Dyslexia? - how and when to get DS tested

[LynetteScavo]

I suspect DS2 is dyslexic. He is in reception, and will be 5 in the spring.

I'm very laid back about it atm, as I don't think a diagnosis would be useful yet.

To be honest I'm scared of bringing it up with his teacher, as although she's a great teacher seems to think he's just not as bright as DS1, and will be able to read by the end of the school year. (Yeah right!)

So can what's my next move? How do I get him tested, or do I just ignor it?

why do you think he is dyslexic? you can speak to SENCO at school as a first port of call..

Ask to speak with the SENCO teacher at school. You can ask for him to be tested by the Educational Psychologist the process can take a long time.

He's obviusly bright , with a brilliant vocab', but hasn't picked up and letter names or able to read any words. Hes had a lot of trouble with rhyming words.

Also, I've had a lot of family presure over Christmas as very bright, academic 18yo neice has just been diagnosed - and her brother struggled academically before having a diagnosis.

Rutine teting in our school now begins at year 2, with a further pick up in Juniors fotr those who are 'missed' (DS1 was missed as the focus was on his other SN)- DS2 was picked up in yr 2.

Could well be dyslexic and it does run in famillies BUT he's still exceptionally young and boys do tend to 'click' later anyway, esp. if they're focussing on otehr skills (eg spoken langauge).

DS was screened last term of year 2, at KS2,. just before the SATS and came back as high risk. and is indeed dyslexic. he can read and write fairly well, but big problems with rhyming and high frequency words ... is also bright, but not doing as well as would have expected ... excellent vocab and very artisitic. school have been excellent with strategies to help him

So I jsut sit and wait untill Y2?

They don't generally diagnose much before 7. Speak to his teacher first as it may be she sees things from a different perspective. He is still very young and he/she may feel it is developmental and will come in time rather a disorder.

Have you spoken to your child's teacher. Surely its a bit premature to say that a child is dyslexic just because he cannot read after one term of reading. He is FOUR years old and still very little.

Why don't look at these webpages, they have lot of suggetions on how to help dyslexics.

www.prometheantrust.org/

www.dyslexics.org.uk/

There are plenty of children in my son's year 1 class who have not yet got the hang of reading.

Interested in this as I was wondering today - what are the main early clues and when would you start to pick up on them? DD2 is 4-and-a-half, v strong vocab, v good with numbers (adding/subtracting/generally confident manipulating) - letters often fox her and when she writes them down they are frequently back-to-front unless she traces them. Numbers even more so, as she knows the numbers 1 - 9, but if she writes them from memory she reverses them. FIL is dyslexic and DH has ccasional moments of "word-blindness" ie he's not dyslexic but not a good speller, and sometimes he has to look at a word a couple of times to check it.

am still going through the diagnosis process but was told my SENCO and head of yr 2 and literacy head that KS2 is the key time for picking it up......

am still going through the diagnosis process but was told my SENCO and head of yr 2 and literacy head that KS2 is the key time for picking it up......

The things is, amongst early readers / writers letter reversal etc is common- its when it doesn't pass that there is cause for concern, so yes you really do have to wait until that stage. That's the case with lots of things- I mean, how could I have been aware that ds3's inability to play beyong parallel level was abnormal (he's ASD) until all the other kids had apssed that stage? There simply is no way. DS2 is very bright, able and all that but wasn't making progress withr eading at the level expected by yr2 so that's when they started to question it. DS1 is different- he's HFA so some delay wasn't unexpected, but he's basically unable to read at 8 with a very high IQso they added dyslexia (and dyspraxia) screening to the SENCO program he has.

It's also worth noting that dyslexia isn't just reading and writing- it also often features problems with organisation (constantly losing shoes etc) and memory.

Just because a child can't yet be DX'd doesn't mean you can't start to use dyslexic type approaches in your work with your child, and it may well be worth looking into that. It's only the DX that generally ahs to wait; not the remedial strategies.

There are assessments available to 'screen' younger chn although most are for older chn. Look on the BDA and dyslexia action websites for advice.