like that at all, he's a happy little chap usually. Also other kids pick on him - I was with him at school gates when a little girl just walked straight up and hit him and when the Mum said 'Say sorry', the girl said 'But he's so stupid, he can't write, his handwriting is just like this [mimes scruffy handwriting]' I asked DS 'Have other kids said that to you before?' and he said 'I don't care, I only want to talk about Beyblades and football, I don't care about writing anyway.' in a typical 'boy with a brave face on' kind of way. There were other instances of kids hurting him or calling him names which teachers dealt with. He does have friends and makes friends easily, but even they make comments to him - just innocently as kids do - about how he can't read as well as them.

Teachers (all supply teachers, he didn't have a regular form teacher for most of last year, so they didn't really know him well) comment that his handwriting needs a lot of work but that they're 'not worried about him' but I've seen some of the work of other kids in his form and DS is just not even at the races. This is a London state primary, where he is the only child who speaks English as a first language in his class, and a few of the kids there don't have anyone who speaks English at home apart from siblings, over 50% of kids are free school meals - I'm not comparing him against private school tutored kids in the home counties.

He's summer born so young for his year, and he's a boy and people keep telling me that boys read later, and I'm probably being a fussy middle-class mother of an only child... because, well, that's what I am. But he seems to learn everything else so quickly and easily, and whenever people talk to him they comment that he is very bright, and say that he must be top in his class. I just smile and say that they don't do 'top of the class' any more. But tbh, if they did, DS would be around bottom. WWYD?

The problem is that often the very obvious signs of dyslexia are present in many young children and it is only if they persist after a certain age (usually cited as 7ish) that they are investigated. Unfortunately for these children they have already struggled for 3 years and are often falling behind.
I don't believe that a label or a statement is necessarily helpful but dyslexia friendly teaching methods for all would support all children.
Children like Indigo's daughter have very complex needs that require specialist investigation beyond that an EP can provide and rarely available directly from the LA.

The problem is that often the very obvious signs of dyslexia are present in many young children and it is only if they persist after a certain age

yes, many of the signs listed by Indigo are present in my DC (4 and 6) and there is dyslexia in both sides of the family. I am keeping my eye on them and it is good to know that age 7 is seen as a kind of watershed.

However, I am also aware that over worried parents can try to jump on the 'dyslexia' bandwagon too soon when learning appears slower than expected when really you are just looking at a developmental stage the child needs to reach.

What I know at present is that DD (6) is a very visual learner and very creative. This visual strength is dominating her understanding of numeracy (shape awareness, symmetary are very strong) and literacy.

However, I am also aware that over worried parents can try to jump on the 'dyslexia' bandwagon too soon when learning appears slower than expected when really you are just looking at a developmental stage the child needs to reach.

No, that's not the problem. The problem is that dyslexia doesn't really exist.

There isn't a definition of dyslexia (ie there are lots of defn's not one), nor is there a test for dyslexia (lots of tests, not one). Nor would all EPs agree whether a child has dyslexia or not.

So if your child is struggling with reading and writing you can assume they have dyslexia if you want. Or assume they'll catch up later if you want. It won't really change anything. Because you wouldn't do anything different if you thought a child had dyslexia, or if you thought they didn't have dyslexia but were just struggling.

So, address the problems your child has now - whatever those problems are.

Cherry - what therapies is your DS getting at his dyslexia school?

well said. Am doing just that!

omg!

my DD just picked up a reading book by choice (actually offered to read to me off her own back), read it out loud to me and only had to spell out less than 30% of the words to work out what they were. It sounded almost fluent!

Had to post somewhere because I am actually gobsmacked!

It does seem true that boys take longer to read and 5 does seem very early to be classed with dyslexia or any of these labels. Just like adhd, to distinguish from learning difficulty and delayed reading ability can not safely be diagnosed until 7 or 8 (or so many tell me). Feel for how ds is feeling but he needs encouraged, not stigmatised. Thats the school's job and yours - kids follow adults example.

MigratingCoconuts - Congratulations! Well done little nut

netherlee - yeah let's wait until the kid is so far behind they can never catch up before stimgatising them

Far better that they label themselves as stupid then a professional assessing them........

No, that's not the problem. The problem is that dyslexia doesn't really exist.

You are one brave lady, IB. Usually people get badly flamed for saying that!

I would completely agree with you and emphasise that 'dyslexia' is symptom of something wrong. What is 'wrong' can be a wide range of things, from poor teaching to physical or neurological problems.

What is important is not the dx of 'dyslexia' but the pinpointing of the cause so that appropriate help can be given.

Maizie - Exactly. That is exactly what I was trying to say

Now all we have to do is wait a year and see if whether curing DDs retained reflexes (neuro development problems) will cure the rest of her 'dyslexia' symptoms....... I'll keep you all posted.

I like what you both say about dyslexia...it makes a lot of sense to me.

Dyslexia is a man made problem or a social construct.
Dyslexia is about having cognitive problems processing the visual notation of speech, or the graphic symbols our society chooses to represent the sounds of speech.
There are two types of dyslexia, Developmental Dyslexia which has a genetic origin and Alexia (acquired dyslexia) those who are loosing or have lost their ability to read as a result of brain injury, substance abuse, stroke, dementia, or a progressive illness

Dyslexia has nothing to do with poor teaching, that is purely a myth created by the any reading program providers as part of their marketing.

How we learn to read or the psycholinguistic models of reading have evolved from Alexia research and more recent neurological research into the lexical and sublexical processes required to perform the task of reading.

Developmental Dyslexia has three cognitive subtypes, auditory, visual, and attentional, so an auditory processing disorder, a visual processing disorder an attention disorder or any combination of the three can cause the dyslexic symptom.

All children develop their various cognitive abilities until the age of maturation, the age of 7 - 8 years of age. children develop various congitive abilities at different ages and at different rates. After the age of maturation children stop growing out of developmental issues and any remaining problems can be considered a medical condition or a disability. If the UK were to follow the leading countries regarding education, then Formal Education would not start until the age of 7 years of age, allowing all children to complete their natural cognitive development, and develop alternative compensating strategies to work around their natural weaknesses.

A diagnosis of dyslexia is only a screening process for one of the underlying cognitive disabilities which all have more serious symptoms than the dyslexic symptom.