Does my daughter have special needs? How can I find out?

[Hellsbells47]

My daughter is 9. She has shown no improvement in her SAT level for 3 years because she panics in tests. Her SAT level is that of a 6/7 year old but her teachers all say she's bright and these scores don't refelct her ability and classwork. She seems unable to retain and regurgitate, especially under pressure. She is very active and has lots of accidents. People have suggested dyslexia or dyspraxia. Where can I have her privstely assessed? I live in South Manchester.

Ask gp or school nurse for referral to educational psychologist for an assessments

Hellsbells47

Dyslexia is about having problems with a man made communication system the visual notation of speech, or decoding and recoding the graphic symbols society chooses to represent the sounds of speech. So dyslexia is a social construct, and is language dependent.
There are two types of dyslexia. Alexia, acquired dyslexia, which is the result of brain injury, substance abuse, stroke, dementia or a progressive illness. Developmental Dyslexia has a genetic origin, and has three cognitive subtypes ; auditory visual, and attentional. which means that an auditory processing disorder (listening disability) a visual processing disorder, an attention deficit, or nay combination of the three can cause the dyslexic symptom.

In an ideal world dyslexia should be assessed by a multi - discipline team, an audiologist to assess any auditory processing issues, a optometrist to assess any visual processing issues, and a psychiatrist to assess any attention issues, which may be causing the dyslexic symptom. Unfortunately in the UK we are still relying on Educational Psychologists, who are not qualified to assess or diagnose any of the underlying clinical causes of the dyslexic symptom.

You may also like to have a look at the CiteULike Group Reading: Acquiring and Developing the Skills and Abilities library currently 294 articles (research papers).