Should we get a formal dyslexic assessment?

[haggisaggis]

Right from starting school dd struggled and quite quickly teh school implemented additional support (daily one to one with TA or teacher, and weekly support from learning support teacher). Teacher and Learning Support both thought she had a specific learning difficulty - propably dyslexia. We wre planning on having her formally assessed during end of P1 (age 5) and let teh school know. I then got a call from teh learning support teacher to say that we sould save our money as dd was definitely dyslexic.
ANd that is hwo we have left it. She continues with support at school and has an IEP (although learning support teacher puts a lot of emphasis on her memorising words which dd finds really difficult rather than a structured phonic approach).
But it always nags at me that maybe she isn't dyslexic - just needs more time. Sometimes she seems very clever - she is extremely perceptive and can carry out very involved conversations about fairly complex subjects with a wide vocabulary - as long as you give her time to process her thoughts first! (and assuming she doesn't forget what she was about to say halfway through the sentence..). AT other times I feel she doesn't understand things very well and maybe isn't as intelligent as I think. (She can't count backwards from 20 for instance). Would a formal assessment help or would it not achieve anything new?

Bumping before it falls off the end of Active Cons.

Bumping again. Guess this is only of interest to me.

Going to have one last shot at bumping this..

Hi

I don't have any advice really. This board is not particularly busy but I just wanted to suggest you post on the primary education board because there are quite a few teachers who hang out there.

Hi
Both of my children have dyslexia and dyscalcula (dyslexia with numbers) and they both require additional support in school.

My understanding is that children can be formally assessed for dyslexia at the age of 6 years. It is so important that these difficulties / learning differences are identified early and appropriate support put in place. With the right support dyslexic children can achieve their potential.

I am well impressed that the school have identified that she may have dyslexia difficulties and have an IEP in place already. Even if she is just a late developer - appropriate additional support can only be a bonus.

I am guessing that your Dd has not been formally assessed yet because of her young age. It is worth asking the school what their plan is - have they involved the educational psychologist already, are they planning to involve the SpLD team (Specific learning difficulties team) if not can they do this for you.

The advantage of a independent educational psychologist assessment (we went to dyslexia action) is that they assessed our childrens literacy and maths, and were more specific as to what type of support is required. Then at least you know what their learning style is and how to support them best.

Parent Partnership / SNAP(Wales) and IPSEA are worth contacting for SEN advice /support.
Good luck

A full EP assessment would measure your daughter's abilities in a range of areas, from logical thinking to information processing and short-term memory - which it sounds like she has difficulties in. It can also check if there is a significant gap between her attainment and potential. An Ed Psych would also be able to recommend strategies that are tailored to your daughter's needs. So I'd say that it's worth getting more detailed information, from an independent EP if you can afford it. As she gets older, it would be worthwhile to have formal evidence of dyslexia, eg for exam purposes, though it would have to be recent. You could ask the school if they can do a referral to the LA EP, although there tends to be a long waiting list and the recommendations are often restricted due to cost.

THanks - I'd forgotten I posted this. We had an IEP meeting at school today and I brought up formal testing. Back when she was in P1 (aged 5) they were not too keen but now the learning support teacher is quite happy for us to have her formally assessed - but due to budget constraints I think we will have to arrange privately or wait a very long time for the EP to arrange.
Talking it over with teh learning support teacher she certainly ticks a lot of boxes for dyslexia - but I think having a formal assessment will be best for us all.

am also experiecing problems with S. Has been having support IEP since rec class . now in y3 and still has not been assessed fully.had reveiw meeting this week and discusseed concerns regarding reading & writing. S is reluctantant to do either unless it relates to some little note he wants to give out. His difficulties with listening and concentration have been evident for 3 years but school expect them to sit still and pay attention rather than engaging in any hands on stuff, which hes very good at. Head has suggested that As he doesnt listen very well IM in need of PARENTING SKILLS in order to meter out punishments more effectively. Child is no problem at home and is a happy little soul but is getting depressed about going to school where hes singled out for minor misdemeanors. The effect on his self esteem is very worrying and Im not leaving anything to chance. Dont believe the head has any real concern for his welfare. only interested in accolades for kids that write poems and so forth. Am going to vote with my feet and find somewhere with a different ethos. and then tell the sanctimonious old trout exactly why. dont see why I should pay taxes to keep old witch in post.

I had very similar problem with my dd in yr 3. The head was useless so I did my research and found a better local primary school. The head there was entirely different and took on my dd. They observed dd and put in very helpful measures. My dd went up 6 sat sub levels in a year! Turns out dd has dyscalculia and the lowering of self esteem had impacted on literacy. DD never going to be a great academic but now has strategies in place to help. Also school picked on other abilities to allow dd to shine in other ways. Do not put up with being fobbed off. You know your child.

am thinking of sending to small school 43 on roll mixed age class. any thoughts?

swapping schools. case for and against similar size/facilities or small church school (3 classes) gotta decide tomorrow. Any comments welcome.

We did, last September, from one small church school (3 clasees) to another, and for us as parents it was the very best thing we could have done. We are now listened to, supported and most importantly our DS (8) is getting the support and understanding he needed - however despite this his problems have escalated, although we would not put any of that down to issues with the school. With his possible AS and sensory difficulties size and calmness of class is important. However, it does depend on the school of course and most importantly what their experience of and commitment to SEN is. Larger school more likely to have a specific parent liaison person and suchlike.
All that said I have not met one person who has not found a change of school to be a positive step. It is very scary (at least I found it so), but if thought through carefully can make so much difference to everything. Good luck whatever you decide!

thanks Ampersand. pros and cons to both larger school is similar to what hes used to but ive not been in yet. have B & ASC and clubs aside very popular and oversubscribed. Other is tiny but he would probably feel very secure there and not be under any pressure to keep up. Just dont know what to ask. are they likeky toturn down a child who needs additional support or what?

my daughter is just going thru assesments at school. i have said all along she has dyslexia but we have not been able to go thru the tests until she is 8, now nearly nine. a big sigh of relief they are assessing her but fingers crossed they do find something. am so worried they come back and say niothing wrong. she reads nubers back to front,13 as 31 and mixes her letters d to b and p and9 so to me it is obvious and getting worse. she wrote a word totally back to fornt \and cpould not see it wasnt the same as mine. it worse when tired i must admit. she is a bright loving caring child and is one in a million as i get one tantrum about every 3 months. couldnt ask for more lol.
i find it hard to understand why us parents are not listened to as she could have been diagnosed three years ago, and it is in the family.asthma exzcma was looked out for as it is in the family so why not learning probs rtoo

Same here angel why do they not listen. DS writes his sums from right to left. , d,b,p,9,3 and s all written back to front. Hopeless when tired. Head things its my (Lack of parenting skills) to blame for homework not being done. Truth is after a full day of struggling at school hes in no mood to tackle more work. He goes to cubs etc just to switch off a bit and hes tired. has now agreed to have him retested after i asked for SEN policy. Was told usually need 20 days notice for this. wtf ! has made up her own mind that hes getting no support at home. not one fecking clue. anyone else had similar?

wow mummiedearest your story sounds so familuar excepy my dd loves doing work at home. yes she is tired but she brings me her work and if i say no to doing it she kicks off. she is such a eager beaver and bright she just cant get it down on paper. i have warched her closely over the holiday and its so obvious she has dyskexia. makes me mad

haggis if you are still around then I really would try and get your dd support outside of school. It's great that your dd's school have recognised she is struggling, but it doesn't sound like the 'support' she is getting is in any way helpful. Trying to get dyslexic children to overcome their problems with reading by learning words by heart really really doesn't help. It's just not possible to learn the English language by heart, and given that children with dyslexia often have memory problems too I think is an approach doomed to fail, and likely to lead to your dd getting very dispirited.

We had ds assessed by Dyslexia Action even though I was fairly sure he was dyslexic (it runs very strongly in our family) and it was really useful to find out exactly where he has difficulties, and to confirm that he is, as we though from his verbal skills, highly intelligent. However what really helped was sending him to a tutor specialising in synthetic phonics (on the recommendation of maverick, a MN poster). Once he realised that there was a logic to reading his skill and confidence improved enormously and although he still undoubtedly has problems (his writing is truly terrible) he now reads for pleasure and performs excellently at reading tests too.

The only issue with testing is that it's not usually done before the age of seven or so I think, but you could go down supporting her with phonics as even if she isn't dyslexic (and it does seem likely from your description) it's the best way to learn to read.

Oh, and don't assume that once your child has a diagnosis it will make any difference at school. When we got ds's assessment through we got a letter from the SENCO saying that he hadn't fallen behind enough to qualify for any additional assistance. The fact that he should have been at the top of the class given his intelligence didn't seem to matter. Ironically he went on getting help for "his social and behavioral issues", which the EP thought were probably at least part;y related to his frustration with his memory and reading/writing problems. I think there was just more money in that pot.

im strill going to move DS to another school as the head has clearly made an innaccurate judgement on DS, based on her opinion of myself. I AM SO ANGRY. but the question is this. Head has agreed to assessment as both class teacher and I have asked for it. She is clearly adamant that the school have followed SEN policy( despite the fact that a)This was never offered to me despite DS having an IEP for 3 yrs ! and b) I dinnt even know who the SENCO was (herself). Now dont get me wrong but if you want to improve Home/ school partnership it seems a funny way to go about it. Im wondering what will happen once he has had the assessment and he has moved. does the funding for support follow to the next school or what Tbh I feel pretty crap about not being totally honest with his class teacher who is on the level and doing the right thing. I have no intention at this stage of informing the head of my intention to move DS as this may influence the assessment process. Rather get the impession that they are ticking boxes and covering backs, in order to excuse lasitude of the last 3 yesrs. BTW my sis, who works for the LEA is absolutety horrified by this 'going through the motions policy' apparentl it contravenes the Code of Practice and C.A.F. Talking to parents today it seems this is all too familiar.

Sorry if this boooriing but im so frustrated. sorry folks!

"Oh, and don't assume that once your child has a diagnosis it will make any difference at school. When we got ds's assessment through we got a letter from the SENCO saying that he hadn't fallen behind enough to qualify for any additional assistance. The fact that he should have been at the top of the class given his intelligence didn't seem to matter"

Nooka - exactly the same problem for my dyslexic daughter. On 97th percentile for cognitive ability but at the bottom of the class in literacy - however 'not sufficiently behind' to have any additional assistance. I pay for a tutor one hour per week but wish the school was doing something to compliment this

Hi there, my name is Lucy and I'm new to this forum. I formally assess children for dyslexia and other literacy/numeracy difficulties. I just wanted to reassure you parents out there that there is a way round getting a diagnosis without having to wait for the school to do something! I am more than happy to discuss your concerns. Please take a look at my website: www.bright-star.org. Many thanks, Lucy

Lucy are you an Ed Pysch?

Doesn't look like it from the website, a teacher with specialist post grad courses. The site also doesn't specify anything about working with schools. Is this an ad for assessment and related tuition services and have you paid MN to advertise, Lucy ?

I agree, schools have a basic test, they tell you the result, you are left reeling with it all, no idea what to do next, everything outside school costs a friggin fortune, so again if you have the £ your are sorted if you don't tough shit.

It pisses me off.

If you are badly behaved and disruptive in class you get a shitload of 'care' but if you are dyslexic you get nout!

We had an ed pysch with our dd, after waiting for 2 years for school to get round to it. As Sugarmountain said its not just dyslexia that it covers. The main thing for us that came out of it was the dramatic impact her ld has had on her self esteem. I would def recommend having one done, as its an indpendent viewpoint and something to arm yourself with when you go into school. It comes with a detailed action plan of the best way forwards. It wasn't cheap but worth every penny. There is a web site that lists approved ed pyschs worth having a look there