Dyslexia assessment

[weekfour]

We had parents evening a few weeks ago and came out feeling pretty worried about DS who is 6 and in Year 2. The teacher is apparently struggling to get enough work out of him to assess him properly and he is therefore not meeting any of the required learning objectives. It sounds like he spends a lot of time staring out of the window during whole class work. He's dropping behind.

We then decided to get his eyes tested. The optician said he has a problem with convergence. He asked whether we'd had him assessed for dyslexia. We haven't. He obviously recognised something.

I emailed his teacher to ask about an assessment. She said she'd get back to me but didn't. She's a busy woman so I understood. I emailed again and have now been told that we would have to arrange the assessment privately.

Is this right?

The school has a varied catchment. Are they saying only the wealthy kids can have dyslexia?

I should add that we can afford to pay. I'm just feeling totally unsupported and like I'm having to do all of the research myself.

I hope my rather dated experience is helpful to you. My son is now 28.
In primary school I was concerned by his progress and asked for him to be assessed by the SEN teacher. The assessment took place and we were told that our son was not dyslexic but just not very bright. This vision of his ‘dimness’ was imprinted on him by the school and badly effected his self esteem.
At secondary school he followed his academically gifted brother into an independent school. In order to gain entry to the school he had to sit an exam which measured his intelligence. I was very worried but he did very well. Once he had started at the school the person reasonable for SEN identified he had an issue and after an initial assessment suggested we had a private SEN assessment, which we did. When they told me how high my sons IQ was but how severe his dyslexia, I cried. I felt I’d let him down. He went on to gain some of the best results in his year at GCSE and A level and gained a first at uni.
Things may have changed but if you can possibly afford it I’d have the private assessment.

Thanks @Lentil63. Really appreciate your reply. I'm sorry about your son's experience.
We will look into the private assesement. I think it's about £500 which we can manage.

I do wonder how many kids will fall through the gaps though.

Just wondering if a bump may bring in recent examples...

Dd was screened by the school recently- results show she is likely mildly dyslexic (confirming what we thought). So now we will pay for an assessment privately.

School has been great & also very apologetic we have to pay.

I was also wondering what happens to the kids who's parents can't afford to pay £500 for private assessment.

Well done for getting the eye test. Convergence insufficiency is quite a common problem which will certainly cause difficulties with reading and writing, and may well be the main or only cause of your son's issues at school. Fortunately, convergence insufficiency is easily treatable. Your next step should be to see an orthoptist: ask the optician for a referral if they haven't given you one already.

Address this issue before you start worrying about other possible issues and subjecting him to possibly unnecessary (and expensive) assessments.

I don't understand why the optician would even mention dyslexia, which is nothing to do with vision.

I knew my son had dificulties since he started shcool.
I paid for screening via nessy programm myself , which came back as Highly likely to have dyslexia. soI sent it to the school.
a year later they told me that their screening had come back as low risk, however they would never show me the report,so I kept on at them to refer him.
I finally got the school to refer for assessment .It took two years (bare in mind lots of covid restrictions).
It has fianlly been done and he is very dyslexic - has issues with spelling/phonics/handwriting/reading/decoding words, not hearing the different parts / sounds that make up the words.... all the issues I was worried about ! and told by the school he didn't have any issues with....
Now we have the assessment report, they school are so hesitant to put any of the recommendations into place... the only thing he has so far is a white board to check his spelling before he writes in his book and he is in a "focus" group - although -despite asking - i haven't been told what the focus actually is...my son says he's doing the same as everyone else in the class.
Sorry to highjack your thread... just giving my experience....
perhaps someone will come along with a better one...
my next aim is to get an EHCplan so perahps we can go to a specialist private school for him to get the help he needs...
good luck with everything....

Hi weekfour,
A full diagnostic assessment for dyslexia is normally recommended from the age of 8 onwards but your school should be able to provide an early dyslexia screener and put in place the support your child needs. A dyslexia diagnosis is not necessary to put support in place but a diagnostic report can help you and your child better understand why he finds some things difficult in school, identify his strengths and challenges and set out specific recommendations for school and home tailored to your child’s specific needs. Early support is very important for self-esteem. Can I ask what are the precise difficulties your child has? Is reading and/or spelling an issue? How is his handwriting? Did he pass his phonics screening test? I am a dyslexia specialist and happy to offer free advice. If you would like more information send me a private message. Good luck!