Is this an indicator of Dyslexia?

[Aria2015]

My son is 7. He's a bright boy, articulate to talk to and he has a keen interest in learning for most things. But he dislikes writing and reading (he loves being read to though) and is behind in both and is behind in spellings. He has weekly spelling tests and we practice every day and he usually gets 10/10 which is great, but it seems he doesn't retain the knowledge and a week or two later will be misspelling them again. This is in contrast with his memory on general, which is pretty good.

I'm just wondering if this lack of retention could be a sign of dyslexia? It just feels like there is this big mismatch between his written / reading abilities and how he comes across in person eg verbally articulate, good memory etc...

We practice reading (min 15 mins a day) and spelling daily at home and he gets extra support for these at school too. He is improving but it's slow progress.

I think that yes it could be. When DD had tests at school for dyslexia the general comment was that with a relative high CAt score (general intelligence), she shouldn’t be having any difficulties with reading and spelling. If your DS is generally doing well (even if you don’t have CAT scores) then I think something may be going on. DD was diagnosed in year 6 and had never had any of the typical dyslexia symptoms, eg words moving, but had been very slow to learn to read and was terrible at spelling. Amongst other things, her tests showed that she struggled with identifying letters and also phenomes, so was slow at this. Learning to read via phonics was hard for her, she was much better at learning by sight reading. I think the diagnosis helped her to understand for the first time and also helped us all relax a bit.

I would caveat that she also had visual tracking problems diagnosed prior in year 4, so that could be another possibility but I don’t think it would explain the spelling.

At your DS’s age, I was still practicing reading a lot (15 mins at a time is perfect) and I would encourage this but it also helped us to use audio books etc. DD gets extra time which is really helpful in her tests and exams but she still has to work hard to correct herself (especially in subjects like biology, Latin was a bit of a trial too!). However, they continue to grow and learn more and more so I’m sure he will be able to read well enough eventually, he might just need help to read quickly enough in exams etc.

DD was tested at school (independent) and is currently being assessed ahead of GCSEs so it might depend on your access to help but I think it might be worth investigating.

good luck.

@BreakfastClub80 thank you for your reply! I'm going to speak to his SENCO, he's on their radar anyway as he has dyspraxia and so struggles with hand writing and PE. Forgot to mention in the original post that he also gets left / right and tomorrow / yesterday mixed up a lot too, despite us going over it so many times! He reads 15 minutes to us and we read to him for at least 15 minutes too. We read the books he'd like to read but isn't quite ready for and he follows the story really well and picks up meanings of new words quickly. So he enjoys being read to, but less so reading. But I'm hoping that is just due to the effort it takes. My brother is dyslexic too, I've read it can be genetic? I struggled with reading and spelling at my son's age but as I came to the end of primary it all just clicked for me and I was ok. So hard to know. Chat with his SENCO will definitely be my next step though...

Good idea, I’m sure the SENCO will know the best thing to do. I forgot but I was told that dyslexia wasn’t really considered until about age 7 as all children learn to read at different rates so the definition of delayed reading only comes in around then. So that was maybe what you experienced and it may the same for your DS. We believe that my DH may be dyslexic now, but hadn’t considered it until our DD was diagnosed. He was slow to read and his spelling is a bit dodgy but it’s only weird because he’s so intelligent otherwise.

In year 4, the teachers started letting DD choose any books even though she hadn’t finished Biff & Chip. They felt it was better that way as she was so bored of those books by then, well we all were 😂.

Also, there are lists of the common words used and I think these are set by age. It might be helpful to go through these if you think he learns by sight, as this will help him to read a bit more easily.

Ultimately, I tell DD that even adults don’t know all the words or how to pronounce/spell them. We’re all learning all the time!

Yes, DS has dysgraphia and sounds the same except he had no problems reading, he was the first free reader in his year. But writing was such a battle and didn’t match the amazing ideas and vocabulary in his head.
I would recommend you pay privately for a dyslexia assessment.

Maybe but there are other predictors. Dyslexia affects more than just reading.. People with dyslexia will find short cuts to doing things - their processing doesn’t use the long established train of thought through the brain. So they can often find different ways of doing things and can go from task to task quickly.
A key one is Dyslexic children often go straight from sitting up to toddling missing out crawling.

@HalfasleepChrisintheMorning do you know how much a private assessment is roughly? His Dyspraxia assessment was around £600 and wondered if it's similar?

@Arrrrrrragghhh that's so interesting!! He skipped crawling and just started walking at 13 months. I've always associated that with the Dyspraxia, had no idea it was an indicator of dyslexia too...

Interesting. I'm not sure if this has any relation to your situation but my DS, at 7 years old, won a prize for being the only boy in his school to get 10/10 on every weekly spelling test throughout the whole academic year. Yet, within hours of each test, he was back to mis-spelling the words. Also, his hand-writing has always been atrocious.

He has has since been diagnosed with ADHD. Tested for lots of other things ( dyslexia, dyspraxia, DCD) but only diagnosis they are sure of is ADHD... and even that was only caught on the second, private, expensive and lengthy assessment. I'm not ruling out conditions beyond ADHD (most people with ADHD do in fact have at least one comorbidity and DCD, dyslexia, dyspraxia are among the most common) but DS is only 9 years old and we are both quite tired of all the assessments and "experts" so will take a break before trying to find more answers. Anyway, even though our DSs probably have very different issues, I guess I'm just commiserating with you and also suggesting that you read up on ADHD as these kinds of brain differences often go hand in hand.

@Cornemuse thanks for your reply. My son is actually on the waiting list for an adhd assessment so that's interesting to hear about your son. There is so much overlap with some of the ND conditions that I'm not sure if they coexist or if one is mistaken for another? I guess that's what the assessments and experts are for. I just want him to have the right support and reach his full potential. He's bright and motivated but I'm acutely aware this could change if he doesn't get the right support and falls behind too much.

Absolutely. I commend you for having these neurological possibilities checked out.

"I'm not sure if they coexist or if one is mistaken for another?" From what I understand, both are common. I also believe that there are many things going on in certain brains that we don't yet understand or have names for.

"I guess that's what the assessments and experts are for." Yes. But as I found out the hard (and expensive) way, even assessments and experts can be wrong. As many of these conditions only have subjective tests (no blood sample or brain scan can provide a correct diagnosis) the chances for incorrect or missed diagnoses are high. Which is why I've found it best to try to educate myself as best I can, so that I can really understand and advocate for my DS. Experts here in the UK and abroad (I'm a foreigner, recently moved to England, so I'm intimately acquainted with 2 other country's healthcare systems, as well) are OVERWHELMED and now, more than ever, we need to become what Dr. Russell Barkley refers to as "Executive Parents." Armed with up-to-date knowledge, politely-but-firmly refusing to accept second-best for our children.

Aside: As I educated myself about ADHD on DS's behalf, the descriptions of female ADHD sounded strangely familiar and at the age of 48, I had a thorough assessment received my own diagnosis. And I'm here to reassure that if your son DOES turn out to have the condition, there are many of us who have had rich, healthy, happy lives (usually with rather untidy homes and unconventional career paths).

Hey op. My DD8 is dyslexic and also has ADHD. literally the same things you're saying, such as learning all the spellings for a test but then not retaining them etc.
we had a private dyslexia assessment done (£300) but it wasn't by an Ed Psych. She has a very high IQ but extremely low phonological awareness and working memory - amongst other stuff I can't remember. But it really helped me to understand what her difficulties were and ways we can adapt to help her learn. She's ok at reading because she does so by inference, so she can get the gist of the story and therefor guess the words basically. She can't sound out a word she doesn't know in isolation at all!
I have started a touch typing program with her (nessy) which also helps with spelling as it's using touch rather than phonics. So the idea is she can touch type the word and remembers where her fingers go and therefore recalls the spelling. It's early days but we'll see.
School are hit and miss and have tried putting me off applying for a EHCNA but I'm going to do it myself anyway I think. I'm just in the gathering as much information as possible stage before I do.

@Cornemuse
This resonates, especially the 'executive parents' bit. I'm absorbing everything, doing webinars, community charity groups etc to be armed with as much info as possible.
I was advised to always email school so that everything is in writing, I follow up every chat/call/meeting (not that there have been enough) with an email. And I'm on them all the time.
We have to be out children's advocates and whilst exhausting at times, we're doing what needs to be done.

I get what you are saying about advocating but the reality is ND is not an unknown rarity anymore.
Schools are understanding and do what they can. However even in a special school you’ll typically be in a small class with an ASD child who likes routine and quiet , a PDA child who needs flexibility not routine , a dyslexic child that needs extra time, an ADHD child that needs plenty of breaks….and so it goes on.
Best outcomes are happy, secure children who can become adults carving their own path.