Dyslexia - assessment report now in - what does it all mean?

[bjkmummy]

Dd is 10 and in year 5. She's in a small primary school in a class of 10 kids. School have finally agreed to do an IEP and out her in school action plus. School felt she was dyslexic and were going to refer her but then backtracked and encouraged us to get our own report. A specialist dyslexia teacher has just started to go in and see her which we are paying for. On a practical level what do these results mean and what should I be doing?

General ability. Verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning - 45th per centile

Working memory - 4th per centile

Processing speed - 16th per centile

Maths - 2nd per centile

Reading - 2nd per centile

Spelling and writing - 7th per centile

Ellison test re phonological awareness - 5th per centile

Gort reading and spelling test -9th per centile for both.

Says she has moderate dyslexia. Is having an IEP in a mainstream school going to be enough? School have been putting extra help in but concede that it's making no difference. I'm not sure how long we will be able to fund the specialist teaching

Does the report not give recommendation as to what ind of help she now needs in the classroom. My EP report for same reason was 20 pages long with a list as long as your arm. The EP should have also spent time with you after the assessment explaining exactly what your asking. Can you call them to discuss? IQ results are expressed either as a percentage or as a percentile rank. Found the following paragraph here: www.dyslexia-at-bay.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=23&Itemid=29 "Percentile rank figures provide a means of making a direct comparison with others in a similar category e.g. other 10 year olds. A score of 87th percentile means you are in the top 13 per cent of the people in that group for that particular test. In other words, in a group of 100 people in the same category, there are 87 people who are not as capable as you are."

As I've said to you before, don't make the mistake I made - moderate does not mean "medium", "not severe" or however you want to name it. Moderate dyslexia means that this actually is a serious problem and "normal" interventions will probably not work. You DD has a major barrier to her educational needs. Most interventions are aimed at "mild" dyslexia and possibly works for "mild" dyslexics. It is probably that the interventions your school currently has in place are for "mild" dyslexia.

As you know, my DS has a Statement and is in indie ss for his severe dyslexia. However, I went through one hell of battle including home eding my son for a year and fighting two Tribunals. My LA does not believe that dyslexia exists - in fact at Tribunal they stated that dyslexia is actually a speech and language problem.

At the start of my battle my DS was "moderate" dyslexic. I have no idea if the lack of appropriate provision turned him from "moderate" to the "severe" that he is today. I suspect that this is the case - each year I delayed/his old school put in the wrong provision made his dyslexia worse.

Personally, if I had my time again, I would do exactly the same as I did - fight for a Statement for my dyslexic child. If you do for your DD, because it's dyslexia, you will have a hard fight on your hands.

As a fellow dyslexic, unsupported dyslexia is horrible. The lack of confidence and self-believe because of unsupported dyslexia stays with your forever. Properly supported dyslexia means the world could be your oyster.

As you know I am the queen of fighting - done it for both of the boys. In a strange way I feel more passionate fighting for my daughter because of what she has to live with having two brothers with asd - she has it hard enough without the problems associated around her dyslexia so a battle for a statement will commence. I agree whole heartedly that the school intervention however well intentioned wont work , her specialist teacher feels we should go for the statement as we have nothing to lose and some of the scores are so low. We had the report done through dyslexia action rather than an independent EP. I kind of regret that now as in comparison to my independent report for my son this report is flimsy to say the least. It dx dyslexia and recommends specialist teaching but no real meat in there. I wil, start the process fr a statement and no doubt will have to have her seen at a later date for an independent EP report.

We are alsomgoingto have the test for auditory processing completed as well. There is also concerns re dyspraxia so will have that looked at as well

My boy's first report was with Dyslexia Action - I agree with what you say, indie EP reports do have more meat - but then my indie EP reports were written because of refusal to assess and then subsequently appeal against Part 2, 3 and 4 so they had to be very meaty.

My original Dyslexia Action report was to see "what was wrong" and should I be concerned. So in that way, it was the correct report. Also, I do think that going to Dyslexia Action first does carry some weight with Tribunals because they're so well known - ie you didn't just jump straight in with an unknown indie EP but went to dyslexia specialists first.

Good luck. I fear you are in for a long hard fight - but you don't need me to tell you that - you've already been there!

Hi. Just wanted to say that my son , like towiela's dc has a statement and has been placed in indie ss. His literacy and numeracy problems have always been deemed "severe" but has average IQ etc. my la won't acknowledge that "dyslexia" exists as there are so many variables on the scale and apparently "if you test one, you have to test all" and they haven't the funds. Basically your child has to prove to fail. Going for the statement has been a hard and stressful battle but it was worth the fight and I would recommend you do the same. X

Hi bjk

I can't help but in the same boat as you with DS1. As you know I have a son DS2 with ASD and have gone through the Statutory Assessment, as you have helped me significantly, as well as others.

Having gone through this process I will do same with dyslexia all the way to tribunal. As far as I can see it is just the system and you have to go through it to get any kind of correct support. What tipped the balance of thinking was the Assessment required not statement as it is often known as statementing process.

Although you have got one Assessment it's better to go through the process to know your DC even better. Conditions may impact on each other.

I would advise anybody now just to go the Statutory Assessment and push it as far as they can even though I don't understand it because we seem to have gotten results. LOL

I hope someone else comes along and explain what you need to know. I haven't even tried to understand it as it's just another language to me!

Going back to your original question, on my sons report the key says:
Centile 2 or below well below average
Centile 4-6 below average
Centile 9-24 low average
And 25-74 average
Not sure if this helps?! X