Call from teacher to say they think my daughter is dyslexic but I'm not sure

[babytops]

My daughter is 6 in year 2 at school. Her school were non existent during lockdown and me and my husband both working from home, as well as having a toddler running round. So its safe to say we were not great on the homeschooling front. Second lockdown was better and they did assign some work on an app which we did most of when we could.
She has obviously missed half of year 1 and some of year 2 so is most definitely behind. I think most noticeably in her reading as she never got all the early phonics stuff. When they went back the school jumped straight into Year 2 work with a little bit of catch up from year 1.
She can read a fair bit but does struggle with some sounds. At home we are working on her reading and spellings (as she has a spellings test every friday - last weeks words were things like decision, treasure, leisure, vision) some weeks she gets 10 some weeks she gets 4/5.
I havent been overly concerned as obviously she missed so much school I was expecting it. However it seems the school have other ideas.
She is going to tutoring lessons before school 2 days a week that I assume the school were given funding for - this is for comprehension. Her teacher pulled aside my husband at pick up last week to say she is really struggling 'she is struggling the most out of everyone in the group' and my husband had to ask what it is she wants us to do, which is keep working on her reading. Ok fine, that's what we are doing. And I have noticed a considerable improvement at home and really proud of her.
So today, I have just had a call from her about an hour ago in which she mentioned speaking to my husband last week about her and then went on to say she thinks my daughter is dyslexic. She went on to say that she sometimes mixes up letters (which I haven't noticed at home bar the occasional b/d) and is really struggling. Then went on for 5 minutes about how its a really long process to get diagnosed through the senco at school and is really expensive for the school and that we can pay privately for an assessment.

Honestly the whole conversation knocked me for six. I asked her to email me everything she had just said and she replied that I am best speaking to the senco (who has never met my daughter!)

I'm looking for anyone with experience of dyslexia because most of the symptoms online dont apply to her but some do. And im wondering how much of that could just be the missed school ?

I am also unimpressed with the teacher to be honest. She ended the call saying 'now I could be completely wrong' !?
I also think something else is clouding my judgement. Another mum had a call last week about her daughter, in which the teacher said she thinks her daughter has adhd and her mum had the same WTF reaction as she really doesn't think she has it. Has since spoken to her gp who agreed.

I feel like I'm looking for an ulterior motive for this teacher to be diagnosing kids in her class with different things with the caveat that she's 'not an expert' and 'could be wrong'

I am considering paying for the assessment privately if I can get the funds together. But surely she could just be behind? and understandably so ?

@admission

Apart from the comment by other posters that 7 is usually the age needed before any formal testing for dyslexia is carried out the bit in the OP that shocked me was the reference to the test being really expensive and OP can get the test done privately. No way! This is something that the school should be organising and paying for. Teacher is well out of line in saying that. Many LAs will not accept private test reports because they know that the report will be favourable to the parents, they insist on having their own tests carried out via the school.

This is rubbish. Unfortunately very few schools pay for an assessments but many will ask parents to have an assessment done privately- this is because schools budgets have been cut to the bone. Dyslexia assessors are highly qualified and do not write reports that are “favourable to the parents” - schools do recognise reports, as do universities, Student Finance England and employers

The assessment itself will indicate dyslexia or not.

Schools are trained to pick up the indicators and so they can follow through with an assessment.

What's you job? Sounds like you and DH are doing really well supporting her at home but do you actually have the knowledge of education and what she should be able to do, the rate of progress she's making against the input etc?

It's easy as a parent to see progress but progress itself isn't enough to say there isn't any barriers to learning and progress isn't closing the gap etc.

My DS is 8 and Year 3. I raised with the school that I think he is dyslexic (as I am so I know what I’m talking about) especially as he is always doing the b/d thing which is unfortunate as it means he can’t yet write his name. Anyway his teacher told me that was very common in children that age and that he is still too young for an assessment.
Spoke to the SENCO (who I’m in regular contact with anyway as he has ASD, and ADHD) she agrees he is probably dyslexic but can’t get an assessment for him. She said it’s very frustrating as she feels there are quite a few dyslexic children in the school but they are not getting identified.

Your DD may not be dyslexic but if you have a teacher whose willing to support and flag up potential issues I wouldn’t knock it.

Just to follow up on what a PP said. I am still not great at reading out loud but I probably read in my head faster than other people. I enjoy reading.

When I was school age it was such a relief when I was finally allowed to just read and enjoy books without being forced to read them out loud to a parent or teacher. It took a long time for my mum to believe that when I said I was reading I was actually reading and understanding. Despite how painful it sounded if I were to read out loud.

I’m pregnant with DC 1 so I don’t know how I’ll tackle this if they’re dyslexic too. I understand that a child needs to learn to read before they can then read independently. But there were so many things that I was forced to practice over and over again but I never really got much improvement because that wasn’t how my brain worked.

My child is 8, and we thought she was dyslexic. B and d mixup, struggling to spell, words moving on page, etc. Turns out she had visual processing disorder which can be confused for dyslexia. If you look at the dyslexia website, it recommends that visual issues should be ruled out before testing for dyslexia and I'm glad we did, we can at least get therapy from the behavioural optometrist. I'd do that first before jumping on the dyslexia route.

Those spelling words seem quite tough for Y2.

The teacher shouldn't be diagnosing. If she's missed out on a whole year basically of sounds, this could be why she is behind. A teacher I work with keeps "diagnosing" children to parents and it's awful and causes a lot of trouble down the line as she is always wrong! We have specialist teachers diagnosing and year two is awfully young to have a diagnosis.

See what the senco says. In my LEA, the EPs do not do any dyslexia assessments any more as it was taking up such a large proportion of their time, so if parents want a diagnosis, they need to pay and go privately. Schools will instead identify what the gaps are and will work on supporting the child in those areas.

This is something that the school should be organising and paying for.

Schools simply do not have the budget to pay for dyslexia assessments. Local authority EP rarely assess now.

If you go back to spellings she learnt six weeks ago, can she still remember them? That was my biggest clue I think with DS3 that there was something going on (besides his autism, which I already knew about!)

I raised it with the Senco in year 5, we got his diagnosis (privately, which is the only option here) at the start of lockdown 1. It has been worth doing as it identified strengths as well as weaknesses and he know has laptop access at school bad will do in September when he goes to secondary.

@ineedaholidaynow Those are standard Y2 spelling words. The spelling patterns used are on the Y2 curriculum (as of 2014).

As a mother of a dyslexic child I think it’s really positive that the teacher wants to explore the possibility of dyslexia. Most schools only send children to Senco if they really obviously struggle which makes me think that either that is the case for your DD or you are lucky they are throwing GB resources your way. If she is dyslexic she will really benefit from getting support.

Dyslexic here, diagnosed at 16 but my mom knew. School never bothered as straight a student and now studying second degree. Dyslexics think differently but can read at a high level but I can't read alloud.
Assessments help as they identify methods to cope which vary hugely. A quick win can be a coloured background to read from if words swirl etc but it dosnt work for everyone. I prefer yellow but others find blue easier etc.
Honestly it will be okay, there is support out there and a lot of it is very simple interventions which work well.
The teacher is genuinely trying to help as early support can make a big difference later on. Good luck x

Both my DSs are dyslexic , 1 worse than the other , 1 was diagnosed at 7 the other at 18... I like your DH am awful at spelling and think there is an element of dyslexia.

There is a range of types of dyslexia and DS1 in particular can’t manage phonetics, he can’t relate the sounds to letters but instead is a visual / sight person so has to learn from the shapes of the letters. His handwriting is dreadful but he’s very good at art!

He’s had extra help & support the entire way though school & is about to sit his finals at Uni.

Try not to think of it as your dd being behind because of lockdown, all the other children were locked down too, so that obviously isn’t the only concern they have at school.

If they’ve chosen your dd for the catch up interventions but still feel it’s not enough, then they would be being neglectful not to tell you their concerns.

You have reason to be upset, but not with the teacher.

Thank you everyone for your replies. It's given me a lot to think about. I have emailed the senco at school so will speak to her and see what we do next.

Decided not to pay privately right now and see how she gets on the rest of the year and what senco will do.

I think I just come off the call with the teacher not really knowing what she was struggling with exactly, or what she thought she needed or how to help. She just went straight into paying for an assessment privately which 'most parents' do.

She has absolutely missed some very crucial phonics from year 1 and they went straight into year 2 work on return. Her first spelling list back was really hard, I spoke to the teacher then as I was concerned that they needed more catch up stuff- and she just started saying that they have sats this year so they are focusing on that (which I believe are not happening now anyway)

You're all right though- the sooner she gets help the better.

I have a year 2 and they aren't doing SATS. It was the last year for Y2 anyway so they should have made that decision in March 2020.

I agree with getting your DD assessed for dyslexia. I have a DD with severe dyslexia and it was around that age it was suspected she had it. We took her to tutors that help both nondyslexic and dyslexic children to help with reading and spelling. We didn’t tell them her teacher suspected dyslexia. They too, flagged it and suspected dyslexia.

We then asked for the school to do formal assessment. They delayed abs delayed for years and DD fell further behind. Age 10, we just used a credit card and got her assessed privately and yes, she has very severe dyslexia. So my advice is if the school delays, it will be due to lack of funds. Not because they think your DD is mild case or not struggling that much. So I’d save for private assessment in a year or two in case the school delays you like I was.

@ballsdeep

The teacher shouldn't be diagnosing. If she's missed out on a whole year basically of sounds, this could be why she is behind. A teacher I work with keeps "diagnosing" children to parents and it's awful and causes a lot of trouble down the line as she is always wrong! We have specialist teachers diagnosing and year two is awfully young to have a diagnosis.

The teacher isn't diagnosing. They have picked up signes up a problem that seem to indicate dyslexia and recommended a proper assessment.

The school my son was at in Year 7 did a mass screening test for dyslexia for every pupil. It picked up so many! One was the child of a teacher (who actually was in his mum's class at primary school).

I honestly think teachers can't win. If they don't share their thoughts with parents, they probably get blamed for missing the signs and delaying the child's access to appropriate support. If they do share their thoughts with parents, they are criticised for "diagnosing" children when they aren't qualified to do so. In this case, it is very obvious that the teacher wasn't offering a diagnosis, because she made it clear that her suspicions might be wrong, but still people find fault.

From what the OP has said, it does sound like the teacher could perhaps have explained her reasoning more clearly, and she should have explained the option of a private diagnosis without appearing to push this, but she cannot be accused of diagnosing the child inappropriately. It sounds like she is genuinely trying to help the OP's dd to get the support that she needs.

She needs a proper assessment. If this has been done there should be a report. If not, it needs to happen

@Kdubs1981

She needs a proper assessment. If this has been done there should be a report. If not, it needs to happen

Most schools cannot afford this. Most LA EPs will no longer assess. If there is to be a ‘proper assessment’, the parents will now nearly always need to go private and pay themselves so this is entirely down to them.

Most schools cannot afford this. Most LA EPs will no longer assess. If there is to be a ‘proper assessment’, the parents will now nearly always need to go private and pay themselves so this is entirely down to them.

I didn't know this, @Howshouldibehave. I mean, I'm well aware of the problems with school budgets, but I didn't know that the assessments are rarely provided now. What happens in cases where the parents can't pay?

@Comefromaway

She has though. She said she thinks her daughter is dyslexic. She shouldn't be saying that. She should be saying she has difficulties with .............

I’m a Senco. If a teacher in my school spoke to a parent and suggested they may be dyslexic before we had considered screening her I’d be pretty annoyed. What happens in my school is that a teacher would speak to me first. I’d suggest a short intervention with a specific focus then a review. I’d meet with parents at this point to discuss next steps and couch it in terms of difficulties with spelling / reading ‘ writing etc. I would then with their permission, screen for the risk of dyslexia. The next step would be to involve the SEN advisory team to implement cycles of APDR with further interventions. If there were still concerns, then I would ask for a full dyslexia assessment which the SEN service provide to schools.
The only time I would suggest a parent pay for a private assessment is if they insist their child has dyslexia and want a diagnosis before we as a school were given time to implement any interventions.