What is this and how to help? 9 yo DD

[ErgonomicallyUnsound]

DD (9) has recently been assessed by her school for dyslexia as her teacher noticed that although fairly bright her spelling was off. Her reading is fine, Maths is OKish and NVR skills very good.

The dyslexia assessment came back showing no signs of dyslexia and that she is "above average" (whatever that means in this context, no idea).

She struggles to learn new things. Her music teacher described it very well, saying that she doesn't have a patterned learning strategy to find her way in when learning new things. The result is like bumper cars: having bounced off all the walls, the way forward without the bumps is the only one left. Other children steer straight, and have no experience of the walls, and get very upset when those challenges appear - she doesn't as she is used to it. She has heightened aural perception and creativity, perhaps because of these challenges.

She also seems to have issues remembering "rules" eg spelling rules. She never got phonics at all, and reads using whole word recognition. It was interesting to compare some recent spelling tests she's done where a relatively simple test, using the same spelling rule throughout, she got 7/14 and a much more difficult test where all the words were different and complex, she got 11/14.

She's had her eyes tested regularly and has no issues.

Any ideas how I can help her?

Was it a dyslexia screening test or an actual dyslexia assessment? I don't think the school's screening tests are very good. My son was screened at school and the test came back showing no signs of dyslexia. I knew something wasn't quite right (he also reads whole words and doesn't 'do' phonics) so had him tested privately and it turns out he has moderate dyslexia.
If you can afford to maybe get her assessed privately by an educational psychologist? Even if she hasn't got dyslexia it will show up where her strengths and weaknesses lie and you can help her from there.

What are her motor skills like?

DD1 has dyspraxia, which for her affects her organisational / planning skills as well as her motor skills. She is a whole word reader, rather than phonics. She doesn't have patterned learning strategies for anything (even when I have shown her how to do it, she forgets to follow the method another time).

Ds had a dyslexia screening test at school which showed up no problems.
We took him for a screening assessment (not full assessment) at our local Dyslexia centre, where it showed processing and verbal difficulties, which school hadn't spotted at all.
Do you have a dyslexia centre nearby?

It was a basic dyslexia screening test I believe. I will look into getting a further assessment done.

Her motor skills seem fine, she holds a pen OK, can ride a bike well, ties shoelaces etc - is this what you mean? Her reading age is above her actual age and she comprehends well.

Teen - how do you deal with the lack of a patterned learning strategy?

You might like to investigate the Word Wasp programme to help with spelling. It's easily done at home in a short daily session and costs little.

As a TA I was involved in introducing 'informal' music to primary children, for over twenty years - recorder, keyboard, and percussion.

I find it interesting that DD is doing music. What instruments is she learning, and how is she progressing? Does she also sing, and is she in any ensembles?

For now, this might help improve her Phonics understanding:

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’ and my name.