How long does it take to get a diagnosis of dyslexia and what is the process?

[LittleWhizzingBella]

Anyone?

Private or LEA?

LEA

DS in year 5

Is he on the SEN register? What have school said? He would need to be referred to an ed psych and the waiting lists are usually very long. Some LEA's use the term SpLD rather than dyslexia as well. Do you want the assessment to access support for him?

No he isn't. He was in Yr1, but no statement, just a bit of extra help - first tier or whatever. (IEP?)

It wasn't me who suggested the assessment, it was his form teacher. She observed that his spelling, writing and organisational skills aren't consistent with his reading ability and asked me if I'd considered that he might have dyslexia and whether I would like him to be assessed. So I said yes, why not.

Yes go for it then. The assessment itself is about 1-2 hours long depending on the assessments used. Usually it's waiting for an assessment that's the problem, but it sounds like your teacher's on the ball.

She mentioned it to me at parents evening last term, would it be too previous to drop her a note asking her about time-scale now? I just think if he is, it's better to get the diagnosis asap.

Funnily enough I can remember when he was a toddler thinking he might be a bit dyspraxic. But he didn't show extreme signals so I dismissed the idea from my mind.

Yes you need to get it sorted out asap if he is in year 5.Definitely drop her a note and maybe ask to speak to SENCO?

You may the content of this web page useful re. assessment:

Should I have my child assessed?
www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/should_I_have.htm

Thanks for this.

That link talks a lot about difficulty in reading, but my DS has no difficulty. He is currently reading the last of the Dark Materials trilogy, he read all the Harry Potter stuff, Jeremy Strong, etc.

She wants him assessed because his organisation and time management is not good. He often doesn't get his writing down as quickly as he should, he doesn't read instructions properly and does the wrong thing.

TBH I don't think he's dyslexic but she seems keen on it, so if it's going to be done then it might as well be done quickly. If he's not (and I suspect he won't be) then she might concentrate on getting him to improve his organisational skills. (God knows I try! )

Some schools use a quick screening test to see if a child is displaying dyslexic traits before they get anyone else involved.
I am confused about what year he is in, is it year 1 or year 5?
If it's year 1, then it's very early to get a full picture, usually you would know for sure by year 4/5.

Sorry re read the posts and realised that he is in year 5, I should pay more attention

LWB said 'That link talks a lot about difficulty in reading, but my DS has no difficulty'

Sigh. If your son has no difficulty with reading/spelling then he doesn't have 'dyslexia', whatever anyone tells you.

Dyslexia is simply a descriptive term that means 'difficulty with the written word', it is not a diagnosis.

As you say LWB, it sounds as though he just needs work on his organisational skills.

He does have terrible spelling though, that's why she's keen on getting him assessed - because his spelling is not remotely of the standard of his reading, it's about the same standard as that of DD 6. I did wonder, but I kind of thought that maybe that level of atrociousness might be normal.

I suggest you test his advanced alphabet code knowledge and see how far he gets with nonsense word reading:

www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/resources_and_further_2.htm

Thanks for that link Maverick