Dyslexia tests - is a false negative possible?

[Banjocactus]

My DS has struggled through primary school with reading, spelling, handwriting and written work. His school & senco have always approached him & his learning as though he is dyslexic & have supported as such. Now in year 4, A recent external assessment (as requested by senco) gave a very confusing outcome. Lots of dyslexic traits & scores but a ‘is not dyslexic’ outcome. Teachers, senco and myself all stumped. The recommendations given are what you’d expect for a dyslexic outcome… extra exam time, a reader, laptop for written work, quiet room etc.
can the assessor be wrong? I understand there’s no point retesting for a while as he could perform better, having already done it recently.

he has been having tutoring for 11+ and there was a thought from school that this could have affected his outcomes in the dyslexia assessment as there’s lots of nvr involved.

I suppose my worry is that clearly he has education needs in this area, yet without the official ‘dyslexia’ ruling, we will struggle to get the recommendations allowed in exams both soon and further down the line at GCSE.

advice and experiences welcomed! Thanks for reading x

I suppose my worry is that clearly he has education needs in this area, yet without the official ‘dyslexia’ ruling, we will struggle to get the recommendations allowed in exams both soon and further down the line at GCSE.

Support, including GCSE exam access arrangements, is based on needs, not diagnosis. You can have access arrangements without a diagnosis, and a diagnosis alone isn’t enough.

It is possible DS is dyslexic and the assessment missed it. Was the assessment a full ed psych assessment or an assessment by a dyslexia assessor? It sounds like a full comprehensive educational psychologist assessment would be more useful than a specific dyslexia assessment.

I think it is yes, and probably more likely if a person is academically / intellectually above average.

… hopefully an ed psych can confirm - but I think assessments can look at the gap between where person is functioning generally and the skills / abilities linked to dyslexia, not just how poor these latter skills are. It’s also in relation to where you’d expect them to be. Happy to be corrected though - as this is just an educated guess.

Thank you for responding @Headfirstintothewild and @Farmhouse1234
as far as I know it was the full bells and whistles assessment. We have a comprehensive report with scores and recommendations. Though I will say looking at the report I cannot tell if she was a Ed psych or dyslexia assessor.

@Headfirstintothewild i didn’t know that any needs for exams etc were based upon his needs rather than a diagnosis. I had assumed that a diagnosis was required to get them to listen to required needs, so to speak. We have a list of recommendations from the report. If this is enough then I would be happy.

If the assessor’s credentials aren’t clear from the report you should ask her.

You can see the rules for GCSE access arrangements here and KS2 SATS here. A diagnosis isn’t required and a diagnosis alone doesn’t automatically result in access arrangements.

@Headfirstintothewild thank you so much for the links. I had no idea. I’m so new to this all. But actually the report mentions this body in the recommendations. I will have a read.
I hadn’t realised you didn’t need the diagnosis. Things have come a long way since I was at school! (Thank goodness!)
thank you for your input & knowledge xx

Diagnosis is important for a lot of things such as understanding yourself, but basing support on needs is such a better way because it means support can be given as soon as the needs come to light.

Yes I totally agree. I hadn’t realised that was possible without the diagnosis. it is great news that it is.