Help - I don't understand this dyslexia assessment!

[meagle]

Hi - sorry if this has all been asked before but I'm new to this forum (and Mumsnet in general - shame on me!). Anyway, my son who is nearly 13 had help at primary school with his dyslexia and did reasonably well. Now in secondary he has no help though I have tried to plead his case with the SEN dept - they say he has to be referred by a teacher before any action is taken. Anyway, with much nagging I finally got the Senco to test him and have been sent a LASS summary table which shows very poor non-verbal score (though high verbal). He also had a SALT report which showed he was mildly below average in most categories and significantly below average in word classes. Having emailed the school 2x to find out if we can discuss this report I've had no response.
Can anyone give me some direction on what these tests show? Am I being an over-anxious mum or should the SEN dept be doing something. If so, what?

Meagle I can try and help you a little (not a dyslexia expert but give support to students at university level who have dyslexia)
Perhaps you can ask for the full report which should give you a broader report on yuur sons dyslexia - most reports i read from people who have dyslexia show for example a high verbal score and then a low score somewhere else. The good thing is that the teachers should use this a guide to how your son can learn, and also know what he finds difficult. The report should indicate some measures that would help him with his learning. These tests show in many ways how your son learns, what he finds difficult, and where he scores high. It is neither good nor bad (my opinion) but a relfection on how he learns. Having this should help as he will be able to move forward with his studies knowing his strenghts and where he might do with some help. It is hard as i am not reading his full report, and you need to see this, as i would imagine that a summary table is not very helpful to you. I would see if you can push for a meeting with teh educataional psychologist who did the report to go over the report, or someone else who can.
Good luck, i know it sounds daunting at first, but it so good that your son has this information now. I see lots of young people coming to university, and those that were diagnosed at school seem to cope much better than those that finally get a diagnosis later on.
You need to ask your school how they can perhpas support his learning, and hopefully the report will give some guidelines, they do often propose some exttra study skills and pay for this; extra time for reading and exams; ways the teacher can help etc
hope this helps a little!

Hi Krugerpark - thanks so much for your feedback (i'd posted on the special needs forum some while back but no response at all - I could feel the tumbleweed blowing through!).

I take your point about using the tests as a guide to how DS learns. My problem is that I have an SEN dept who don't appear very willing to engage in discussing this. Their attitude is that he's not 'bad enough' to warrant any help, so I was hoping that the tests would back me up in my efforts to get him a little extra help.

I have a parents evening on Thurs, so will email the Senco again ahead of this and see if i can set up an appointment. I just felt I was losing the will to keep banging on about this!

Meagle, glad it could be of little help - hope your parent evening goes well today ....
If you want I can have a look at your report and give you some feedback?

You could also contact the dyslexia society who might be helpful in going over the report and giving you advice of where to go - they have loads of resources as well which you might find useful?

Good luck!