Does this look like dyslexia?

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My daughter is almost 7 and in primary 3. Since she started school I have had concerns that she could have dyslexia as she really struggled with reading and writing. However she has started to improve with her reading recently but her writing is still a big big struggle. She literally writes stuff how it sounds. This is actually an improvement as before her handwriting was 100% unreadable.

Her teachers the past 2 years haven't been concerned when I've spoke about it and say she's too young to know if she's dyslexic. Would it be worth taking the note she has written in to school to discuss with her recent teacher.

Her dad is dyslexic so I'm aware this increases the chances. Id like to know so she can get the extra support as soon as possible.

The note reads -

Dear Tooth Fairy

Sorry I dropped (the first letter is a J back to front as where we come from drop sounds a bit like we are saying jrop and the Q should be a P) my tooth down the sink. I was trying (again trying sounds like chrying so what she has written is hcrin getting her 'ch' sound back to front) to make it nice and clean for you.

The note would have helped

3rd time lucky !!

Current teacher not recent

You don’t need to take the note as they’ll have school work.

Make a specific appointment to talk to her teacher and explain the family history and concerns. Ask for them to keep an eye on this. Have you also had her eyes tested?

My ds is just 9 and I have similar concerns. His teacher is aware of my concerns and we have agreed to have regular discussions and take it from there.

You could circumvent all the back and forth with the school and teacher if you have the money to have your daughter tested.

It cost me £340 a couple of years ago

My child's school apparently screened them at school and it didn't indicate dyslexia. Was rubbish and when tested it clearly showed their dyslexia ( slow processing speed and working memory not issues with spelling or reading).

If the school identifies a need they have a duty to meet it so that explains the reluctance on some schools part to explore Sen.

The first two years of school are very early for getting a diagnosis of dyslexia but now she’s almost 7, it’s worth voicing your concerns and letting her teacher know about her dad’s diagnosis.

I’m an infant teacher and just looking at the one piece of writing, it’s clear that she’s struggling to apply her phonic knowledge in her writing. I’d check with her teacher about that too.

"Believeitornot* when she copies from the board at school it's not so bad. Because she wrote this freehand that's why I thought I should maybe show her teacher. I haven't had her eyes tested I've been meaning to for a while but it keeps slipping my mind so will get her an appointment booked thanks for that idea!

Scifi I don't have the money for that unfortunately I'm a single parent and not working at the moment . She also has a bad memory and is slow at stuff. Her concentration isn't great I can ask her to do a simple task and she will mess around. By time time she gets round to doing it she will have forgotten what I asked her to do.

Jimpix thank you it's good to hear a teacher's perspective. I had parents evening recently and the teacher seemed really happy with her progress (because believe it or not this is a big improvement)) andt overly concerned but I am going to speak to her tomorrow to arrange a meeting to discuss it a bit more as parents evening was a bit rushed.

*and wasn't

They’ll certainly be pleased with her if she’s made lots of progress recently 😊.

She also has a bad memory and is slow at stuff. Her concentration isn't great I can ask her to do a simple task and she will mess around. By time time she gets round to doing it she will have forgotten what I asked her to do.

That sounds like my son. His dyslexia tests came back showing that one of his weakest areas is what's called "working memory" (I always think of it by analogy with the on-chip memory in a computer - the bit that holds the information you're working on right at this moment) and processing speed. It was particularly noticeable when he first started trying to learn to read - given a three or four syllable word, by the time he'd managed to decode the last syllable, he'd have forgotten what the first one was!

He also struggles with distraction (where he's seated in class makes a huge difference to this - if he can effectively be given his own little corner away from other people, he loves it).

I think some of the messing around can come from a feeling of "well, everyone's treating me like the class clown, so I might as well live down to their expectations."

As a PP suggested, I had to have a private assessment (a lot of education authorities don't do them any more - ed psych funding has been cut back to the bare bones, so they spend most of their time fire-fighting with the children with the most immediate and disruptive special needs, and don't have time for the ones who are quietly sinking.) I realise this is a counsel of perfection, and it just may not be possible to do this given your situation, but if you can't afford it now, maybe start trying to put away a bit of money once you are working, just a little at a time, with a view to having her tested before she has to start secondary.

www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/parent

and

www.nessy.com/uk/parents/dyslexia-information/

are a couple of sites which can help with strategies - basically a decent teacher should be putting these in place anyway.

One thing that really struck me when I first started finding out about dyslexia was that there's so much more to it that simply poor spelling/reading and mirror-flipped letters (which my DS doesn't do).

Here's an article on processing speed:
www.dyslexicadvantage.org/understanding-processing-speed-and-dyslexia/
and one on working memory:
www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/keep-it-in-mind/201601/dyslexia-and-working-memory

For the poor working memory, one strategy that would help if you can get the teacher to put it in place is to break down tasks into bullet points and get the teaching assistant to check periodically where she is with the tasks, that she's doing them in the right order and hasn't missed any out.

Fermats thank you so much. Lots to think about there I will have a look through those websites when I get some quiet time (also have a clingy 18 month old)!

I know what you mean about the class clown. When her dad was at school he didn't get any help with his dyslexia so he played up because he felt stupid.

I will definitely look into private testing when I'm working. I don't see me being in decent employment until 2020 as i am going to be studying next year but that still gives me some good time before secondary plus I'm lucky to have a generous family who would help me out if necessary .

I just want to do best by her and get whatever support she needs.

My circumstances were like yours op. It's a lot of money I know.

My child was like they were on satellite delay if you asked them a question! The slow processing was easy to spot!!!

The memory problems are probably the most difficult aspect for my child. The new GCSEs require lots of formulas etc to be memorised.

Scifi that's what her dad struggles a lot with is the memory.

Simple things she gets names and words mixed up. For example we watched Mrs Doubtfire and she got mixed up and called it Mrs Burnsfire. No amount of reminding her what the proper name is she can't remember it. From the start it was Mrs Burnsfire to her so that's what she remembers. When she was younger she would get muddled up e.g the ginger bread house became the coconut house (ginger bread, ginger nut=coconut). There were loads more like that but that's one that stuck in my head. She also struggles with numbers too.

Because she wrote this freehand that's why I thought I should maybe show her teacher. I haven't had her eyes tested I've been meaning to for a while but it keeps slipping my mind so will get her an appointment booked thanks for that idea!

They should have her doing free writing as well. Either way, have a meeting with the teacher - these things are never solved in parents evening etc! I’m gearing myself up for s big push with ds and school again.

The other thing I'd say is take the stress out of the situation as much as possible.

Your DD will come home from school absolutely knackered - much more so than her friends. So be relaxed about homework, even reading homework.

Think really long term. She's not going to be able to spell. But in the modern world, with spell checkers and grammar checkers, that doesn't actually matter that much. (My DS is coming up for SATs - his teacher said cheerfully "he'll tank in the spelling test, but that's because the marking scheme is utterly unforgiving, but if you look at his actual written work, you'll see that he's actually got to the stage where it's just the odd letter here and there, and what he's writing makes sense, which is the important thing.")

What does matter is keeping her engaged in learning. So if that means watching TV documentaries on history or geography or whatever (my DS loves engineering documentaries) together - that's fine. What matters is that she's learning about the world around her - the means by which she gets at the information is secondary.

And also keeping her feeling that books are fun - even if that means still reading aloud to her while you watch all your friends' children progress to being "free readers" and devouring long chapter books. It doesn't matter how she gets at books - reading them herself, having you read to her, listening to audiobooks - so long as they're there in her life.

Also make sure there's things she can do well at, to build self-confidence. And find examples of people who're dyslexic who've done really well for themselves. (I know a particle physics professor and a history professor with dyslexia, and there are a number of famous people out there with dyslexia - eg. Richard Rogers the architect, who's written about feeling stupid at school - there's a really good list here:
www.helenarkell.org.uk/about-dyslexia/famous-dyslexics.php)

My memory isnt good and i find writing and rewriting in helps.

Fermats thank you so much for taking the time to write that post it's really aporeciated. Luckily her school aren't strict with homework and it's pretty much optional. They're were times when it got really frustrating for us both and she would get upset so we stopped doing it the past 2 years. This year we have been doing her weekly spelling words which she enjoys copying and she loves her reading book. The last 2 years it was online reading but this year her teacher has given out actual books instead as that's what's she (the teacher) prefers. Although we've just been given the log in details for online reading again so hoping she hasn't decided to stop the books as I feel this made a big improvement to her actually wanting to practice reading.

That's reassuring what you mentioned regarding spell check etc. She's always asking questions and is a bit of a know it all at times so I will continue to encourage her to learn with other resources.

She's really into books at the moment and can manage to read some with no help. These are books aimed at much younger children but that doesn't bother be it makes me really happy to see her reading them with no help. I was really impressed with her managing to write the word 'down' on her note to the tooth fairy even though all the other words were wrong. She gets plenty of praise when she gets a word right so hopefully she will stay confident.

I will also follow your advice with reassuring her that being dyslexic doesn't make you stupid when/if she starts feeling that way. I actually used to do that with her dad he was always feeling embarrassed and stupid and I would try to reassure him it didn't make him stupid. He is an idiot in a different way but that's a totally different thread

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread it has gave me a lot of reassurance and stuff to think about. I have saved those websites to have a read over and I'm going to arrange a chat with her teacher.

Another thought (just been supervising DS's drum practice before he went to school). Learning a musical instrument has really helped my son's concentration - it's brilliant. But important caveat: let your DD decide if she's interested, and if she is, what instrument she wants to play (don't force anything on her).

(I'm a classical musician - good amateur, so tried to steer DS towards piano or a string instrument, but he was adamant he wanted to learn drum kit. My heart sank initially, but 18 months on, it's been a great decision. It's actually really intellectually demanding, and because he chose it, he wants to do it and is prepared to practice.)

Fermats that's excellent that your son has found an instrument to learn. Noisy mind, but what a great thing to grow up interested in.

My daughter goes to ballet which requires a lot of listening and concentration. We had a struggle with that for the first couple of years but she's came on in leaps and bounds over the past year.

When I'm in a better financial situation then I feel learning an instrument would be beneficial for her . Right now it's not really an option and I'm nowhere near passing my test yet so travelling is a bit of a struggle. I'm going to have a look online and see if there's anything nearby that could benefit her.

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My child did the wrong name thing too. Quite sweet as they become part of your families memories.

Yes it does - I would get her tested.