Should I push for a Dyslexia assessment? (long sorry!)

[lorisparkle]

DS1 was initially diagnosed with a speech delay (although I was convinced there was more to it) when he was 2 1/2yrs. At 4 1/2yrs he was diagnosed with a speech disorder - expressive/phonological. I still think there is more to it but the SALT just wants to focus on improving his speech before thinking about grammar/word finding difficulties etc.

Anyway he has been at school for a year now with a strong emphasis on learning to read through synthetic phonics. He has found this exceptionally difficult as he does not say many words accurately and struggles to hear the sounds in words. Whe he reads it is usually through memory/pictures/story structure although he randomly can read things phonetically or by sight.

School are now commenting on how he really struggles with writing. I always hoped that his ability to write letters would be fine as he always seemed to have good hand/eye co-ordination and is great with recreating patterns etc. However he finds this really hard. Today we were doing writing and the s looked like a 3, the w looked like a m, the e was upside down, the d was unrecognisable and the p was more like an e.

I have always put the problems with reading and writing down to his language. His maths is good however he struggles with the written form - either reading or writing numbers especially getting the tens and units the right way round.

I am so worried about him and have just had the review meeting. It was there that the concerns about writing were really flagged up. The SENCO also said that the teacher had said that he was lazy with his talking. Not sure in what context she said this but that has concerned me even further.

When I asked today whether we should be investigating further the reply was that he is only 5yrs and just settling into year 1 and we should wait until Christmas.

So any thoughts. Should we push for an educational psychologist to come in and see him? DH and I are really concerned about this and his future so any help really appreciated.

Can't really help but didn't want it to go unanswered.

FWIW I believe dyslexia can really only be dx at 7. But I guess the real question is would a dx of dyslexia get him any more/different help?

(there's more traffic and better chance of better answer over at Special Needs)

Thanks for your replies. I have heard similar about dx only made once they are 7 at least and in some areas 11yrs. I have also been doing some more reading and am going to push for extra support and not to worry about dx because it is the extra help he needs whatever the problem. I will see what they come up with and flag issues up now because I agree things can take forever. I pushed for an IEP at pre-school due to language issues so that he started school with one rather than waiting for a couple of terms for them to decide to give him one.

Just one other thing - keep a record of everything. Every intervention, every meeting, what was said, every problem that arises.

Hopefully you won't need it, but if the time comes to argue you need a paper trail and lots of evidence.

lorissparkle, your DS sounds like ours at his age (our son is 10 now). He suffered with alot of ear infections as a baby / toddler and this was identified as the cause for is speech delay, our son was dx with a speech delay/disorder at 3 1/2 and has been under SALT to this present day. All they focused on at this young age was his speech nothing else was mentioned other than a speech delay. As parents we thought at 31/2 he was getting the right help, he was on sa+ right from the beginning, but we just kept going along with the SALT, it wasnt really until my son reached 7/8 yrs old I thought hang on surely things should be improving by now nearly 5 years on. The amount of words he could say increased but he could not use them in the right context or in structured sentences, he struggled big time with word finding and comprehension. In 2008 we insisted the school refer him to an EP for further assessment, they confirmed he had word finding problems and his speech contributed to this, he was at this stage 3 years behind his peers. We were getting more frustrated as we still had no real dx to why he was struggling so much, ASD was ruled out by the paediatrician. So we just continued with the frustration and the advice of the so called professionals. A year ago I had enough as my son was making little is any progress under SALT and measly 2 x 10mins 1:1 that the school provided. So for a year I have been a pain in the arse to the school, EP, SALT, Paed, GP and regularly phone them up to see how they can help my son. We are going through the statement process which is a long battle, I pestered for another EP visit this year (I now speak to her regularly and she has no problem speaking to me), eventually after 71/2 years my son has now been DX with dyslexia (note his school said when queried many times he does not have dyslexia). Now we continue with the struggle to find out what is causing his Dyslexia, firstly we have an appointment at GOSH London to rule out APD (Auditory processing disorder). My son has struggled with reading and writing for most of his school years, the only subject he is average in is Maths & science (not written equations as he struggles to understand them). My biggest regret is not fighting sooner for him, I just plodded along accepting everything I was told even though I knew it wasn't just a speech delay. We are along way from getting the right help for him but at least I am doing something about it now. Push for everything I wish I had and not left until he was 9 years old.
Not sure if this helps as this is our story and may not be relevant to yours.
Nickminiink

Thanks ever so much for your replies, sorry I don't get much time on mumsnet. Your story does sound very similar Nickminiiink. My brother in law has a speech disorder and sister in law has dyslexia so there is genetic link there. We also think he may have had glue ear as a baby and that contributed to it. I am not very good at pestering. I work in SEN so see it from the other side. I also know that you are lucky to get much unless you pester. Good luck with it all. We have a parents evening next week so it will be interesting to see what school say.

I have found a document outlining what schools should do regarding dyslexia. This could give you some info if you have not already seen it.

www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DCSF-00659-2009

sorry forgot to convert link.....

www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DCSF-00659-2009

You have to pester because if don't nothing happens, you are your childs only advocate if you don't no one else will. We have no SN in our family as far as I know so this is all a mystery to us, I guess the ear infections played a big part in my son's difficulties. Thanks for the link, wow so many pages :0). If you don't mind me asking how is your borther in law now, has his speech improved, I worry so much for my son as he gets older, his friends are articulate, comprehends things happening in the news, where my son is oblivious to the world and struggles to hold conversations with his friends.
Good luck with parents evening
Nick

Brother in law needed speech therapy throughout his school life and after a little bit of a rocky time after leaving school is now doing well. His speech on the whole is understandable but if he is tired, excited, on the phone, etc it can be trickier to understand.

I read through a lot of the publication and a lot of it is repeated.

Hope things go better for you

Lori

lorisparkle

Just to follow on from nickminiink Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is one of the underlying cognitive causes of the developmental dyslexia. And could explain some his early speech dealy issues.
APD is a listening disability, that affects up to 10% of children according to the Medical Research Council.
Developmental Dyslexia is about having cognitive problems decoding and recoding the visual notation of speech, or the graphic symbols society chooses to represent the sounds of speech. There are three underlying cognitive causes of developmental dyslexia: auditory, visual and attentional.
Those who have APD have problems processing the gaps between sounds, the sounds that can make up a word, or the sounds between words in rapid speech (Random Gap Detection Test which is one of the APD battery of diagnostic tests) and as a result those who have APD are not able to use phonics or sound out words phonetically even as adults who can both read and write.
You might find my Key Reference links useful in explaining these issues
Currently a GP referral to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) may be the best option to make further progress in understanding the problems
Have a look at Auditory Processing Disorder in the UK the web site guide helps you find the web pages you might like to look at.