Teacher wants to 'test' 5yo - advice please!

[MrsJamesMathews]

Hi

DS 5yo, reception, born premature, experienced developmental delays but nothing unexpected.

I thought he was doing really well at school. He moves up to do daily literacy lessons with Y1 children, does weekly spelling lessons with them always getting 10/10. Words like 'short' and 'brook'.

He is comfortably reading ORT level 4 books, lots of decoding and sight reading.

Teacher wants to meet to discuss his progress and has asked head to give him a 'little test'.

I'm assuming for dyslexia, but I find it hard to believe he is. But then don't know what else they would want to test for.

His handwriting is poor compared with his peers, and he will often get his g d and b the wrong way around and he works slowly. I wasn't worried because his sister did the all of these things well in to Y1 and no one was bothered.

What do I need to read before I talk to the teacher? Is she being over cautious? Is it possible to have mild dyslexia?

Hi there,
Would you be able to ask for a bit more information on what they are testing for? Seems like they should give you a bit more detail! It is possible to have mild dyslexia, but this seems unlikely if his decoding is good at that age. There are lots of different things you can test for though.

I think OP has also posted in SN Children for traffic, and received some replies.

Hi, at that age it's quite common to write those letters backwards (I'm an SN mum and have also worked as a TA in Year 1) without the child going on to be diagnosed with dyslexia.

...and as you say, your daughter did it too! As others have said, there are many things that they can test for. If his handwriting is poor it may be a fine motor skills test? Ask the teacher for more info.

It's certainly possible to have mild dyslexia, my son does. But I'm wondering whether it's dyspraxia or processing problems that they're thinking of.