Dyslexia?

[OneMoreMum]

Quick question - what is the difference between being bad at reading / spelling and being dyslexic - or is that the definition?

DS2 is quite a way behind (yr 6) and school are going to test him for dyslexia because his reading and spelling is pretty bad. They did test him a few years ago and came to the conclusion that he needed to work on his phonics, which he has done but although he has improved he's still behind his peers.

lol dolfrog you assume that you are the only poster who has actually read research - how patronising.
Onemoremum - hope that you get something in place for your son before he moves to secondary school.

OneMoreMum

Dyslexia is about having underlying cognitive issues which cause poor reading, poor spelling.

In research terms spelling comes under Orthographic problems.

The two leading scientific definitions of dyslexia are:
MedlinePlus (MedlinePlus brings together authoritative information from NLM,the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations.)
"Developmental reading disorder, also called dyslexia, is a reading disability resulting from the inability to process graphic symbols."
and
the USA National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
"Dyslexia is a brain-based type of learning disability that specifically impairs a person's ability to read. These individuals typically read at levels significantly lower than expected ...despite having normal intelligence. Although the disorder varies from person to person, common characteristics among people with dyslexia are difficulty with spelling, phonological processing (the manipulation of sounds), and/or rapid visual-verbal responding. In adults, dyslexia usually dyslexia usually occurs after a brain injury or in the context of dementia. It can also be inherited in some families, and recent studies have identified a number of genes that may predispose an individual to developing dyslexia."

childrenofthecornsilk

I am probably one of the few posters who have founded and help to run a UK disability support organsition

and?

childrenofthecornsilk

If you had read the research papers then you would not be disagreeing with me, without being able to provide research based support for your claims

HAHA

Dolfrog! You still don't listen to other people who disagree with you, and this advice does not seem to be helping the OP.

OP: I would contact the following; the BDA and maybe Dyslexia Action, your local parent partnership, and talk to the SENCo at both your sons school now and the secondary he will be at next year. Find out what his reading age is, ideally it should be 11 to access the secondary curriculum. Do not coach him for SATs, as this could make it harder for him to get help next year.

The difference between dyslexia and just bad at reading and spelling, tends to be that the child has a spikey profile in an IQ test, that is they are good at somethings but bad at others. However interventions for dyslexics will usually help those who have problems for other reasons.

Good luck!

So can you provide a list of your international research paper collections to support what you say.

I never claimed to be the only poster to have read a research paper, I am just providing research evidence that supports what i have been saying.

If you have international research papers as evidence which supports what you have been saying then why not provide the links to those research papers so that we can be able to read them.

dolfrog - really - I want to pull my teeth out now. Do you have this effect on other people?

mummytime

I think you need to read the international research regarding dyslexia.

There are 3 cognitive subtypes of dyslexia, auditory, visual, and attentional.

This is not my opinion but international research.

If OP is providing the incorrect advice because it is ignoring international scientific research then some someone should inform OP that they have got it wrong.

Unfortunately the BDA and DyslexiaAction are not the font of all dyslexia information, as they have their own internal agendas to support their funding needs which conflict with the needs of everyday dyslexics.

hildrenofthecornsilk

only when they refuse to read and try to understand international research, and prefer to follow their own mantra for whatever reasons.

So If you can provide a body of international research to disprove what i have said, and to support your case, I very willing to read it.

But you have not taken the time to read the research papers I have provided to support what i have said, so stopping pulling your teeth out, go read some research papers.

Dolfrog I know you of old. I am not about to enter an argument. I have read a lot of research, but the best practical advice is to work with the systems we have now.

BDA local groups in particular can give you access to local information on what are the best services and schools in your area.

mummytime

You have the advantage over me, as I do not know who you are.

You are no doubt aware that I founded APDUKback in 2002, and have been working with the Medical Research Councils Institute of Hearing Research, and other leading UK APD professionals to provide a better scientific based understanding of Auditory Processing Disorder, which is one of the underlying cognitive causes of the dyslexic symptom.

It is estimated that 60% of dyslexics have some degree of APD.

May be you should have a look at Cognitive subtypes of dyslexia.(2008)
and to help understand how we learn to read, the psycholinguistic models of reading are currently best summarised in Aphasia, Alexia, and Oral Reading

It would be nice to known where we have met before, I still only use dolfrog as my internet name it helps with consistancy.

OK this seems to have become some sort of personal argument and I'm more confused than I was before.

Basically:
DS has a reading age 1 1/2 years behind and a spelling age 3 years behind his natural age (10).

He has trouble with maths too, but having worked with him that seems to be because he doesn't read written questions properly.

He is getting frustrated and demoralised at school.

We are:
1 Getting his eyes tested as I think he may have issues reading from the board

2 School are going to re-do the dyslexia screening test

3 Looking for simple advice as to where to go from here

So where do I go now - educational psychologist? where do I find them?

The best thing we did was taking our son to an educational psychologist. The school screening test didn't help in the slightest. In fact, the school insisted on administering it after my son had had the official diagnosis and the screening showed that he was 'slightly at risk' of dyslexia - which was useless information considering we knew he was dyslexic by then.

The Directory of Chartered Psychologists have a directory here.

And / or you could call the BDA helpline here and they will probably be able to give you the contact details of a local educational psychologist.

My health visitor advised us on where to go - is there anyone you can ask, who might know of anywhere local?

It's not cheap. It cost us about £500 to have our son assessed . The assessment took a couple of hours and he found it quite hard-going (though he was only six, poor boy). However, I have used the written assessment over and over again and we are thinking of getting another one done in time for secondary school, so that it is up to date. It was really useful to see exactly what his weak points were and to receive advice about how to help him overcome them. We have also been able to give the assessment to teachers when necessary.

Good idea to get his eyes tested too. My son turned out to have an astigmatism, which cannot be picked up on the school eyesight tests. In his early years at school, he was struggling with poor eyesight and dyslexia, so no wonder he couldn't deal with school.

If your son is dyslexic, it may be a big relief for him to get the diagnosis, especially if you can point out great role models to him of dyslexic people who have been successful (there are loads).

Best of luck .

onemoremum sorry about the diversion on your thread. You can find an independent ed pysch or go to an organisation such as dyslexia action who also offer lessons. (I had my ds assessed by dyslexia action.) If you have a formal dx it is evidence for his next school of his difficulties. Don't count on his present school to pass on all the necessary info - things can get lost. Make sure you send a copy to the SENCO just in case.My ds aslo found the dx a huge relief. If he is dyslexic he would benefit from being taught by a specialist SPLD teacher. Some parents pay privately (again dyslexia action can help with this or you can ask the BDA or PATOSS for a list of names of teachers in your region). You need to find out about the provision at his new school. Some schools have an SPLD teacher on staff and some will pay for one to come in to work with individual pupils but this is often spread very thinly.

If you are anywhere near Oxford or Reading you could try the Dyslexia Research trust, as they do an eye test which will show problems not always picked up by normal eye tests. They will even do this for free, and are a genuine charity (if you can give them money do, they do a lot of work with very poor families).

Regarding maths many pupils with spld type difficulties will also struggle with aspects of maths depending on the nature of their difficulties. A good ed psych will be able to identify this in their report.

An Optician will not look for many vision problems. To get a proper eye test you need to go to a behaviour optometirst (google BABO).

We recently found out that our DDs 'Dyslexia' was largely explained by several underlying vision problems - which had been missed by 2 opticians.

DolFrog - thanks for all the links. They are very interesting, I will try and read them all. Glad to find someone else who is interested in finding out how to help my DD with dyslexia, rather than just recommending better teaching of synthetic phonics...

OP - don't be fooled. A diagnosis of dyslexia is highly unlikely to help your son. No magic doors will open, the school still won't know how to help your son. A dx of dyslexia is worth nothing - the professionals can't even agree on a defn of dyslexia.

Hi OneMoreMum

The problems you outline are information processing problems which need to be diagnosed, and this is not done as part of a dyslexia diagnosis. The Educational Psychologists are not qualified Audiologists or Optometrists. So they are not able to diagnoses either the auditory or visual processing problems that may be causing the dyslexic symptom, they can only tell you that you have a problem with reading writing or spelling. That is the limit of the tests which they are qualified to carry out.

Some children are cognitively not able to use phonics of any sort, and unfortunately neither the BDA nor Dyslexia Action recognise this cognitive disability because it conflicts with their own remedial programs.

If you want a real diagnosis of the real problem then the best bet is GP referral to Great Ormond Street Hospital where they have all the different types of medical professional: Audiologists, Optometrists, Psychologists, Speech and Language Pathologists, etc who on the HNS can provide a full assessment and diagnosis of the issues which are causing the dyslexic symptom.

This way you find out about all of the symptoms not just the dyslexic symptom. Many of these conditions or disabilities have more serious problems than the dyslexic symptom, and having a full understanding of the problems help provide a better understanding of the best types of support and help required.

Unfortunately not all the dyslexia support agencies understand the nature of the real problems that cause the dyslexic issues and they can only sell and provide their own brand of remedies which are not always appropriate because they do not meet the individual dyslexics learning needs.

Hi , my daughter is dyslexic and i have found it impossible to get her the help she needs so am trying to start up a group for parents in the same or similar situations here is my link
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/1139385- Dyslexia-support-group please contact me if you are interested x