Can someone help me with Dyslexia please?

[Watoose]

I think it's quite likely ds has it, and I'm worried in case the school are pushing him too hard in his reading and writing (both of which he finds extremely hard) as I've read that this is a bad idea.

I'm not sure what to do or how to get him some help - or even how to be sure he is dyslectic/dyslexic?

His father has dyslexia, and I've spoken to another mum this morning who said it can run in families.

It would kind of fit in with his difficulty with words and numbers I think?

These are my reasons for suspecting it: (He's 5.8)

1. He can't read - he can sound out very, very simple words occasionally, but we get about two words per reading book, if we're lucky. I have to read the rest for him. (He's very resistant)

1. He will read a number or a word backwards, consistently - ie he will read the number 84 and ask me, 'What does 4 (and) 8 make mummy?'

1. He thinks 9 is b, d is p, the usual muddles. He can't remember a lot of letters let alone whole words.

1. (something the mum mentioned this morning) He can't say the days of the week or months of the year, doesn't understand concepts like yesterday or tomorrow or next week or a length of time such as an hour. it's all nonsense to him.

1. He's very bright and funny, excellent at making things, speaks wonderfully (was very early talker) but cannot ride a bike, tie laces, is totally chaotic and falls over and knocks things over a lot.

Can anyone shed any light on what I should be doing to help him - dyslexia or not? I said something to the head this morning who seemed very dismissive - I'm more anxious not to create more problems by pushing the reading etc than actually about getting him to read.

Thanks in antic.

Elliephant that's such a positive post, thankyou

Yes ds also memorises books and guesses words etc rather than read them.

I will definitely go and make some waves after all the encouragement here. I was afraid to do so before, but I think you're right, he does need help even if he doesn't have dyslexia.

Even in recep. it was very very hard to get him interested in reding or writing - even more so than now in fact, and I did try all the way through.

Don?t know if of any interest but Dr Brown?s take on thinks largely reflects my experiences also.

www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/postfeatures/2009/01/21/under standing-dyslexia-65233-22746472/

I would point out that it doesn't matter whether he is labled as dyslexic or not. At primary they said DS was not dyslexic and that he had a specific learning difficulty (dyslexia is considered a specific learning difficulty
He learnt to read well, but was taught jolly phonics properly from a early age, but it didn't really click until he was YR2. His spelling and punctuation was always a long way behind the rest of him. He got a lot of extra help using wordwall and stareway to spelling (same author as toe by toe}. He was on the SEN register on and off all the way through primary.
At secondary went to see SENCO she said he was almost certainly dyslexic and put him straight back on the SEN but he has never formally been assessed. They keep an eye on him and he has access to help with homework if he wants it. He also is allowed to do his homework on PC whereever possible.He is top set and doing really well
Also I would avoid sight word flashcards. As other's have said dyslexic brains work diffrently and one of the problems is word recognitions doesn't work. DH had the same problems as DS and didn't learn to read until he was 10 because they insisted on teaching him a Look and Say. When they finally taught him phonic he learned to read, but his whole school life was blighted by it. He did go on to get highest scores in the country for one exam and is an engineer now.There are still underlying problems, he still can't spell and does get his number round the wrong way.
Sightwords just frustrated DS and made him more reluctant to want to read.

Thankyou both very much, I've got some old flashcards I was going to use so will avoid them now.

Have got a meeting set up with the class teacher (i asked her if we could have SENCO there as well, not sure if she will arraneg that) for tomorrow, so will see what she says. I have a little list of questions and points I'm concerned about as I am nervous and prone to forget the main issue!

I'll report back if anything interesting is said

Hello, just a little update in case anyone is interested!

Went to meet with teacher this morning. She was quite impressive, obviously had things all prepared so she could show me his level of skill and what he has been managing.

She showed me a lot of sheets with work on, explained exactly what he can and can't do - doesn't think he is dyslexic, though she said it can only accurately be dx'd in about yr 2 so will wait and see.

She said most of the difficulties he has are very common and can be put down to immaturity rather than an LD. But she sounded so confident, and then when I said 'So he's within range?' she said ,'He's a bit below' but then she said he's only been there four months (actually it's more like 2) so it's pretty quick learning.

She was lovely and I got the feeling they really apply things individually, and I asked about extra help and she said it happens in class - there are 2 TAs as well and they all spend extra time helping him out.

Basically I feel much better about it all, although I will definitely keep an eye on how he gets on.

Thanks again for all your support.

Oh and she said he is definitely an aural learner rather than visual. So you were right about the flashcards Christy!!

Glad he is getting help

I'm glad your meeting went well Watoose. Did she give you any ideas of ways to continue supporting him at home that would complement what they're doing at school? Perhaps you could ask her to give you a schedule of the phonics he's learning so that you can reinforce the same ones.

Thankyou

Yes, she showed me a computer game to download and I have been and got him a lower case keyboard I saw in town a few weeks ago, it's all bright colours, he was quite excited