Should I worry about reading and writing NC levels being the same (dyslexia?)

[wigglywoowoo]

My daughter has finished on 2B for reading and writing. Is it unusual lower down the school (KS1) to not have a difference between reading and writing?

I continue to be concerned that she may be dyslexic and we read everyday but do no work on her writing at home. Her spelling is phonetic and very variable and the teacher has noted this. She is a freereader at school after having read through to book band 13.

My own dyslexia presents primarily through spelling difficulties.

Should I be concerned or am I being neurotic?

Neurotic. This is not an indication of dyslexia.

Is her teacher concerned? Spelling isn't necessarily a sign of dyslexia and she sounds like she's doing well.

In my case, the massive difference between writing and everything else (inc reading) was what identified my dyslexia.

I'm not at the stage of needed to understand what 2b means, so couldn't comment on those, sorry.

I can accept that I am being a little neurotic but it stems from a family history of being told nothing is wrong by various schools, only to discover later, there was an issue.

My main point would be that a lot of effort has gone into reading and none into writing and they have been graded the same. Also it seems generally more common for reading to be further ahead than writing in this keystage.

Teacher has some concerns re spelling but generally thinks that ddis improving.

I understand that, I'm dyslexic as well and my Mum had to really push before the school would do anything and even then it wasn't properly diagnosed until I was in year 10.

I would keep an eye on her levels but I think if dd is improving what you are doing is working, is it just the levels and her spelling thats worrying you or are there other concerns?

Her writing level has very little to do with her spelling ability.

It does sound like her reading age is far higher than her spelling age. But this tells us nothing about whether or not she has dyslexia.

All a 2b tells us is that she is working at the expected level for her age.

Dyslexia Action charge £450 to test a child for dyslexia. Your child is doing well so it's unlikely school will ever pay for her to be tested. But you can if you want to.

Is she is interested in doing some writing at home? Simple crosswords and gap-filling can help with spelling, but doing lots of writing is best of all. It's bound to be quite phonetic to start with, but practice is what gets even dyslexics there in the end. And please don't make her anxious about it.

English spelling is very illogical (penny - many, scoop - soup) and some children find it much harder to cope with than others. Not being a perfect speller is not the end of the world www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10218870/Lessons-in-spelling-have-no-place-in-21st-century-schools.html

There will thousands of children finishing KS1 with 2B for reading and writing ..For level 2B words have to be phonetically plausible with some common words spelt correctly.
It sounds as if she is doing well

will be thousands

I got this book out of our local library and found it very useful:

www.amazon.co.uk/Dyslexia-dyslexia-dyspraxia-learning-difficulties/dp/0091923387

There are some tests you can do that give an indication of dyslexia. My DS couldn't do them even though he appears to be a good reader (his mistakes are subtle).

Thanks all, DD has just finished year 1 do she is doing well but my concern is that she is coping quite well at the moment but that the same level for reading and writing could be an early indicator of compensation.

Reading - generally accurate but prefers to guess than sound out new words. She passed the phonic check.

Writing - writing is full of self corrections of reversals of letters b,p,s,z,n. It is similar for many words where she automatically spells them wrong then self corrects. I was really surprised by the 2b but I can see she is trying really hard.

Extremely good long term memory but I suspect her working memory is poor and she can't do games like 'I went to the shop and bought...?'

The school have said not to correct her spelling so I don't . She doesn't like to get things wrong so I only ever ask her to reread her homework and self correct what she can see.

I'm aware that because she is doing well the school would be unlikely to get her tested and we would have to pay for it. If we did get her assessed all I would want I to understand how best to help her.

I will check out the book link.

I would correct spelling so she doesn't get over familiar with seeing words written incorrectly

2b's really good for year 1! your right though, schools are less likely to test children who are doing well, that was my problem at school.

You might find this link for The British Dyslexia Association helpful, they have lots of tips for recognising dyslexia and helping your child.

I've never understood the not correcting spelling, my uni tutor went through a stage of not correcting mine and it drove me mad, especially as i am doing classics so there are lots of new words, how are you supposed to work on the spelling if no one tells you that you need to?!

www.dyslexics.org.uk/is_my_child.htm

Apologies for the typos in my last post.

When school restarts I will gently correct a few of her spellings. Y1 teacher said not to correct them as she didn't want DD put off from using ambitious language because she couldn't spell it.

I correct my Y1s spelling and it doesn't put them off using "ambitious" language.

I let the child spell the word and say - that's a really good try but in this word we spell the sound * this way ... would you like to change it

Thanks I will try that!

Dyslexia Action charge £450 to test a child for dyslexia. Your child is doing well so it's unlikely school will ever pay for her to be tested.

Surprised that no-one has pointed out that schools don't pay private EPs for a 'dyslexia' test. Local Authorities have their own EPs which schools have access to.

I think OP is being neurotic. But then, I have very non-PC views about 'dyslexia'..

P.S If a child has a problem the school should adress it anyway. Action shouldn't be dependent on the child being given a label. The only thing a good EP might do is to pinpoint exactly what is causing a problem if the school is baffled and give good advice on how to tackle it. They mostly don't, though...

Sorry, I am going to plump for neurotic as well. Your DD has just finished Y1 and is at the average level for reading and writing as the average child just finishing Y2. While some parents might worry about a discrepancy between the levels, you are worrying that they are the same. Your DD is doing well and making progress - keep an eye on things if you want, but it doesn't sound like you have much to worry about at present.

Maizie - schools have very limited to LEA EPs. And they normally can't buy more hours (from the LEA, although they can pay privately)

They have very limited hours. A primary school will only be able to get a couple of children assessed by an EP a year.

So the fact they're free is irrelevant. They're not available.

Are you kidding Phoenix ?, my LA is all about a schools buying more and more time from the EP service! But you're right, based on those levels she would be unlikely to be prioritized for an assessment at this stage.

Must differ LA to LA. down here you can't buy more hours from the LA.

We have bought extra EP time for the first time this year (previously this wasn't possible) ... it still wasn't enough for the school needs.

maizied i'm intrigued to know what your non pc views are! I'm not really interested in political correctness (unless i have to be)