ADHD and dyslexia

[TwoLeftSocks]

Does anyone have a DC with both?

DS1 (8) has an ADHD diagnosis, and is very slowly getting there with his reading and writing.

Whenever I look up dyslexic traits, it seems like there are loads of overlaps, e.g. short attention span, difficulty in concentrating, and that DS ticks alot of the boxes. THings like he also still gets letters muddled, struggles with phonic sounds that are more than a single letter (e.g. er, ow, ay), and will sometimes start sounding out a word starting with the second letter in it.

His teacher, who I have alot of respect for, doesn't think he's dyslexic, or at least is not similar to dyslexic children she's taught in the past, and I'm not really sure where to go from here - I fear I may become a bit of a nag if I keep going on about it at school, and fretting over something that's not there.

Anyone else been through this? How do you tell if it's just the ADHD affecting their reading or if it's something more?

I think that dyslexia is a classic co-morbid of ADHD, along with various other specific learning difficulties.

DD has an ADHD diagnosis, and will probably be tested for dyslexia (she is on a waiting list somewhere, but it is not our priority). I do not really think she is dyslexic, but I think it could be a good idea to rule it out (or in).

The SENCO thought she could be, and ran some sort of simple initial test, but then changed her mind. Although DD has (and does) at times displayed all the traits of dyslexia, she has not displayed them consistently. So she is, on a very good day, capable of writing and reading very quickly, fluently, and correctly, without many problems at all. In her case I think the ADHD brings on the traits rather than dyslexia.

I can't see any harm in ruling it out myself. Even if it is not dyslexia, your DS could benefit from specialist suggestions. Lots of people have private dyslexic assessments done where I live, and they often get some useful suggestions and ideas. Or could you ask the SENCO? I am not sure what test the SENCO ran, but maybe yours could do something similar?

Hi Two … my son was dx with both aged 7, but to be honest, the overlaps are many so it can be hard to see where one set of traits stops and the other starts ifgwim … ? As my son get s older I think his ADHD traits are becoming less, but the learning difficulties are more prevalent. He is not very impulsive, but had developed personality traits because of how life has been for him both at school at at home. It is unusual for a child to be dx ADHD and not have a co-morbid, apparently. You may never know if it's the attention difficulties affecting their reading/learning. We had out son privately assessed by an EP to dx his dyslexia and an NHS paediatrician dx the ADHD. His school have supported both dx and he's doing much better now aged 11. I think if you stay on top of each teacher he has and assume he has both, hopefully you have all areas covered, Get the school SENCO involved as teachers arene't experts in this field as SPD traits can present themselves slightly differently in each child .. good luck!