Possible dyslexia and reaction of SenCo, confused and annoyed. WWYD?

[VinoEsmeralda]

I'm not the best in converting thoughts/conversations to paper but will try to give a neutral picture of current situation.

DD is in Yr2 and last year her teacher (NQT who is v young and IMO lacks empathy and is rather cocky, am not alone in thinking this but has made improvements this year) referred her to the SenCo but couldnt tell me why just that he thought she was not making much progress. She started of as a confident happy girl but very quickly lost confidence.

Possible thoughts of dyslexia but no intervention or extra 1-1 support was offered, other then the usual strategies with low ability groups, as DD was so young ( July baby) and it might level itself out which we were happy with as both are DC are immature or slow starters academically.

Fast forward to October last year, Senco felt she was making sufficient progress and no need for further meetings. Both me and DH disagreed and it was agreed we would meet again in March.

She has made more progress and her confidence has grown a lot. I have pushed hard to get her in a teddy talk time group and we have been doing lots of (fun) work at home. We read every day, use Nessy and generally try to link this to subjects taught at school. SenCo said she was pleased and I again disagreed, teacher agreed with me this time and said he spent a fair bit of time with her and the amount of input she had she should be at a higher level and SenCo said there was likely to be a mild form of dyslexia and now comes the part that really annoyes me.

She will not get any extra support as the level is not severe enough, said dont bother to get her tested as school is aware of the situation and ensure good handover to make transition between classes easier for her. Possibly get her tested so when she goes to secondary she has 'the label' and teachers will have an understanding. She would try and ensure she wouldnt slip through the net but couldnt say what these were.

I just dont get it! So dissapointed, have we shot ourselves in the feet but doing so much to get her to this level? She still struggles with number bonds up to 10, is on New Way reading scheme on the green band.

What are your thought? Would really appreciate feedback if I am overreacting or (as I am currently planning) to take this further.

Apolgies for long post!

Kensingtonia - it's absolutely clear you've done everything you could for your DD. and also that you've had fairly good results from that.

We all have to make choices based on unknowns, and you've made very reasonable ones.

Most people don't go to the lengths you have. Nor do they get the results you've had.

TH cost £250 for the initial assessment. The treatment takes 12 - 18 months, and costs approx £1,000 in total.

I'm doing it with both DS and DD and can absolutely confirm it is changing their brain. Whether or not everyone gets good results I don't know. But, besides money, you have nothing to lose by trying it. And if you want to you can do the first stage of the treatment without going there, just by following the advice from the book 'the brain food plan' (although if you can, I do recommend going there)

About a dozen of us on the SN board are all trying TH. so far we're all seeing improvements and are all pleased - but none of us have finished the therapy yet.

In 2 months on TH DDs reading level on a SATs style paper went from a 1b (ie she was actually unable to do a SATs reading test at all) to a 3a. She is in Y4. ( and her reading level isn't a 3a - that is just what she got on that one test)

But the biggest improvement was in her 'word finding' ability. Previously she had huge difficulties learning new words. So for example in Sep (of Y4) I asked her what she did in maths and she said 'I don't know what it's called but it had a line and a dot and a dot' ( division). Another time she said 'I don't know but on the board was a 1 and a line and a 4'.

Then 2 weeks after starting at TH I asked her what she'd done in maths and she said 'fractions'! I was amazed (that she knew the word) and asked 'what did you learn about fractions?' and she said 'that they have a numerator on the top and a denominator on the bottom'!!!!

So you can see why I claim it's changing her brain.

It's not teaching her to read. But as her brain improves its easier and easier for school or me to teach her.

Indigo - just done the dyslexia quest with my DD and results are

working memory- average
phonological awareness- average
processing speed- very low
visual sequential memory-very low
auditory seq memory -high
visual memeory- average

I am going to have a look at your website and read a lot more.

Becaroo- Her teacher admitted he hadnt covered any units with regards to SEN and last year he put so much pressure on her and got visually annoyed with her which had the reverse effect and really knocked her self esteem. This year he has slowly improved but still not to a level that I feel is acceptable.

That is really encouraging that working memory and phonological awareness are average. If they are very low it is very hard to learn to read or spell.

IndigoBell - just a question. Have you ever come across a child with stammering that has been helped by these methods? We have close relative affected and were told that stammering and dyslexia are often seen together (same child or family), and some of the same genes may be responsible.

No, I don't know anyone who stammers.

Another child on the SN board has seen their language vastly improve after a few weeks on TH.

I guess they should ring or email TH and see what Robin says. I don't recall him mentioning stammering in his books.

Hi Indigo- phonological memory she had a bit of help as she got so angry and confused by the way the person pronounced certain letters, especially the s sound. So not sure if thats accurate.

I'm going to look into TH and your site after tomorrow morning (prof. discussion prep tonight. oh the joy).

Kensingtonia- are you billingual?

Do view this video before paying for 'alternative solutions' to dyslexia:
www.dystalk.com/talks/60-evaluating-alternative-solutions-for-dyslexia

VinoE - no not bilingual. My mum was advised to stop speaking to me in Dutch as I had a language delay. I find I can understand a lot of Dutch spoken and written, except very high brow or academic (as I don't know all the words) but find it difficult to speak back, except for short phrases. I don't think I could hold a normal conversation for example.

Maverick - you're a dyslexia tutor.

How do you improve processing speed?
How do you improve word finding difficulties?

What do you do for eye tracking problems?
What do you do for auditory discrimination or auditory processing problems?

Do people leave you able to read as fast, fluently and accurately as someone without dyslexia?
Do they still find academic work harder than they should?
Are they able to spell accurately?

How much tutoring does a severely dyslexic child require?

What do you do differently for a child who has dyslexia, and a child who doesn't have dyslexia but just is struggling to learn to read?

What scientific studies do you have to prove that the type of dyslexic tutoring you do is effective?

Why should people have higher standards for selecting alternative therapies than they should for selecting tutors?

I found that I could do at home what DA were offering and charging £60 an hour for!! For example, Earobics, dancing bears, apples and pears, toe by toe etc Seriously, home tutoring/DA is hugely expensive compared to things like TH on an hourly rate basis.

Of all the things I have tried - and believe me, prior to TH I've tried em all!!!! - the best are dancing bears and apples and pears.

HOWEVER I have had an ephiphany of sorts in that I dont do any extra work with ds1 atm and will not until is vision (his tracking and convergence) issues are sorted out...not much point til then!!

Last year (in Y3) I was disparing....his NQ teacher was useless, the SENCO told me she "had no concerns" (!!??) and we had to pay for an EP report as the school would not do it.

The result? ds1 is severely dyslexic. Have it on paper but it has made no difference at all wrt school and what they are doing.

I honestly do not know where ds1 would be if we hadnt looked into other options (ds1 has done AIT, RRT and now TH)

He has been following the TH regime since 1st week in Jan. Last week he got "Star writer of the week" award at assembly for a story he made up....this from a child who in Y3 didnt use vowels when writing and whose teacher had to take his work to the reception/Y1 teacher to decode!!!!!!

Robins theory is a very interesting one and I certainly believe it to be the answer to my sons problems (not just dyslexia) since birth.

The book The Brain Food Plan is very accessible and explains the theory behind the regime.

It is easy to slag off tutoring but we had fantastic tutors at DA and but at the time they used Units of Sound not the programmes you mentioned. I did try and work with her at home, but I am not a teacher and I found there was no substitute for a trained and experienced teacher. It was expensive but worth it, DD went from 6 months behind her chronological age to 3 years ahead in two years in reading and writing. She was able to read a Chapter book for the first time by herself a few months in and it was lovely to watch her pick up a book and read it from cover to cover and get real enjoyment out of it.

I didnt intend to "slag them off" kensingtonia and I can only speak of my local DA which uses a lot of stuff (like earobics and toe by toe) that I can do at home and which requires no special training or skills.

I am glad it worked for your dd. It wouldnt have for my ds1....he has other issues as well as dyslexia which would have made going to an unfamiliar place perhaps 2/3 times per week with people he didnt know very well difficult/stressful for him. The lady I spoke to at DA was very nice, but couldnt answer my questions wrt ds1 re; auditory processing, processing speed and handwriting difficulties.

I do think things like TH are less expensive compared to the prices of hourly tutoring - which can be needed for years in some cases. (The AIT programme ds1 did was 10 days. RRT was 9 months. TH will probably take the same).

Ds1 also read a chapter book for the first time last month

Kensingtonia - I'm really pleased tutoring worked for you. And I'm sorry I sound like I'm slagging it off.

Your DD was only 6 months behind when you started tutoring aged 7, so her dyslexia was not nearly as severe as my DDs.

It is the severity of DDs dyslexia which makes me positive that tutoring wouldn't have worked for her.

It's not easy to slag off tutoring. It's what everyone continually tells me to do.

Its easy to slag off alternative therapies. Again, that is what everyone does to me. I've had some support - but an incredible number of people (mostly MNers) be truly horrible to me about my decisions to investigate a wide range of alternative therapies.

And when they work I've been accused (by MNers) of lying. Which really hurts.

I thought everyone knew tutoring was one expensive option thy had. And I just want people to know you do have other expensive options to chose from.

I'm sorry my posts sounded like they were attacking you. They weren't. You have done everything you could for my DD.

They weren't attacking you - but they are attacking dyslexia tutors who are really nothing more than reading tutors.

But I do hope I get better results than you did. I won't give up till DD is cured. I am very far down that path, and have made incredible progress so far. Far more than anyone thought I could. But I'm not there yet.

The only thing I know is that the progress DD has made would not have been achieved through tutoring.

And that I'm really sick of people being horrible about alternative therapies - when they work

I wish your daughter all the best.

When you say your daughter went from 6 months behind to 3 years ahead I assume you mean in reading age Kensingtonia?

Interesting what you say about say about tutoring - although my son is going through a vision training programme (NHS funded btw) I am 'panicking' that I should be organising extra tutoring for him as well as he is half way through year 4 and don't want to waste any more time - but reading here I am not sure it is worth it until the vision training/RRT work takes effect

My son was 3 years + behind his peers kensingtonia like indigos daughter.

He started in Y4 last sept at a 1a for reading (1b for writing) I am hopeful at the end of Y4 he will be a 3c for both.

didl I know that feeling of panic well! I have decided that its pointless for my ds1 to do yet another dyslexia intervention until his underlying vision and neuro issues are sorted out.

I think that probably why none of the stuff I have tried in the past has worked???...its not that they werent good programmes (headsprout, toe by toe, step by step, jolly phonics, etc) but just that ds1's brain cannot access them properly yet.

How did you get a referral for the vision training. Sorry to come accross dim but only just started on this journey which seems a jungle and uphill struggle so really grateful for all your help sofar..

My DD had her eyes tested and was told she needed glasses (last summer hols). Then 4 months later apparently this had corrected itself and she no longer needed them. However she looses focus in where she is when reading and using her finger does help a little but not as much as I like it to be.

Indigo - both my DC love Dyslecia quest We also have the Nessy software which we use but none of you seem to use this, any specific reason?

My dd's tutor mentioned Nessy, do you find it useful VinoEsmerelda? Dyslexia Quest sounds good but we don't have an IPhone or iPad.

Vino - DD was far too bad to benefit from the nessy spelling program.

In Y3 she was still learning to spell the 45 HFW. (in, at, the etc) so Nessy wasn't suitable for her.

Now She could maybe use it, but she would hate it.

If your DC likes it and will play it happily then there's nothing wrong with it. If you have to force them to use it, I personally wouldn't bother.

It's not bad as far as computer spelling programs go. Not sure if it's the best one or not. The one I really hate is word shark.

I never heard of a phoneme 3 years ago let alone a digraph. I learned most my English from being surrounded by Australians and Brits and having no option then to try and understand and speak it. So no understanding of the phonetic build up and Nessy has helped me greatly .

On a more serious note I think it works well, its systematic, has hundreds of worksheets ( DD's fav are wordsearches which are doing by phonetic sound) and a range of games that can be printed. The initial reading and spelling challenges will point out where they struggle and you can take it from there. They receive nuggets and they can spend them at a fair, tricky mountain is double points. The other selling point for me was that you can voice record your own spellings, which I use for my DS who just loves the games and now can work indepedently so I can focus more on DD.

Vino, well it was Indigo talking about it that got me thinking about VT. It turned out that Colchester hospital does private referrals (our nearest VT centre) and I just rang and booked an appointment - which was £250. Had I gone to the GP they could have referred me via the NHS route. After the initial assessment and confirmation of my suspicions I went to the GP and showed them the report. She had never heard of VT but has taken all the details in order to help other patients. All of his follow ups will now be through the NHS.
Would love to try Dyslexia Quest etc. but they don't seem to do them on Android

Indigo, I was making a general comment about tutoring. I don't want people reading this forum to necessarily disregard it. My DD went to a private school at the time of diagnosis, there were only 12 in the class with a teacher and an assistant. While she was "only" 6 months behind, she would have been expected to be ahead.

When tested at age 7, her working memory was in the lowest 18% (of her peer group) and processing speed index in the lowest 9%. Her verbal comprehension was above average - 61% and perceptual reasoning in the high range at 84%. Her overall result was on the mild to moderate borderline. The ed psych also observed that her phonological system was not functioning properly as her written words bore a visual resemblance to the correct word (jap for jump, rit for right, ondra for under), but sounded different when read.

Incidentally the ed psych did mention that we didn't have to have tutoring at Dyslexia Action, but by that stage I had already come across charlatans and chatting to other parents in the waiting room, they seemed happy so we went with that. It was a lot of money, but it was well spent. The tutors we had there were fantastic and certainly not in business to rip parents off. I had used the main "dyslexia" reading system at home as well as resources like Wordshark etc but I did not have the skills or expertise that they had and the multisensory approach they used worked well.

From time to time I see things in the press saying that dyslexia doesn't exist, it is just kids who are thick or who haven't been taught to read properly. Having an older child who is not dyslexic, they were so utterly different in their reading abilities at age 5 it is not just a question of reading, it was the whole perception. I have always thought that DD2 was the brighter child, and reached the childhood milestones more quickly, although it is DD1 who is "academic" and at a superselective.

I am interested in alternative therapies. I myself used acupuncture, traditional chinese medicine and diet to cure myself of a febrile arthritic disease I had in my twenties. I had a fantastic practitioner. The hospital consultant was quite prepared to accept it - "well you cured yourself, we certainly didn't cure you" he said. I did look at the alternative route for DD2. I found the optometric theory quite interesting but was totally ripped off. We also visited the Dyslexia Research Trust in Reading who were lovely but DD2 does not have Irlens Syndrome. I did consider Dore but didn't want to promise DD2 miracles (especially as it was getting a really bad press at the time).

At the end of the day, DD2 is doing well academically, top set of the top band. She would not be in that position if we hadn't used tutoring. I am fairly sceptical that what I believe is a hereditary neurological processing disorder can be completely "cured" but I will certainly look into the practioners and methods that Indigo and others have mentioned. I don't think I am being evangelical about tutoring, it certainly worked for DD2 and that was the best option available to us at the time.

Yes, I think Dyslexia is due to a neuro development problem, which is why you need a neuro development therapy to correct it.

The 3 main ones are Tinsley House, INPP (retained reflex therapy) and Dore. Although there are many other similar ones.

And the one I recommend the most is Tinsley House.

I havent done Dore (so can't personally recommend it)

INPP was very useful for DS, but not so good for DD.

As well as (or caused by?) neuro development problems, dyslexics can have vision and /or auditory problems. You've ruled out vision problems, which is good.

Auditory problems are harder to test for and more expensive to correct.

So I recommend looking into any of the neuro development therapies, if you still want to do something further with your DD.

DD has mild auditory symptoms, she mispronunces certain words, DH and his brothers have the same. The Ed Psych noted it but didn't comment. There is one particular semi tone that DD can't differentiate but both DD1 and I can, although she is generally good at music.

DD has relatively poor co-ordination and can't swim very well for example although she started lessons as a six week old baby! She is crap at most sports, tbh. But good at fine motor skills and art.

I will contact TH and see if they can offer her anything.