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Advice about possible dyslexia and BPVS score

2 replies

Smoodle · 14/05/2015 14:18

Am after some advice about my DS who is 6 and in Y2 (summer birthday). He is a lovely, bouncy, bright, loving little boy. He loves anything fact related, especially science and his depth of understanding about some really complex stuff is amazing. However, his reading and writing are not great at all. He failed the Y1 phonics test, his teacher thinks he will do better this time but most likely fail again which is worrying given that he has had regular phonics interventions throughout the year. He is slowly making progress in reading, and on blue level books which I know is behind where he "should be" at this stage of Y2. Writing and spelling are a particular problem. His handwriting is pretty bad, loads of crossings out, letters badly formed, spacing odd, purely phonetic spellings (he simply can't seem to remember sight words), and he uses every avoidance tactic in the book not to have to do it. He is on the SEN register with an IEP btw.

We are concerned that he may be dyslexic. The mismatch between his verbal ability and performance in literacy is the thing that worries us. We are lucky to have a fantastic dyslexia centre close to us and are setting up an assessment privately. His school have completed their part of the form. On it, they detail the results of a "BPVS" test that was run on him. It gave a score of 124 (I believe 85-115 is "normal") which was in the 94th %ile. To me, this reinforces my view that he is bright and able verbally but has specific issues with literacy, and so makes me even more convinced that there is something affecting his learning. When I look on the net however, it tends to show that dyslexic children have lower BPVS scores? Would anyone be able to help me understand this? Am I interpreting it right?

Thanks

OP posts:
Butterby · 14/05/2015 19:34

The BPVS measures receptive language. Your son has a score well above average. That with his current academic profile and phonic difficulties indicates he could have dyslexia. So your view is right.

I am not sure why things you have read indicate a lower BPVS score with dyslexia. I've not come across that.

senvet · 15/05/2015 00:48

Sounds like you are doing all the right things.

A bright child with a tough time writing and reading - that is my ds to a tee.

He is diagnosed dyslexic and dyspraxic. Dyslexia was diagnosed by an Ed Psych and dyspraxia by an OT.

Touch typing helped massively with both. In the mean time, if he had a story he wanted to write, or homework to do, I could write it for him.

The writing process was so distracting for him that he could not write and think at the same time, so it was think-write, think-write. Even then, the problems with writing would make him lose his chain of thought.

He is now at university and being advised to use Dragon Dictate to optimise his university time. His reading is OK, but they would give him "text-to-voice" software if he needed it.

So your dc has nothing that need stop him having a happy life and, with you helping to keep the schools in line, a successful school career.

Good Luck

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