Dyslexia assessment and Diagnosis

[LoversLane]

We have done the Nessy screening at home with DD (age 10) and she scored very high. School agree she is showing traits and I am going to ask the SENCO to screen her too.

In terms of next steps, how do we go about a formal diagnosis?
I guess there is a long waiting list for an Ed Psych on the NHS?
Any recommendations on going private? We are in London

Unfortunately, school EP time is limited and unless there are significant difficulties/behavioural difficulties at school an EP assessment via them is unlikely. LAs are struggling to fulfil statutory EHNCA work - if you feel an EHCNA is necessary you can apply yourself. An EP assessment for dyslexia is rare on the NHS.

If you did want to go private you could consider: Catharine Pierce, Jemma Levy, Ruth Birnbaum, Valerie Hero.

Thank you, I'll start googling them. Central and North London is best for us.

You won't get a Dyslexia diagnosis from a state school or the NHS unless there are unusual circumstances.

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexia/how-is-dyslexia-diagnosed/what-should-i-be-looking-for-in-an-assessor-when-seeking-a-dyslexia-diagnosis

We used a specialist teacher as it was a bit cheaper and more flexible and they provided a very detailed report. DC had already seen an Ed Psych for something else so we didn't need anything else investigated.

One thing to consider would be how they structure appointments, DC had an assessment at age 10 and it was done in two halves over two evenings rather than in one go. We also found someone with a shorter waiting list, this was just at the end of covid but some people had lists that were 6 months +. It's important to get diagnosis at this age before SATs and transition to secondary.

Thanks. Younger DD is also showing some traits so I think I'll get both assessed. School has not been great about raising it earlier even though I've been suspecting it for a while.

Thank you all for the advice. I have been in touch with a number of Ed psych and they seem very varied (method and price!).

Some do the tests with children on iPads in their place of work and send questionnaires to parents and school. Other do the assessments at school and have requested two half day observations at school and access to teaching staff. It's a small school with stretched resources, I don't know how this will go down with them.

Does anyone have any experience?

It depends on what you want/need. Not all EP reports are the same. Some are far more comprehensive than others and some are Tribunal ready, others aren’t.

I would like her to be tested for dyslexia (spellings are very patchy, erratic writing/comprehension, reading is about two years behind) but also pick up any further possible educational needs. Teacher said she takes a while to process an instruction or question. I am not suspecting ASD or ADHD I just want to understand if she needs extra help in other areas of her learning and how she can be helped.

We had a very comprehensive set of testing done for DD when she was 7 (done via her state primary in London) and then repeated in Y6.

She's quite severely dyslexic (and also ADHD - although that wasn't looked for at the time). Didn't learn to read until Y3 and spelling and punctuation are still horrendous. DD also has hypermobile fingers so writing is very painful.

We tried everything - Nessy, Toe-by-Toe, sheets of common words, overlays, weird shaped pencils, dyslexia friendly reading schemes... the lot. And none of it made any visible difference although they were possibly helpful along the way.

The only thing that has been a huge and life-changing factor was teaching her to touch type in Y6 and moving to a laptop for everything with grammarly and spell check installed.

She started secondary with this and has used it ever since (we have an iPad with keyboard and e-Pen rather than a laptop). The EP reports were brilliant as they outlined where the issues were - v spiky profile with very high VR and NVR scores and incredibly low working memory. The report also stated that DD should be sat at the front of classes and use a keyboard at all times - so has been vv useful for waving at schools and for things like extra time and a laptop for exams.

We never went down the route of an EHCP - I couldn't see what help DD would get from one given that schools all said they would put things in place to help and yet we never got anything.

For DD it was very helpful - she knew that she wasn't stupid, just has an SpLd. She would definitely have failed SATs, has never achieved in-line with her potential, but secondary seem to get her and she's predicted top grades for GCSE (not sure she'll get them, but at least nobody is under-estimating her just because she can't spell and still finds reading very tricky).

Audio books and films are also a godsend if they won't/can't read.