Do girls have a developmental leap at 10 years old?

[insanityscratching]

I have two daughters with a ten year age gap. Dd1 struggled through ks 1 started catching up in y3 (different school different approach perhaps) then at ten coincidentally occurring with dd2's birth she just flew. At the time I assumed that she was feeling a bit put out by dd2, I didn't have time to entertain her as much and she became more independent so read more for herself and found her own interests. Her teacher at the time remarked that she had made huge leaps roughly two years progress in 4 months and we agreed it was probably down to a bit of healthy neglect.
Then dd2 , she has ASD so her development has been disordered anyway so she had huge delays at two but left EYFS with very high scores. She thrived from Y2 in a new school and has been top groups throughout. Now she's ten and the same age as dd1 was when she was born and suddenly she's making leaps too.So things that she had to work at six weeks ago have suddenly clicked and the targets made at her AR six weeks ago for next year's attainment are already being consistently met.
Is this common with girls? There hasn't been a new sibling (thank goodness) and I don't think I've been particularly neglectful as dd2 would let me know if I had Just interested if there is any recognised research on this or whether any teachers had had experience of this? Not worried that the school won't meet dd's needs as they have been brilliant throughout and expect them to continue to be so and won't be pushing for more work, extension or stretching as we are all mindful of her stress levels.

Hi insanity:

DH is severe dyslexic and was removed from school several days a week to a county remedial education centre when in primary (way back in the age when dinosaurs roamed the earth). He said that many, including himself, suddenly 'got it' around puberty.

Just randomly typing in dyslexia and onset of puberty on google led me to this: www.newswise.com/articles/delayed-brain-development-puberty-may-be-key-to-dyslexia.

Although we know a lot about the body - how the brain works, how thought patterns and logic are developed - does remain something of a mystery.

It could be that then as the puberty link is right and in a family with ASD and dyspraxia in it it wouldn't be odd to think dyslexia could be lurking. I'd think dyslexia could fit dd1 as her spelling was atrocious although she was an average reader and she didn't decide on left or right handed until she was 7 or 8. But dd2 was an early reader and has always been the best speller in her class because of her photographic memory but then I know very little about dyslexia so will have to read more.

Hi insanitscratching:

Dyslexia, dyspraxia, ASD, aspergers, autism, etc... are now being seen as 'spectrum learning disabilities' - whereby the severity of disability matches the label but they are all coming from the same 'wiring' issues neurologically.

DH is academic and because students with these issues need mitigation for exams system he works with University student support (who assesses & support learning disabilities here) & they are very clear that all of these learning disabilities are related and should be seen as a gradient from mild to severe - we've just given them convenient labels, but it's stereotyping.

Dd2 has a statement of SEN and so will get extra time for SATs and later other exams I'd imagine.Her processing time is slower and so she seems to read and speak English as though it's a foreign language so rather than hearing phrases and reading sentences she individually processes each word. It's not that noticeable as now she fits in umms and aahs to cover gaps in speech and in writing you'd assume she was a slower writer whereas she isn't she just takes longer to process what she reads and writes. I knew dyslexia was on the spectrum but never really researched it. Dd's paed always believed that our family unit have a blip on chromosome 15 as between the five children the abilities and disabilities range from pretty severe autism to very gifted and anything in between.