Thoughts on my DD2 please

[notpodd]

My DD2 has previously been diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia and sensory integration disorder (at 1.8 months) in South Africa. She received intensive speech therapy and neurophysiotherapy. When she was 2.5 we moved back to the UK, after which she only received periodic speech assessments. She was discharged from ST at 4, with an advanced vocab and only minor speech immaturities. She is now 5.5 and has been so fine TBH we thought she had outgrown it or perhaps even been misdiagnosed regarding the dyspraxia.

She is precociously bright, and given to abstract and advanced ideas. She is born on the 4th of Sept, so we had a very long year last year waiting to go to school. During that time I taught her (I am a secondary school teacher) the phonic sounds, a few blends and to sound out 3 letter words (c-v-c). She started reception in Sept, and the teacher was thrilled with the progress she made in the first few months, she was miles ahead of everyone else, and even had to be taken aside to do more advanced maths.

But as time pasted we noticed that her reading fluency is erratic and she seems not to remember words she has read before, even from one page to the next, let along one day to the next. However, we were still stunned when we went to parents evening a few weeks back to be told that the teacher is concerned (and we all know that they don't use that word lightly) and that DD2 had not only made no progress since Christmas, she had gone backwards in some areas. She has apparently been struggling with some quite simple concepts in numeracy and has been passed by a huge number of children in reading/phonics/spelling (I know its not a competition - I mention this to illustrate how her circumstance has changed). Her spelling words are dad and and while other children are already doing rain and along.

The teacher thinks it is just her confidence and she will bounce back shortly. But DH and I are both really edgy about it given her history. Do you think it sounds like it might be more of a learning disability, given her previous history? Would you want an assessment? Am I being a neurotic, over-protective mum?

My gut feeling is that she is not a "normal" thinker, and needs to be taught things in a slightly different way, and that the teacher just doesn't have the time to teach everything in a slightly different manner to my DD. I think I'll continue with all the extra effort we are putting in at home till the end of term and see if there is an improvement at school. If it still doesn't result in improved reading fluency etc I might ask the GP for a referral.

Thanks for your advice.

That is the trouble with school though isn't it not, they really only teach in one way.

A group of children either sitting on the carpet or round a table all listening to the same infomation, some of them absorb it, some of them don't.

School doesn't really suit my Dd3 who had ASD, she finds it difficult to concentrate with people all around her and doesn't absorb verbal information well.

I would just keep doing stuff at home with your Dd, but I would also get on to school and find out what they are going to do to ensure your Dd doesn't go any further back.

Good luck.