Could a dyslexia screen not detect dyslexia?

[Cornishskies]

Does anyone have any advice about reliability of screening for dyslexia?

My 10 year old DD has been having ongoing problems at school since year 3 with reading & comprehension which eventually led me to getting her privately assessed by an educational psychologist in year 4. Results didn’t give any obvious dyslexia issues , she scored in the high average range for the IQ area of testing and all others ranged in the average range ( some low average and some high) .
She did recommend a visual stress test, which found her to have problems with words jumping around and “channels” seen running down the page of writing for which she has overlays and colorimetry glasses.
For background I have two older children both diagnosed late with dyslexia at 16 & 20 years old ( both now at university ) .
So this week her teachers again tell me she isn’t achieving what she should in maths (the written problem questions being the main issue) and English (using more comprehensive language in her writing) . They still say they don’t think it is dyslexia but they don’t have any real advice to give me on how we move forward.
They think it is lack of confidence , maybe it is but she is only lacking in confidence at school work and I can’t help feeling there’s more to it.
She is popular at school, has a good social group, is happy to join clubs and meet new people and we are an encouraging but relaxed family. I wouldn’t say she is an unconfident child in any other way.

So could anyone advice me if a dyslexia screening could miss a diagnosis? I see loads of similarities between my DD and older DS , whose dyslexia was only picked up when we got a tutor in to help him with his GCSE English . I really don’t want my DD to struggle through GCSE’s the way he did.

Or is there something else I could be missing? Any advice would be really appreciated

Hi @Cornishskies, I’m not sure if I can help but I know the dyslexia screening didn’t identify our DD and have heard of others within our school where this happened. However, subsequent testing by our specialist learning support teachers did pick up the dyslexia so I think it would depend on which tests were done by the educational psychologist?

Our school screen all kids in Year 3, and it seems to depend on how the problems present. At the beginning of Year 4, we were advised to have DD assessed for visual tracking problems as they could see that she wasn’t achieving as expected but had passed the screening (I had found the same problem in maths where she couldn’t actually read the questions herself but could answer them if they were read to her). DD had a tracking problem and had to have vision therapy to resolve this, and I would have thought your visual stress test would have covered this type of thing.

I would trust your gut feeling here, I look back and can’t believe how long it took me to have our DD tested. I didn’t know enough about dyslexia and as DD did (and obviously still does) get better at reading I just didn’t think she was bad enough. She scores highly in the IQ tests so it is particularly noticeable how much lower her other scores are so it seems to be almost relative (if that makes sense).

In terms of trying to identify the issue, could you speak to someone else and ask them to look at your DD’s scores from the screening etc? Is there anyone you knew through your older children who might have some knowledge about this? Does your DD have the verbal vocabulary in the areas mentioned by her teachers? My DD has a good verbal vocabulary despite not reading very much but obviously she doesn’t write this down so much as others might. Maybe that is where the confidence comes in? I hope you can find out what is going on as to me everything you’ve said points to dyslexia.

Our DD is 12 so we’re nowhere near GCSE’s yet but I am worried about how it will all pan out, it’s hard to squash a round peg into a square hole!

Good luck

Thank you so much for your response @BreakfastClub80. I’m so glad you finally have the right diagnosis for your DD it is just awful to see them struggle and get so frustrated at a time you want them to thrive and enjoy school.

I’m sure your DD will be fine with the right support in place, my DS was diagnosed at GCSE stage after a tutor picked up on it . We’d always been told he’s very capable just needs to focus more .. but he is thriving at Uni on a creative and practical degree with amazing support in place . You are right though the square peg in a round hole, for these kids the school process can be particularly unforgiving I think.

DD scored above average on her verbalreasoning on her assessment, she’s very articulate and imaginative, just can’t seem to let it “ flow” when she’s writing . She tells me she finds it hard to focus on her teacher, that daydreaming is much more fun! I have contacted the dyslexia assessor after this last school report and discussed it with her, she has offered to look at her again for no charge in 6 months to see if there are any areas of concern that have opened up. And organised a tutor to try and help give her confidence in the areas she’s struggling. I guess I need to watch and wait for a few months, but my gut feeling is there’s more to it so thank you for sharing your experience

I've got a post graduate diploma in dyslexia. An above average score in cognitive ability but average in literacy skills can be a red flag for dyslexia. It means that a bright child isn't achieving in line with their ability. The genetic link is also strong. I would get a full dyslexia assessment done.