I think she might be dyslexic...what next?

[mousiemousie]

My almost seven year old isn't making the progress I would expect at school although she tries hard.

My mum suspects dyslexia and the symptoms seem to fit eg she can't recite her alphabet perfectly still, mixes up left and right, can't repeat a sequence of 4 short instructions etc

She is not bad enough in class (yet) for the teacher to suggest she needs help - but I would like to get a diagnosis as to whether or not she has dyslexia.

Do I get her screened privately? And if she has a mild to moderate problem will she get support from her school, or will I have to look elsewhere for help?

Any advice appreciated

.

ks, thanks for your reply, I would be really interested to hear your experiences!

DD can read a bit but finds it very hard and frustrating. She is in the bottom half of the class for reading but is a bright child who tries hard in class. Me & her dad were very academic and were early readers so it suprises me that she has so much trouble.

I am not an expert on dyslexia but wonder if actually it's very normal for 7 year olds to be like this. My dd1 is 6, she doens't sound so very different from your dd - I doubt she can recite her alphabet perfectly, she mixes up left and right, and forgets instructions.

like you, DP and I were very academic children and i was a early reader so it was a surprise to us that she wasn't. but I don't think my dd1 has any particular problem, she's just not as academic, maybe, as DP and me. maybe yours is the same?

i mean 6 year olds, not 7 year olds.

and of course i mean I was an early reader.. doh.

I am going by the British Dyslexia Association indicators for primary school children - see below - my dd has pretty much all of these:

3. Primary school age.

Has particular difficulty with reading and spelling.
Puts letters and figures the wrong way round.
Has difficulty remembering tables, alphabet, formulae etc.
Leaves letters out of words or puts them in the wrong order.
Still occasionally confuses 'b' and 'd' and words such as 'no/on'.
Still needs to use fingers or marks on paper to make simple calculations.
Poor concentration.
Has problems understanding what he/she has read.
Takes longer than average to do written work.
Problems processing language at speed.

Primary school age non-language indicators:

Has difficulty with tying shoe laces, tie, dressing.
Has difficulty telling left from right, order of days of the week, months of the year etc.
Surprises you because in other ways he/she is bright and alert.
Has a poor sense of direction and still confuses left and right.
Lacks confidence and has a poor self image.

Fennel, you may well be correct, or alternatively your child may have dyslexia too...one in ten children apparently do

that's my dd too described on that list! except she doesn't have low confidence or a poor self image.

but i think it does depend what you see as "poor" or "difficulty". I do think that academically inclined parents might think a child is poor at something, if the child is worse than they were, or worse than it's siblings, when a teacher of children that age might see it as very normal.

It's my parents who think something is up.

Dd is within normal limits in her achievements at school...but I think she may have specific problems which need addressing to help her achieve her potential and reduce the lack of confidence and frustrations she has at school - which may well get worse and lead to more serious behavioural problems. She is the oldest in her class and is from an academic family - dp and I were scholarship students - so it doesn't seem obvious to me that she should be struggling to even come half way up in the class.

So achievement within normal boundaries doesn't neccessarily mean that there's nothing wrong...or that is my thinking.

Does anyone know what the cost of an assessment is likely to be?

ks the school are very happy with her as she always tries so hard and although her achievements are a little below what is expected they have not identified a problem - and I have only just clicked that this may be at the bottom of it so have had no chance to discuss with teachers yet.

She is unusually self concious in class which they have noticed - and does get frustrated but not in a way that disrupts other people - so it doesn't get much attention. I have noticed because I help out quite often in the classroom.

mousiemousie- is your dd the oldest in her year and so going into year 2? What sort of school is ie state, high achieving and academic or otherwise?

I am a teacher and I would be suspicious of this sort of mismatch in dd's skills that you are describing, so I am interested to know what sort of context she is in.

Hi robinpud

Her school is a state school in a reasonably affluent area, fairly good results in the league tables but not at the top - in fact you might expect the results to be a bit better given the catchment (lots of university faculty children).

I am generally happy with the school, I just can't work out why dd finds it hard. I have spoken to the teachers who have told me to relax as she is a good member of the class and her achievement level is within normal boundaries. I don't put pressure on her to achieve academic success and concentrate more on helping her deal with social situations at school (which she is now really good at!) It isn't important to me if she achieves academically or not - she is very arty and creative and I would be delighted for her to go down this path in life rather than an academic path...but if she has problems which are affecting her being able to achieve her potential then I think the frustration of this may spoil her school years more and more.

What do you make of it, Robinpud? If dd turns out to be less academic or a late developer with no specific problem that would be absolutely fine, but if I miss identifying a problem at the right time I will feel that I have failed her.

One thing to remember is that a diagnosis of special educational needs (i.e. dyslexia) carries with it funding for the school. If she is dsylexic, it is in your interests and the schools to get it diagnosed as soon as possible so the money can be accessed. Later on in her education, a dsylexia diagnosis means she will get extra time in exams and/or a reader or amenunsis if necessary. I see too many students at college who were diagnosed too late for it to be of any practical use for them.

In the meantime, I've found some students find using a coloured overlay helps them read more easily. Go to a stationary shop and buy some A4 transparent folders (the ones that are just two bits of plasitc, no ring binders or anything) They are very cheap and you may want to experiment with a range of colours to see if one helps. I've had success with yellow and red for various students. Apparantly it works by reducing glare on the pages, or at least that's how one student described it. You might also find that getting her to try reading with a ruler under the line she is reading helps.

And finally, don't despair. I have a very good friend who, desite being quite severely dsylexic, is now finishing off her MA. It just takes her a little more time to do all the reading.

OK mousie, I have been pondering this. I wouldn't jump to the conclsion that she has a problem. It sounds as if she has taken time to settle into school and work it all out and one thing that never ceases to surprise me is the different stages at which children take off with their learning.
It already sounds as if she has leaning towards being rightbrained and wonderfully creative so that may be her forte and where she has made most progress.
The point about overlays is a good one and I have used them with success.
I would play a waiting game and see how she settles into the next class. Before the half term I would expect the school to offer you a chance to talk about how she has settled. I would suggest that you ask for a longer appointment and use it to see if the teacher sees any mismatch between her verbal and written skills. If she still doesn't know days of the week or can't remember simple sequences then point that out, it may not have made itself obvious. A good school will have procedures in place to pick up on children with potential learning difficulties and you and the teacher may find it appropriate to discuss how they are relevant to dd. Screening for dsylexia is questionable at too early a stage and sadly where I work might not always mean extra funding for the child.
However I say this with a big BUT.. reading your posts it seems to be that your daughter is doing fine, and is quite self aware. My daughter is very different from me academically and I have to accept and celebrate her own strengths. Your dd is at an age when she needs the confidence to be an active learner to take risks, to think creatively and explore all areas of the curriculum. It sounds as if you are doing a good job watching over her carefully without her being too aware of your potential concerns. Children are the most amazing things and have so many surprises for us, keep doing all the good things you are and talk to the teacher when she has had the time to get to know dd.

sorry it is so long.. I should be more concise.. but fail miserably here!

I see a fair number of children for an eye exam as a precurser to dyslexia eval. I think that's a logical place to start. Rule out any visual problems, then go further down the road.

I really appreciate all this great advice - thanks so much to all of you who have generously taken the time to post responses.

I will try out the overlays and maybe get an opticians appointment too - see if that takes me further forward. And waiting until half term and speaking to her new Year 2 teacher is a good idea too.

I might also try to find a book of learning strategies that help dyslexic children and try out a couple to see if they are useful - any recommendations gratefully received!

{smile]

Those sort of issues (sequencing, distractabilty, processing of information and instructions, indistinct left/right etc) could also relate to Dyspraxia. How are her gross and fine motor skills,ie. handwriting , throwing and catching, hopping ,riding a bike ? It sounds as if you need some sort of assessment to get to the root of this, if only to rule it out. The sooner you can get her in the system the better. ds is also within the boundaries of "normal" ,does well in academic subjects such as History but finds English and Maths less easy. He definitely has probelms which are dyspraxic tendencies . We saw a gp last year and then a paediatrician but are still waiting for an Occupational Therapy assessment a year on . Can't find anywhere locally to get a private assessment in the meantime.

I have two DS, aged 10 and 8. Both are dyslexic, but have very different difficulties. My eldest has the reading age of a 14 year old, but has difficulty in writing legibly (he is also dyspraxic). My youngest did not begin to be able to read and write until he turned 8 years old. We found the LEA to be really unhelpful, and they wouldn't even assess our eldest child until he turned 9. We went to the dyslexia institute for private assessments, and they now have one hour per week each of specialist dyslexic tuition, paid for by us. (The Dyslexia Institute has recently been rebranded and is now called Dyslexia Action). Our children were in a very good, but very small, state primary school, but they did not get any extra funding, even after their diagnosis. We are now home educating both boys, and they have come on leaps and bounds - the pressure of having to face the Literacy hour every day has now gone, and their work takes the form of topics, instead of separate subjects, and this seems to suit their learning styles. My youngest is now only a year behind the expected literacy level for his age - so he has made up three years of progress in just over a year. Sorry to waffle on, the basis of what I meant to say is don't assume that a diagnosis of dyslexia will lead to any extra funding for support - it should, but in my experience, it doesn't! My sons were taken out of their science lessons to read in the office with the school secretary, and that's about all. It was a shame, as they love science! The educational psychologist came into school and assessed them, told me to play I-Spy with them on long car journeys, but didn't mention the word 'dyslexia' in her report. The report came with a leaflet entitled 'How to help your Dyslexic child' stapled to it though! One thing that did annoy me was that my eldest son was always average in his class, but his verbal skills always suggested he was brighter than average. His tests from the Dyslexia Institute came back to support this - his dyslexia was not being addressed in school, and because he was scoring average marks, this was deemed as good enough. I think my youngest son is one of those children who needed time to mature, and now he has grasped the basics of literacy, he's steaming ahead. I don't think the National Curriculum caters for these children. You could try using resources such as Stiles, or borrowing 'Toe by Toe' or 'Reading Reflex'. I've got copies and would be happy to lend them out if you're anywhere near me (North Yorkshire). Overlays worked for my eldest son, but not for my youngest. My eldest son also had the reading glasses with coloured lenses, but he relies on them less now he is not in school. I agree that you know your child best, and if you think there is an underlying difficulty in her understanding of literacy, you should follow your instincts.

LIZS - just read your message. We too waited over a year for an occupational therapy appointment for our dyspraxic son. When it came, he spent an hour being assessed by the Occupational Therapist and a Physiotherapist. They were very kind, and he enjoyed his afternoon out of school, but the information they gave us was very basic ie: practise threading beads on string, do the washing up, play lots of ball games to increase hand/eye co-ordination. He went back six monthly for three years, and this was really all the help we got; he was assessed but we didn't really get any further advice or help. We bought the book, Developmental Dyspraxia by Madeleine Portwood, and found it very useful. Hope this helps.

Had ds tested when he was nearly 8 - we knew there was a problem but the first time school admitted to it was when I said we had arranged an assessment, after years of "he'll get there". DI (now Dyslexia Ac tion) report said he was seriously underachieving as Verbal Reasoning etc scores were well in 130s. Saw Ed Psych - at which point headteacher tells him dd may be dyslexic too as she's underachieving, first I'd heard of it. Kids changed schools. DD2 turns out not to be dyslexic, just g and t and badly taught. Ds 2 now much happier. Upshot is I've retrained as dyslexia specialist and can so see the benefit of 1hr per week for other kids. I hate charging as schools should provide support but won't. As long as ds is OK in class he'll get no funding etc despite the fact he is functioning way below his potential because of a specific learning DIFFERENCE.
A well done sticker to anyone who has read this much of my waffle. I'll happily offer hints if you'd like to CAT me - games etc I've found to work with children.

The assessment costs £326 and can't be done for 2 months!!!

I have bought "Toe-by-toe" (thanks for the recommendation) and will see how we get on with that. I guess that if dd makes fast progress it will confirm that she has a problem and hopefully address the problem at the same time.

I think she probably has a degree of dyspraxia too so will investigate how to go forward on that too. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has generously offered advice - I really appreciate it

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