dyslexia testing - how?

[ThatVikRinA22]

I should know this but i dont - i have an adult son who went through school without it being diagnosed - college did the LADS test then he went on to have a proper assessment, and was diagnosed with it at 16, however it is DD that i am concerned about now and she is 14.

I have mentioned it to school before but they brushed it off - but i really do think the more i speak to her that she could be dyslexic.

She was in floods of tears last night because she feels stupid, she says that when she reads it makes no sense to her, and that she can see words better when they are on coloured paper than on white paper. This rings massive alarm bells for me, and knowing that her brother has the condition for definite makes me wonder if she has some degree of it too.

How do i get her assessed? She is 14 and is now starting to really struggle at school, yet she is bright and capable, she is very confused and very unhappy.

what do i do knowing the school were reluctant to believe me when i mentioned it before?

They do not know that DS has it - he was tested after he left them, but he has other conditions which could have masked it - that said - within 6 weeks of starting college he was tested with them.

any advice would be massively appreciated. thanks.

I am not in UK so what I have to say may be completely irrelevant but we have recently had assessment done on my son for learning disabilities including dyslexia. In NZ it is recommended that a behavioural optometrist is the first port of call and this is the person who may be able to discern if your daughter would benefit from coloured overlays for reading or even coloured glasses. From there an organisation specialising in the diagnosis of learning disabilities needs to be contacted. We actually ended up getting that assessment before the beh. op as there is a huge waiting list as we are in CHCH and one of our leading beh. op's was killed in the earthquake. Here we used an organisation called SPELD but I think you should be able to find a UK equivalent. SPELD give children a battery of tests called the Woodcock Johnson III but other assessment tools may be used such as the WISC. Here the school needed no involvement and I only informed them of the assessment after the fact and upon recieving the results.

An EP is the only person who can dx dyslexia.

If you ring DyslexiaAction they'll give you the names of some.....

A dyslexia specialist teacher with the appropriate qualifications can diagnose it and IMHE will give you a more informative report.

You could ask the SENCO to refer, but it is likely that their budget is tight and you may have to fight for it or go private

Start by speaking to the SENCO. Ours said they wouldn't refer, so we had to go through the GP (we had some other concerns too).

You could also try the Dyslexia Research Trust who are based in Reading. The do assessments and also have tinted glasses for your child to try.

DS1 has Meares Irlen syndrome AKA visual stress. 60% of dyslexics have the syndrome and having the syndrome therefore does not mean you have dyslexia. that's how that was explained to me anyhow. He has coloured paper now. The choice of overlay colour is absolutely down to the individual. try and get to see a behavioural optometrist, or advanced orthoptist. we live in Manchester and have to travel to Warrington, and had to be referred by the GP following the advice of an NHS optician. at least then you can get that diagnosis confirmed. there may be other things too, such as visual tracking difficulties where they cannot span the words on a page from left to right. DS1 has just been doing exercises on this for 3 months and big improvements have been made. Good luck.

hi again

DD has done some tests at school today and has just given me a letter which indicates that the tests indicate that she is indeed dyslexic.

i have suspected it for a while tbh.

so - ive just tried to phone school and of course they have all buggered off as its half term now -

would i be advised to get her diagnosed formally or would the school be able to adapt for her - would she get extra time in exams and such like without a formal dx?

cheers.

You don't get extra time in exams because of dyslexia.

The SENCO should be able to administer the tests necessary to prove that she should get extra time in exams.

It's up to you whether you get a formal dx or not. Some people spend £400 on an EP and say it was money very well spent - some find it was a total waste of money.

Depends what your expectations of an EP report are, and how much you and school are already aware of her difficulties.

this is the same school which my DS went through with out ever having his dyslexia recognised - it was spotted within 6 weeks of him starting college - he did however have other SEN.

DD is now almost 15. I have been saying for some time that i suspected something similar as she suddenly had a massive drop in confidence and he grades have plummeted - she also announces to me on a regular basis that she is 'thick' which she is far from.

it has take a while to get the school to acknowledge her difficulties as she is still muddling along with average grades.

they have however just dumped this on me today with no phone call or anything other than a letter, unsigned, and from no one in particular, stating that she tested positive for dyslexia.
helpful.
DS was dx at college and they were much more forthcoming with help.

If you think school, and DD, don't realise that she is clever - then it may well be worth spending £400 to get an EP to say so.

The EP report however will probably help very little with her dyslexia.

this is a bit odd for me as DS has Aspergers and dyspraxia aswell as dyslexia. His dx was all NHS and school helped where they could without a statement.

DD has lost all confidence in her own abilities. Ive no idea how to fix that.

Exactly - school helped - the EP didn't.

School don't need an EP to tell them your DD has dyslexia. They already think she does.

The EP report probably isn't going to tell them anything they don't already know.

It isn't going to recommend any strategies they haven't already had recommended a hundred times for dyslexic children from other EP reports.

But ask school what they think. If you can afford an EP report, and school would like one, then you can get one if you want to.

been there done that and bought the t shirt with DS.

all im interested in for DD is that she is supported now - her confidence has taken such a huge knock - and the school didnt do anything until i asked them to.

they are not great at going above and beyond the call of duty. I wore myself out fighting for DS - ended up going to tribunal - long story.

very much aware that DD only has 1 year left at school and dont want to get embroiled in a fight - just want to get her the best results possible

hi again - resurrection bumping but i need a bit of advice,

so they tested her last day of term and she showed a positive result for dyslexia - ive phone school back today and asked to speak with the person who tested her and also enquired who the SENCO is.

given that she is in yr 10 now, in the midst already of GCSE, i am thinking a meeting is not out of order to ask for....??

yesterday she told me that she felt that because she started in Yr 8 in the top sets for everything, and now, in Yr 10 she has fallen through set after set, she said she has felt "thick" for a long time and has just about given up of any hope of getting to college....

im so sad that this has happened and i want to make sure that she is adequately supported - one to the things ive noticed during her GCSE revision is that she has all the information in her head but she cant get it out and on paper in any logical order.....

what should i do now? please help!