Hi, I'm wondering if my son should have an official diagnosis of SLD....
He is diagnosed with:
Ehlers Danlos Syndrome,
Severe Kyphoscoliosis (curvature of the spine),
suspected Fibromyalgia,
Developmental Coxordination Disorder (Dyspraxia),
Severe Phonological Speech Disorder plus traits of Verbal Dyspraxia, slurred speech, weakness in soft palate, tongue etc. nasal speech sounds, quiet voice.
Severe Auditory Processing Disorder.
He has had 10 years of intensive speech therapy and has now been told his speech is "as good as it will get" but it is still poor, strangers don't understand him, I don't even understand everything he says.
There is a strong family history of Dyslexia, my uncle never learnt to read or write, my father was diagnosed as well as my brother plus my daughters have been assessed at college and told they were 'borderline' Dyslexic but the EDS/Hypermobility in their fingers clouded the results. They both use coloured paper/overlays.
All three kids were home-educated until 15/16, both girls went onto college (all three have EDS, Kyphoscoliosis & Fibromyalgia, the girls don't have speech problems).
My son started a special needs unit attached to a mainstream school to get some extra support before moving onto college. He was there for July, off having spinal surgery and then back in October '19.
He is in the SLD class, he has settled in amazingly well and really enjoys going. He has gained much more confidence and has a group of friends through several classes. We are extremely pleased with how smoothly everything has gone. He has decided to stay on there until 19.
Recently he has been telling me he is useless at reading/writing and getting frustrated with being behind his mates.
Now, he IS behind, he only learnt to read from around age 12 (not through lack of trying, daughters were both early readers, but it was impossible for him to use phonics so we used sight reading) but cannot read a book properly although if in context he can manage to understand a magazine type article. He never reads for pleasure.
He hides this well, he can follow an instruction manual by looking at the pictures. He can search YouTube/eBay for an item by typing in a few letters and using predictive text. He can write a paragraph for school using a mixture of copying of the board, copy and paste and a few words of his own. He uses an erasable biro or pencil because he makes frequent mistakes. He cannot make a rhyme to save his life, the only rhyme he has ever managed was B&Q, pee and poo when he was about 7! He has all the same problems with time keeping and organisational skills as my brother. He has masses of knowledge, he just can't get it onto paper...His maths is pretty good but better at mental arithmetic.
In order to be accepted for the school, he needed to have a statement, all his scores are very low. He also has an EHCP.
I am sure he is dyslexic, his speech therapists thought so too and tried several times to refer him to the Educational Psychologist but as he was home-educated they wouldn't accept the referral. I asked for him to be tested during his statementing but was fobbed off.
I've obviously spoken to the school (support staff who is going to speak to his teacher about it).
I was also asked recently by a doctor, and again when he had his PIP assessment if he is diagnosed with a severe learning disorder...I had to say I didn't know which made me feel stupid, I know all about his other diagnoses as they are mostly rare so I need to be able to explain them.
Also, I feel my son would be happier if he had a reason for being behind his peers...I don't want this to hold him back, school wants him to do some mainstream GCSE's but he says he "isn't good enough".
Sorry this is so long but the background is complicated!
All of his difficulties have been put down to his speech disorder and auditory processing disorder until know and he's not been assessed for anything else (except when he was four he had an assessment with OT who said he wasn't Autistic so they couldn't offer any help...)
So, I wanted to know, should he have an official diagnosis of a severe learning disorder or Dyslexia or something else? Or is it okay for his needs to just be acknowledged in his statement?
Thanks for reading 😊