Dyslexia assessment - educational psychologist or specialist dyslexia teacher

[EO2022]

My 10 year old has been having 11+ tutoring for a term with a very experienced specialist primary teacher with 40 years experience. She told us today that despite being very bright he has a slow processing speed and that she is very confident he has dyslexia. I have dyslexia as do my three sisters and my husbands's sister. We don't have a huge amount of spare cash and so ideally we wouldn't spend a fortune on getting him diagnosed. But he has been on a waiting list for two years for an ADHD assessment with CAMHS and I'm wondering if it is a possible processing issue, would be better seen by an EP rather than a specialist dyslexia teacher. During his initial ADHD assessment by CAMHS they also noticed some possible ASD symptoms and so the school has now referred him for that too. He was also assessed at 3 for sensory processing disorder /autism by the local CAMHS after concerns raised by his very experienced childminder. They were in two minds about whether he was but then the symptoms lessened and so they said to keep an eye on it. But then COVID happened and the rest is history. He is doing well at school. He was working beyond the expected level in writing and reading in year 4 and is almost working beyond for maths too. However the teacher says he makes silly mistakes with knowing what questions are asking for ie in one case he multiplied rather than divided. Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks

Personally, I would go for a comprehensive EP assessment.

If there is any possibility you may use it for the purpose of an EHCNA request/EHCP, you should make sure the person has SENDIST experience.

Does your son get any ‘extra time’ in test situations in school?

We went to a Dyslexia Assessor (£400 - Yorkshire) within days of a teacher raising whether my son had been tested and were advised his dyslexia was quite severe. School put the arrangements in place straight away ie the extra 25% time. The report itself took a few months to reach us.

When we registered for the 11 plus exams, a copy of the report was sent to the schools, but they also wanted our current school to confirm he was already being given 25% for school related tests. They were more interested in that

The Dyslexia Report was great - totally changed how I approached homework with him and how I helped him retain info and spellings.

I found this link the other day and it’s very useful - explains how academically strong dyslexics may typically present:-

https://canterburydyslexiacentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dyslexic-Pupils-at-Grammar-Schools1.pdf

(My son achieved a very good ranking in his 11 plus exams and he has a very spike-y profile)

but they also wanted our current school to confirm he was already being given 25% for school related tests. They were more interested in that

This will have been because access arrangements have to be the child’s normal way of working/normal classroom practice for things like GCSEs and KS2 SATs and many apply the same for 11+.

The primary school could have given DS extra time without an outside assessment.

Oh this is so interesting OneOliveEagle..no be doesn't get extra time as school say that according to the brief screening they did they didn't see any issues with his reading or writing. Is there anything that you have done that has really helped your son with his learning or otherwise? Thanks so much