Dyslexic? (sorry, longer than I expected)

[ZebraInHiding]

I just wanted some feedback on the possibility of my son being dyslexic. On the dyslexiaa2z site, he meets all of the checklist, that is :
When your child reads and spells, does he frequently:

• Confuse letters that look similar: d - b; u - n; m ? n?
• Confuse letters that sound the same: v; f; th?
• Reverse words: was - saw; now ? won?
• Transpose words: left - felt?
• Read a word correctly and then further down the page, read it wrong?
• Change words around: the cat sat on the mat (the mat sat on the cat)?
• Confuse small words: of, for, from?
• When reading has difficulty in keeping the correct place on a line and frequently loses his place?
• Read correctly but does not understand what he is reading?

He also frequently (as in, everytime he says it!) has to be corrected with his speech with words such a because(decause).

He also has a few of the other signs listed on the beingdyslexic site such as 'good' and 'bad' days with his reading. Almost fluent one day, then cannot read even a simple cvc word without sounding out the next. He will fail to recognise a word he previously sounded out up the page when it is repeated further down and have to sound it out again. He guesses words, or just reads half the word, so will say you for yours, your, you etc.

He also has problems with his sequences, took ages to learn to count over 30, kept on skipping half the numbers up to 100, and still doesnt know the alphabet (as in the alphabet song).

I have mentioned it to his teacher (who is just lovely, and I really rate her!) and mentioned dyslexia, but they seem to be not keen on testing them? He was put on a daily reading with the teacher rota, and the did a bit of the alphabet song at school (she seemed really surprised when I mentioned that at parent teacher meeting).

Next term he is also going to a separate group that has additional help four days a week for half an hour, as well as the daily reading, as well as reading at home with me each day.

I know a label wont help him as such, and I know there is no cure, but if a label helps us access extra help then I would like to get it as soon as possible. However, with or without a label, I am sure the measures put in place by the teacher will help him :)

So, should I push for testing?

Sorry forgot to mention, he is 5 and in year one.

Zebra -The reason they don't test for it is because a dx won't help your teacher at all. She is already doing everything she knows how to do. A label won't change anything.

Because there is nothing different you do for kids with dyslexia as for non dyslexic struggling readers.

my DD had severe dyslexia - and getting a diagnosis of dyslexia for her hurt her far more than it helped her.

Dyslexia doesn't actually exist. Your DS has all those problems, and they're real problems, but he doesn't have them due to dyslexia. He has then due to underlying physical problems - all of which can be fixed.

But once DD had a label of dyslexia no one was interested in her anymore. All of her many problems were put down to dyslexia.

In order to remove DDs dyslexia all she had to do was:

• go gluten free dairy free
• huge amount of supplements including omega 3
• improve her hearing with auditory integration therapy
• improve her vision with vision therapy
• improve her brain with neurodevelopment therapy

And now she no longer has dyslexia.

So my advice to you, is to assume your DS does have dyslexia and then decide what you want to do about it.

Thanks for your reply.

So how do we find out what the underlying physical stuff is? Where did you go/speak to for all the things for your DD?

Actually an assessment does not just stick a label on the child, they do a series of tests to establish what exactly is he struggling with, and how best to help him. It is done by an Educational Psychologist. AFIK, though, schools are very reluctant to refer children for an assessment, and will probably say it's best to wait till Y2 and see how things are going.
The first thing to do is to have their hearing and eyesight tested to rule out potential problems.

He has had a hearing test. Eyes ate checked.every six months like the dentist.

But what you mention is why I wanted the test done, so we knew the specifics to work on.

You get none of this on the NHS.

And no one person will help you with it all.

Some experts think everyone with dyslexia has allergies. And the fact your son has good days and bad days makes me think your son does to.

You can get a proper blood food allergy test done - or you can cut out gluten and dairy and see if he improves.

Dairy takes 6 weeks to leave the system and gluten takes 6 months, so you have to cut them out for a while to see if they're the problem.

For auditory problems I did auditory integration training at the sound learning centre. You can do a quick auditory discrimination test at home to see if he has these problems - but the fact he has speech issues also points to a hearing problem.

For vision and neuro development problems I went to the Tinsley house clinic. All dyslexics have vision and cerebellum problems.

It took 2 years, from Y3 - Y5, to work through it all. But now my DD is a totally different kid.

Note the kind of auditory and vision problems I'm talking about are not routinely picked by an NHS hearing test or eye check.

From what I've seen, you really need to push for an assessment. A friend of mine recently went to her GP to ask for it, because she thought the school are being too slow and not providing enough help. It worked for her, but the school still needs to confirm that the child in question needs an assessment.

As a SENCO I agree with Indigo. The assessment might tell me a child has problems with this or that but not why they are having difficulties in these areas.

I've been working with one child for 4 years and he's recently been diagnosed as dyslexic ...the recommendations from the "experts" are to do exactly what we have done for the past 4 years

Which is exactly what the EP told DDs school when he gave her a label of dyslexia - he literally said that school should continue doing everything they were doing.

He had no other recommendations for them.

And I spent a year begging school for DD to be seen by the EP.

That caused me so much stress and anxiety for absolutely no benefit.

Lots and lots and lots and lots of MNers told me to get her seen by an EP.

You can of course spend £400 - £800 for a private EP report. Dyslexia action will happily flog you one.

Or you can spend that money on treatment.

The first (and most expensive) appointment at Tinsley House clinic only costs £275.

Going gluten / dairy free (which has had the most amazing effect on my DD) costs nothing.......

Or you can spend a year or 3 begging school to assess her.....

ZebraInHiding, I have a son who is age 5 and in year 1 and has dyslexia symptoms. He has speech therapy for a phonological speech disorder which is almost now rectified but he still has phonological processing difficulties which are making it difficult for him to learn to read and also with his numeracy. He's been under an NHS speech therapist for nearly 2 years but when I asked about if this was what was making reading difficult they just told me maybe.

I now have an independent speech therapist who did phonological testing and has identified where the difficulties are. I spoke to dyslexia action who told me they don't test until age 7.

A lot of the things listed in are original op are what my Dd does.

I often had concerns or worries re her reading and writing. But the teacher always assures me she is fine!?
She is my first at school so I don't know what is the norm so have always just trusted their judgment...after reading this I feel like my instincts were correct.

Any advise on moving forward.

My dd also does some of these, also 5.5 - teacher said couldn't rule out that she was dyslexic (dp is) but also that about half the class are doing this stuff so way to early to say she is.

does everyone on this thread think those habits at such a young age do indicate dyslexia? or do some of you think it's about being an early reader still trying to crack it? my dd is on green now so reading well but still has a few of these issues.

I think dyslexia is very badly defined and very under diagnosed.

Your child may learn to read and write and therefore struggle to get a label of dyslexia but still have some of the underlying problems I mentioned (particularly cerebellum and vision problems)

She'll learn to read and you'll stop worrying. Then in Y6 or Y8 you'll get worried again because 'she's a bright girl but she's lazy / struggles to express herself in writing / can't organise herself /....'

I have read thread after thread after thread like that on MN.

I think you can't trust teachers. They will always tell you not to worry. Even when DD was absolute bottom of the class, 2 years behind everyone else in the class and getting 1:1 every day I was still told not to worry.

There are 3 reasons school will always tell you not to worry.

1. they believe you worrying will make the problems worse
2. they're d

2. they believe they're doing everything they can for her so they think there is nothing else they can do.

3. they only have your child for a year. They truly believe 'all children mature at different rates' - but they never get to see the outcome of these reception children. They don't look at them in Y4 and think 'whoops, little Johnny didn't grow out of it. Should have done more for him in reception'

Recently I went with a neurologist and tested the worst 15% of the school. All of these kids had problems with reading. There were more kids who had problems but we only had time to test 15% of the school.

All of the kids we tested had cerebellum and vision problems. All of them.

They mostly didn't have a diagnosis of dyslexia.

My DD was 7 when she was diagnosed with dyslexia, and for her is is NOT just a label. It has been hugely releasing for all of us. Yes, it cost a lot of money (the LEA in our area don't fund assessments) but for us it has been worth every penny.
For DD to know there is any underlying reason for the problems she had has been life changing for her. We have been teaching her in a way which is far more appropriate for the way she learns.
The "label" of dyslexia may not suit some families, but it has hugely helped us.

Zebra, educator and Mel - another thing which might help you figure out if it's dyslexia or not is their developmental history so far.

If your child reached lots of their baby milestones late, if they didn't crawl, or if they walked at 14 months or later it's more likely to be dyslexia. Because those are all early signs of cerebellum problems - which is what causes dyslexia.

Thank you. Dd crawled at 8months walked at 13or14 can't remember which.

Dd is in a small school and in year2 she has had the same teacher since reception.

It's difficult isn't it, as you only have the teachers word for it, but I've always just had a feeling she finds reading and writing more challenging than her peers and she can try so hard but also know to not want to do things or throw in the towel because it's a struggle.

How can I find out more about her personally to see if my feelings are right?

I have smililar concerns regarding my DD who is 6 and in Year 1. The school are dismissive, primarily as she reads well for her age but does struggle with blending and hearing sounds in words, which is effecting her spelling. They just say that poor spelling is very common at this age.

The reason I'm concerned stems from the similarities between what she does and how I am and I'm dyslexic. I had no issues learning to read but my spelling has always been apalling etc.

DD is doing fantastically despite having gromitts for glue ear and her hearing is currently normal. She also wears glasses for a vision problem. I also think she has problems tracking the words across the page, she will for example sometimes read 'saw' as 'was' and transpose sounds within words when blending. Also her handwriting is poor but she is only 6.

We will, when she reaches the magic age of 7, pay for an ed psych assessment. This is the age when dyslexia assessments miraculously become more reliable. Our hope with this is that we will have a better understanding of her strengths and weaknesses.

Like Indigo says, I agree that there is potentially some underlying issues and dyslexia is an umbrella term that covers many causes.

PS - I walked at 8 months and DD hit her milestones early and crawled at 5 months and walked at 8 months but is very clumsy.

How did she crawl? Did she crawl on all 4s?

My sons are coeliac and before diagnosis one of them was way above average with all his learning whilst the other son had severe difficulties, worse than the one the OP describes.

Since diagnosis there has been no change at all in DS1 but DS2 is a very different child. He is still catching up (it's been 6 months now) but the effects of a gluten free diet were nearly immediate on things like his concentration and ability to actually learn and speak.

I raised with Coeliac UK that there is nothing at all on their advice about how coeliac or any form of gluten intolerance affects a child's development but I am sad to say they were not interested at all. I think it is a real shame and I think there is still quite a lot of ignorance on how gluten can affect a child.

Orange - it's just amazing isn't it. My 3 kids don't even have coeliac and yet cutting out gluten helped all of them immensely.

How can this be such a 'well kept secret'?

I don't know but the change in my DS2 has stunned many people in our community and since then many people have come and asked me about his symptoms as they are thinking of withdrawing gluten or having their children tested. Going off topic a little here, but I think gluten CAN have quite an impact (physical and otherwise) on some children.

She crawled normally (in my opinion) on hands and knees and then discovered hands and toes was quicker and was cruising at 6/7 months.

I mentioned a possible gluten intolerance to GP and consultant gastroenterolist both dismissed it. She has reflux and persistent tummy pain. I probably need to relook at this .