Hoping for some advice re dyslexia & DD

[duvet]

DD has just started in year 6 & has been on an IEP in the past but made good progress & so isn't anymore. I do quite a lot of reading, games with her at home so I guess that helped.
Now that she approaching high school age I want to make the right decisions for her. She was below average in the National Tests for Numeracy procedural and English reading and she shows many of the signs of being dyslexic. My question is, is it worth me trying to get her assessed by school? As a supply teacher I get the impression this is rare ..? Or assessed privately. What will she gain by having a diagnosis written down on a piece of paper? Thanks

Also when I spoke to the school SENCO in the past about this she said that dd was making good progress and I shouldn't worry. I don't want to be making an unnecessary fuss but I do want to help her in the best way possible.

Its a hard one to answer - there are many dyslexics who are high achievers and develop compensating strategies throughout life, and of course it takes many forms and degrees of severity. It is also a 'thing' all parents have heard of and at first sign of a child struggling in any area its what they leap on so schools can be reluctant and can be very hard to get them to schedule an assessment (which they have to pay for).

You could schedule a private assessment, but they are not cheap and I'd always encourage using a properly qualified professional to carry it out.

If she gets a diagnosis she'll be eligible extra time for SATs and depending on what they implement as normal practice, possibly a reader or even a scribe. Sounds like the school aren't too concerned though if she's got to y6 without screening her in any way so I take it she doesn't currently have extra support?

Yes Definitely only get a qualified person to assess if you do choose to. Some specialist teachers are qualified to assess too; doesn't necessarily have to be a psychologist. Some schools use their own screening checklist which gives a kind of dyslexia risk grading.

Thank you for the replies. She has had extra support in that she goes to small group sessions for catch up and they group the LA's in Maths together. She gets by and teachers never seem overly concerned in parents evenings. Though they recognise her weaknesses.

She struggles to comprehend a lot of information, if we're watching a film or tv programme together she finds it hard to follow, asks a lot of questions - many of which the answers to were in the programme. A lot of it just seems to go over her head. She has little concept of time either.
I'm concerned that high school with so many different subjects will overload her.

If it was me I'd go for an assessment with a chartered psychologist - dyslexic traits can be in information processing and short term retention which a school level specialist or test might not pick up on. However you are probably talking about a few hundred pounds.