6 year old possible dyslexia

[Boshi]

Has anyone had any experience with getting school support for their dyslexic child in primary? Is it common to have dyslexia diagnosed at this age or is it more usual to wait for them to start junior school?

Just wondering how I can support ds while he is still in year 2, he’s a bright kid and his teachers always comment on how articulate and bright he is, but this is not reflected in his reading or writing. His writing is illegible and most words will be spelt wrong, he reads words back to front, among other things.

Any advice from anyone that supported their child at home or any tips on how to best get support at school.

Good luck getting any support from school. There is no finding. I have finally got Dts diagnosed privately and they are in y8. Getting a response out of the SENDCO is impossible.

If it's an option get him for an assessment asap, the report will outline techniques to support him depending on his individual profile.

my understanding is that they cannot diagnose dyslexia before age 7, so you won’t get anything formal before end of this year. My dd is in y2 as well and possible dyslexia has been flagged, but too soon to assess. She is at a private school with a strong reputation for dyslexia support, though, so they are probably much more on it, and also have more resourcing to offer early support.We have had 1:1 literacy support since y1, now continuing to y2 . As far as I can tell it mostly consists of working really methodically through phonics and tricky words, and using Nessy app at home (in addition to reading and spelling practice). Meeting with the send lead next week to discuss, so we’ll see how it might evolve this year.

from other discussions it sounds like it is really difficult to get state school to assess for dyslexia unless really profound, and even then it can take ages to get a referral. Most people recommend seeking a private assessment if you can afford it.

Thanks, this is what I thought from speaking to a parent who wanted support for their sen yr2. It’s a shame, it’s supposed to be an outstanding primary as well, but I guess it’s easy enough for them to push forward sen issues to junior.

I’ll see if I can get a meeting with the sen lead and discuss things, regardless of a diagnosis my ds clearly needs help with his writing, looking at the writing of other kids in his class I’m disappointed they didn’t approach me to discuss, they seem more interested in his behaviour which again may be linked to possible sen.

I will have a look at this nessy app, any other resources anyone can recommend for dyslexia support would be appreciated, I’m just starting to research this.

Look up some hand strengthening exercises for your ds which would help with writing. Lots online. Integrate them into the day but do not mention anything about it helping his writing...just fun!
Children with dyslexia have to learn and relearn each step until finally it goes into his long term memory.

Sometimes phonics are very difficult for them and learning some sight words would improve his confidence and give him some idea of what reading is about.
So maybe make him his own books using blank copies. Pick his favourite occupation.
So say he loves the dog write below a picture of the dog or his drawing.
Ben has a dog
Next page: Look at the dog
Keep it so simple.
Write the words on little cards and get him to make the sentence and read it.
Do not be tempted to go big.
Make it fun and relevant to his life.
Don't call it reading ...just a game. Keep reading back over each page. Breaking the anxiety about what is actually happening during reading time will help.

I think 6 is too young

Speak to the SEN & push for support. Can you any additional tuition at home?

@panelbottle you are saying 6 is too young, too young for what? Regardless of whether he is diagnosed or not he clearly needs help with his spelling and writing, but he won’t get support at school without some recognition of sen. It’s unfair for him to continue to struggle all through year 2 when some support could start now.

I will be doing additional work with him, I just need to know how best to help him. The advice above is useful thanks. He is not bad at reading, but makes classes mistakes such as reading words back to front, using context to guess difficult words, misses out linking words, if he stops to sound out stuff he is usually ok. He is happy to read short chapter books everyday.

It’s his writing and spelling, we did spelling practice of 5 words, he wrote them out 5 times each and immediately after did them blind and made the same mistakes he’d made the day before. I’m not too worried about bad spelling except that it makes his writing impossible to follow. I think handwriting practice is a good thing to focus on, not sure how to work on spelling, he misses out vowels all the time, sometimes large parts of a word etc. I am checking out apps such as GoLexic, see if they help.

Sorry for dyslexia diagnosis.

One of mine was slow to read & had quite a lot of support through school.
Her handwriting was still poor in yr 4 so I got a tutor as it was less of a battle.

You could try spelling shed app

You can ask for support and literacy assessments but if you want a diagnosis now, in the majority of areas, you will have to pay. My LA don’t believe there is a scientific difference between dyslexia and severe /persistent literacy difficulties and that there isn’t one agreed diagnostic pathway so they will not offer dyslexia assessments to anyone as part of the local offer.

My dd got assessed at 7 in year 3. You can screen from as young as 5 but that doesn't always pick up dyslexia - did not with my dd. I would recommend get it done as soon as possible the earlier the assessment the quicker the right interventions can be put in place for your child - so they don't fall behind.

And as pp have said sadly you will have to pay yourself. However, there are charities out there depending on where you live that will help people who would struggle to pay. E.g., Helen Arkell

Just adding that spelling shed has been helpful for dd as a supplement to the cover/write/check method. She doesn’t love it, but her spelling quizzes are significantly better when we do both.

for hand writing we have tried lots of stuff, and progress is tediously slow, so not sure what was most effective. In addition to lots of fine motor activities (clay, beads, etc.) we used the ‘write from the start’ series which had the endorsement of our sen lead.

Im a primary school Senco. If you were to approach me, Id speak to his teacher, observe him whilst he was reading and writing to see if there were any obvious signs, then if I remained concerned I’d carry out a dyslexia screening as soon as he reached 7. The screener I use is only reliable from that age for the standardised scores. From that, I would then look at some interventions as appropriate. It could be Toe by Toe, Nessy, handwriting…
If there was no improvement over a term of interventions and their progress was slowing down, I’d arrange for a full dyslexia assessment as soon as he started in year 3.

My DD is in Y2 and has been assessed via school, a comprehensive assessment we got a report for, as most likely dyslexic but we've been told by the school she can't be diagnosed until she is in Y4. However they treat her as if she is dyslexic so she gets all the support now that she'll get once diagnosed. Your school should still put provisions in place, a diagnosis is not required for SEN support, it's needs based.

I’d also get her on a touch typing app - theres one on 2Simple called 2Type. For children who struggle to write legibly, being able to touch type at speed is a life saver!

You’re not wrong. All schools should have dyslexia friendly classrooms IMO!

It's really interesting to see the inconsistent practice across the country. And different SENCos say or are told to say different things... be careful OP it is sadly all about money with SEN provision at the moment.

The number of lies I have been told - if I had a pound for everyone I would be as rich as Rishi!!!

Children don’t need a formal diagnosis to do interventions. If they struggle with spellings, they need a spelling intervention as soon as its been identified.

Just out of curiosity, have you had his eyesight tested?
When he’s reading his reading book, he may benefit from using what I call a reading ruler. Like this. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174545388900?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200818143230%26meid%3D174780608f0746c1b1a5dc29922e90ae%26pid%3D101224%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D175428137641%26itm%3D174545388900%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D4429486%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWebV9BertRefreshRanker%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p4429486.c101224.m-1&amdata=cksum%3A174545388900174780608f0746c1b1a5dc29922e90ae%7Cenc%3AAQAIAAABACYezfbTAbL71Cn2zZypiqFkVFHChWGIs0xkdyquuPAuUZJyTmp1YxUVJclY2DwQoL6z4TMK7kqAaDI1YX2RiuDCEsNjh0%252Fr7ETxDPwXu4of9%252F13I81EqUZ9FhEL31fIujnbCyQgYeL6FOVlxfT402Vqu%252BAG20gX1tGDlLxNnIRr7MiE8%252FRv%252BkL83LCih09dMLGdt7RcCju%252Ff1Q%252BBmFdG4g0bRPTUjOjDEg3lL8wQbF64o6JToc%252FTMIvdopvDzwy6codnCpqJQGo%252F8sPjop5EZtFFH9b9SCUMqeDZ3Mjd9U7Na%252F8ECuIFPY2LDEkvqsa9WCRzPFwREOWvPBmVQ8%252ByRU%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A4429486

They won’t diagnose until 8-9 years but you can do a dyslexia screen which will highlight areas where they need extra help. You can get them done privately and then feed that back to the school and the screening can be done much younger (my 5 year old is having one done).

Dyslexia isn't just about spellings though 🙄

Not true my daughter was assessed at 7...

School should be able to do a dyslexia screening, for free. They probably have access to something called 'yeti mountain' which is a programme made by 'nessy'. It's like a game. It's not a full assessment but will give you a likelihood. They can do this at age 6!

We've done that and now on wait list for a full assessment, which is something we're paying for privately.

Everything I've read suggests the earlier the better. By 8 many things are set in and also children can learn work arounds that mask issues.

As with other conditions, it’s not necessary to have a formal diagnosis to put support in place. Reading interventions, although you say he’s quite good at predicting from context, small group work, hand exercises, touch typing, spelling programmes, Toe by Toe etc.