Any Experience of Dyslexia Action Centre?

[Davros]

Hi folks, I am probably best known on MN as mum to DS who is 16.5 and has severe ASD. However, now it seems that his 9 year old sister may have Dyslexia so I am looking for somewhere to do testing. We are attracted to DAC as they have a centre fairly local to us and can offer tuition ongoing. Any advice or experience gratefully received.

I have had contact with them and found them to be very good. Also, some students of mine have used them --(slightly older than your DS) and have been positive about their experiences.

Thanks for the feedback. We have booked an assessment with them, so far the experience has been straightforward and pleasant. Not cheap though! The other assessor I had lined up was £625 but it was for 3.5 hours, including discussing findings and with a written report. DAC is for 2 hours at £525 with feedback on the day and a written report so you can see why the difference, but I think that 2 hours is adequate at the moment. I have yet to tell DD's school who must complete a questionnaire.

You can do a lot of what da do at home tbh....earobics , toe by toe , sensory activities.
Tutoring is hugely expensive long term.
Check out the tinsley house support thread.
My ds1 is just 9 and dx as severely dyslexic. 2 terms ago he was2.5 years behind his peers. He is now reading age appropriately and we just need to work on his spelling.
It t house is not for you then the best resources I have used are dancing bears and apples and pears by sound foundations.
Hth

Yes, you need to be very clear about what benefits you expect a £500 report to bring - and do some more research to find out whether it's likely to bring those benefits or not.

After they've sold you the £500 assessment they will then try to sell you weekly tutoring at a very expensive rate.

Some people are very happy with all that (although the silence on this thread has been almost deafening ) but I certainly won't touch DA.

All that £500 buys you is a piece of paper.

I would second what Indigo says about report writing, though, (not just in relation to DA). For some professionals it seems to be a lucrative rather than informative exercise.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, it is all extremely useful. I have got Earobics upstairs so I will go and dig it out and look at the other recommendations. I agree with you Indigo about the lucrative trade in assessments, however I feel that we need the piece of paper to be able to get any support, especially ongoing. Mind you, it may be that she doesn't have Dyslexia at all and is just not very bright in some areas. That is fine but I think we need to know and I do think she needs some extra tuition just to keep up although we will very likely not buy it from DAC. I took her to see my niece's former Dyslexia tutor last week who is very experienced and has two DSs with Dyslexia (which is how she got into it) and she thinks she has some level of Dyslexia. I do feel that we have to do a formal assessment and get the piece of paper as I think we would regret it at some stage if we didn't but maybe the tuition alone would suffice? I don't know because I DO agree with you about what has become the "Special Needs Industry". My niece, who is now 16, has had a reader and scribe as well as extra time and she just wouldn't have got anything without formal evidence.

I got an ep report - it cost dh and I £600 we didn't really have. It dx him as severely dyslexic but it has changed nothing wrt school. He gets no 1-1 and no specialist interventions at all.
He amazing progress over the past year is solely down to private therapies we have paid for.
It's not fair, but that's how it is.
I would rather ds1s dyslexia is sorted out than him rely on very patchy sen provision which he will not have access to in the world of work.
Good luck.

Also I would only recommend earobics if you think she has auditory deficit.
A good (and cheap!) test is an online test called Gibson test - very similar to tests done by eps and the results will show you your DVDs strengths and weaknesses and that may help you decide what interventions tok use.
For an cheap and very effective dyslexia intervention I would really recommend dancing bears and apples and pears by sound foundations. I have tried em all and they are the best.

There's also an iPhone app called dyslexia quest for £1.99 which will give you some clues as to her areas of difficulties.

Ooh, lots of lovely new ideas here, thanks.

I know from previous experience with DS that we will have to do all the real donkeywork but I do think that some form of assessment is advisable so we don't go totally down the wrong path, she may not be dyslexic and I suppose I just want to know so I can target disorder, delay or dimness!!! Sorry, that is not very nice about my gorgeous DD but better to be realistic. There is a private secondary school for dyslexics in London that sounds fab, that might be an option, now I come to think of it, maybe I should contact them and see what they would require for admission when the time comes......

Sorry for the typos - using ds iPad!