Still concerned that dd1 may be dyslexic, not sure school agrees

[misdee]

if she is, i think she is mild. she does still struggle, with reading writing and spelling.

should i get her tested independantly?

dh is dyslexic, and my mum and brother are both dyslexic as well.

[Niecie]

I am assuming that you have had a word with the Senco? Have you directly asked to be referred to an ed psych? I don't think schools are keen referring as there is a shortage of psychs and money, but lay it on a plate and tell them you want a referral rather than ask for one. It is more difficult to say no.

Failing that you can use an independent ed psych. If you have a look on the British Psychological Society website, I think there is the facility to look up the ones that are in your area.

I would take you seriously though, if I were the school, given your family history so make it plain to them what you want and leave the ball in their court.

[Niecie]

Link for you to the BPS

[misdee]

thanks.

she has made amazing progress this year, but is still finding sounding out and blending sounds hard. she is 8 now as well. she was on an IEP and i have raised dyslexia before with them, but not sure anything is being done. will try and get anh appointment with senco to discuss it.

[Blandmum]

Independent testing is possible, but tends to be expensive. Because ds is in a private school we had to get him teste independently and it cost is a whopping great big £350! The good thing was that this has gor him lots of 1 to 1 support and he is now making huge progress

[Niecie]

Problem is that it seems lots of senco's aren't actually that well trained and may not recognise what your DD is doing as dyslexia. Some are great I'm sure but I haven't been that convinced by the ones I have come across.

There are several different sorts of dsylexia, one of which involves not being able to sound out and having to learn to ready by memorising each individual word which obviously requires enormous effort and is very time consuming. If your DD is making progress by compensating with another way of learning to read then they may not have picked it up.

Does your DD change the way letters face, ie. putting d and b the wrong way round, writing s backwards and that kind of thing, or is her writing just slow.

I was just thinking, maybe write a list of all the things that you think are symptons as the senco might not pick them all up.

Did you see the thing on the news this morning about how dyslexia is probably vastly under diagnosed and as many as 20% of children may be affected. Worrying.

I am no expert on dyslexia by the way - I only clicked on this thread as I have just written an OU essay on it this week. It is of no practical use though!

[SparklyGothKat]

I am having the same problem with Dd1 too Misdee. Have mentioned it to the school many times. She is almost 8 and still gets B and D mixed up, S and 5 are written backwards.

[TheHonEnid]

dd1 (8) cannot blend either
dyslexia has been suspected but as she does not now struggle with spelling (memorises spellings very very quickly) school think not

[Blandmum]

and Sencos can give a diagnosis. They may well be trained and recgonise the problem (while some don't) but they can't make a Dx

[Blandmum]

initially school thought that ds was dyslexic, as he was having probs. When the Ed psych tested him his reading age was spot on his actual age. Came up with a dx of dyspraxia, which I'm still alittle sceptiacl about. Still he did need help for something, has the help and is now making progress,

Its just such a shame that you need to get a label before you can get the help

[Blandmum]

sorry sencos can't give a dx

[Spillage21]

Hi

Have posted extensively on this subject (and always raises my BP).

My son exhibited signs of dyslexia before school (all DH family are dyslexic) and despite raising it with teachers, were constantly palmed off with the usual "all children develop differently". We pushed for a referral at school as we had serious concerns (despite teachers remaining fairly blase about it all), and they said he would have to fail two years' worth of IEPs before they would do anything. So we paid £180 for a private assessment and he was found to be severely dyslexic, and at beginning of year 3 was over a year behind. On presenting the report to school extra support was arranged, but not with a specialist dyslexic teacher, and we were also told off the record that it would probably be wise to continue with private tuition as you never know when funding will dry up from the LEA.

So DS would have been in Year 5 (yep, one year away from secondary school in inner London) and 3-4 years behind before school would have done anything. Worrying to say the least: he's a bright boy, but I fear he would have been 'lost' if we hadn't taken the lead in getting a diagnosis.

Am going to stop cos I feel a rant coming on...

[Blandmum]

In the LEA that I work in a child is not going to get a Statement for dyslexia unless they are around 5 years behind their chronological age.

5 farking years. what a senseless waste

[Spillage21]

It reallllllllly sucks.

So you get a boy coming up to secondary school, who's 5 years behind...hmmm, let me think what happens.

[Blandmum]

Got it in one

and I'm supposed to help to teach him/her to read while teachimg him/her and the rest of the class science. So with the best will in the world, my chances of doing this are limited since I don't have the training and I don't have the time!

Makes me feel ill to think how badly I fail these kids

[Spillage21]

You're not failing the kids, it's the LEA who are failing everyone...

[Spillage21]

Anyway, back to the OP, get it done independently if you can. Sounds like your DC is a high risk - at least you'll know what you're up against.

My MIL got all three of her dyslexic children successfully through school (all have degrees) by sheer hard work at home: no help at school (in the 60s/70s it didn't 'exist'). I have to admire her for that.

[neolara]

In my opinion you would be better to spend the money on private tutoring for your DD rather than an EP assessment. You are likely to get a lot of lessons for £350, enough to maybe help your child catch up quite a lot. A label in itself rarely means additional resources are allocated to children. Unless the EP report identified a significant need (e.g. child functioning at 5 or more years below chronological age), the LEA is unlikely to provide additional support. The school may or may not be swayed into giving extra support at school on the basis of the report. But I suspect they would be just as likely to be swayed if you got them to do a thorough assessment of your DD's level of skill and it revealed that she was struggling.

All neurologically typical children should be able to learn to read and spell well if they are taught appropriately. There is nothing "special" that needs to be done for a child who is diagnosed as dyslexic. Dyslexic children benefit as much as children who are not diagnosed as dyslexic from thorough and systematic teaching that focuses on learning letter sounds and blending (phonics). There is a lot of research out there to back this view.

By the way, I am not saying that dyslexia does not exist. Clearly some children have specific difficulties that make learning to read and spell harder for them than for other children. There is lots of evidence that there is a strong family link. What I am saying is that with good teaching, almost all children should be able to cope with their difficulties.