some sort of verbal output problem - child says what they try to say doesn't come out right

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

ok please bear with me on this - we thought DD was dyslexic, she can read (learned whole words) but she seriously struggles with new words. she knows her phonics, she can identify them, she can spell out a written word perfectly (if she is reading it I mean) but if she tries to sound it out then it comes out with the letters and sounds all jumbled up. SO I logically assumed that this, coupled with not being able to remember left and right, general disorientation and so on indicated dyslexia, I would have bet money on it but she had a private DST this week and isn't dyslexic.

she has scotopic sensitivity. she says without her coloured glasses some of the words are really really dark and others are almost white (this is the first time she has managed to tell us what she actually sees on a page) and the white board makes her cry because it hurts her eye so we know her glasses help her hugely.

what on earth could explain her problems with sounding a word out like this? she says she can read it more accurately in her head but when she tries to speak it it isn't right. she also is prone to using what I would call 'holding' language so lots of repetition of 'and the' then' and so on whilst she thinks of the words she is trying to say. she says she forgets what she is trying to say but when I questioned her more about it it seems she forgets the words she wants to use.

I am really struggling to work out what it might be or how we can help her. I assume I need to be looking to get some sort of SALT assessment done and I know a private place nearby where we can take her to see if they come up with something but having spent so long barking up the wrong tree I am starting to doubt myself and wonder if she is being awkward or something which I know is wrong but I just don't understand.

anyone any ideas or experience? normally her speech is fluent and clear, she spoke very early (was using mama in context at 5 months and talking in sentences like 'daddy cuddle teddy' at 12 months) so to me that would imply there is no problem, no sign of verbal issues at all but then she has just managed to tell me this and it makes me wonder if it could be some other bit of language development that we need to work on. I can't think of anything else.

thank you

Hi nonickname I'm not sure how old your Dd is but mine is almost 5. She is still young yet but I also have an inkling that something is not as it should be (dyslexia being at the back of my mind), but it's too early to tell TBH due to her just starting out with reading and writing.

I managed to get her assessed by SALT and the assessment picked out that all the sections which involved memory were significantly lower even though she was above average in others. The SALT did point out that this wasn't a speech and language issue but she did say that it may affect all areas of her learning.

My Dd has odd days when she is fluent(ish) with her speech and then other days she is unable to string a sentence together and seems to have to fish for every word. I am pretty sure she 'knows' what she wants to say by how frustrated she becomes, I have also noted that when she is around others she goes extremely shy as though avoiding conversations IYSWIM. She also constantly mixes her letters when having conversations with me e.g Blanket = Blakent but as of yet I am the only one to notice this.

I would go for a SALT assessment and see what is picked up, then go from there.

thank you. I think this is the thing, I KNOW something just isn't quite right but trying to pinpoint it seems very hard. We know her working memory is exceptional (she just had a WISC IQ test because I did wonder if memory was a problem), her score puts her on the 99.7th centile! so that puzzles me more but some little neurological pathway must be faulty or something, I just can't see what her problem is.

I think you are right, I need to sort out speaking to a SALT and see if they can suggest anything.

At the moment other than frustration it isn't really causing a big problem but as with anything the younger they are when you work out a problem the more you can help them.

mixing the letters when talking and not being able to access the right words are on the dyslexia lists of symptoms so you might well be right. I think parents are usually best placed to notice little things like that because we hear them all the time whereas a teacher rarely has them on a one to one basis in a quiet environment.