LASS Dyslexia screening - accuracy

[HannahLI]

Hello, my son is just finishing year 2 (7 years old) I suspect he has dyslexia and there is a family history of it. They did a LASS screening test at school and he has come out as not having a dyslexic profile. However his reading is excellent and above where it should be for his age, and that's what the test seems to predominately test along with spellings which the school have been working a lot on. Have you come across anyone who has not showed signs on the screening test but does have dyslexia?

I don't know whether the school will do any further testing because of this or how to handle it with them? Should I just be paying privately for the full assessment?

Can't help a huge amount as I struggle with the same issues re my DS and haven't got very far. But I can tell you that screening tests can be very inaccurate indeed, especially with brighter kids. If you can afford an assessment, go for a really detailed one that will pick up signs of other related difficulties too. Always check too that the person doing the test is a specialist in Specific Learning Difficulties. Some psychologists (especially the LA ones) are generalists who will fob you off with a short interview and a basic IQ test. We haven't bitten the bullet on this one because the proper assessment costs four arms and three legs...

The only way to really tell if an individual is dyslexic is to have an assessment. Screening tools are useful but will be unable to pick up the subtle differences in a child's profile of performance that an assessment will, especially where there has been a lot of in school intervention. Have a look on the British Dyslexia Association's website there is a lot of useful information on there.

I think the school screening test predominantly gives false negatives. My dd and many others I know were told they were not dyslexic. This is often the case where there is thorough phonics teaching. Both my children passed the phonics screen with flying colours and the school said def no dyslexia following the screen but they both have been assessed as having SPLD privately and to be honest it is fairly obvious. Neither can apply phonics to writing and both have terrible working memory and processing problems. I have a non dyslexic child and the differences are staggering and can't be explained byt a difference in IQ but because they did well in phonics the school dismissed dyslexia out of hand.