add/dyslexia

[angel2001]

i have been fighting for 4 years saying my dd (8) has dyslexia and poss add. i have been fobbed of all this time and even in oct 09 my last attempt i was told that i am being a over anxious mum. becuase i have mentall illness (bpd) then i am over reacting. the school pulled me too last week and the have decided that my dd actually could have these disorders. she is a very bright girl just doesnt concentrate well, very figity in class and writes b,d,p,9,r all back to front or wrong letters, b instead of d etc. she copied the words ice skating the other day off a list of mine and all letters were back to front and she could not see it at all. i have a meeting with the sen teacher in two weeks. dont know what to expect. anyone been thru the same sort of thing or can offer any advice please. i know she has it and it is worse when she is tired. she can read very well but if small words like day she will read bay instead. i am soo fed up with it and i want her to go far in life cus she is a loving bright caring child. we have been told she is a delight to be with, they figth over her at school and places like her shoe shop where she has attended she she was 10mths old.

please can someone offer advice thx very gratefull for your time

I have a son who has DCD, this means he has dyspraxia and ADD, he also has low muscle tone, slightly different from you daughter but my story is similar.

I knew from early days my son had something wrong, he screamed constantly, never walked till well over 18 months etc etc By nursery i thought it was obvious, he was really struggling with all things, especially art work etc. I pleaded they kept him out of school for a year but it was refused.

he went to school and was always behind, couldn't write or read, bad at sports, poor attention, what actually hindered my sons diagnosis was that he had no behavioural problems just like your daughter everyone likes him and he is very well behaved,
anyway after fighting with the school for 2 years I eventually moved school

as soon as he walked through the door, tests were run, OT and LT were called in and a diagnosis was made within 6 months.

He is 10 and does all his written work on a lap top, he gets LT and OT regularly.

So keep going, don't give up, there is people who will help you but I am afraid you have to fight to see them

My son is doing great, he is a little behind his peers due to the time spent trying to teach him to write and read. but he is making progress and has a bright future ahead.

If you need to go into school everyday do it, do not worry about harassing people as some people need to be harassed and take all the help they offer,

there are so many kids like this and it is so well recognised that it should not hinder your daughter in any way

My son has dyslexia and we found out when he was 7. The teachers at school refused to test him as they said he was wrong, it didn't help that he was the oldest in the school year so his reading age was not seen to be as low as it really was compared to the average age in the class (if that makes sense).

We were lucky enough to find and pay for an private Educational Phychologist who assessed him. I simply asked the GP to recommend one.

Once he was diagnosed (as well as a rather high IQ) the school had to believe it. He didn't get a huge amount of help at school but did get extra time in exams and so on.

He's now 21, at a redbrick Uni and on track to get a First in engineering. Still not good at spelling and a slow reading speed but he works mega hard and we are v proud of him. If he has written stuff he emails it to me and I check it thru.

She will be fine with a Mum who cares.

thanks its nce to here the positives out there/ my uncle has dyslexia but he own three buisnesses in the uk and live in thialand. so i know it is possible for her to have a great future. its just at the moment fighting for the tests extra is really annoying. i am trying sdo hard. oh well lets see what happens when she gets back to school and fingers crossed they can do something.

Once you get a diagnosis, you will realise it's just a diagnosis, but it helps hugely in giving extra time in exams. My 8 yr old son is dyslexic and the best part of the diagnosis, is that we can assure him he's very bright and it's just that his brain finds it difficult to spell. Appalling spelling and always will do I think. He read late, but now devours books, finds copying almost impossible but he works really really hard and I think he'll do better than most. Dyslexic kids have to work so hard to overcome difficulties at at school that they tend to achieve more than most as they get used to working, and don't take it easy. I think your kid will be just fine!!

Once you get a diagnosis, you will realise it's just a diagnosis, but it helps hugely in giving extra time in exams. My 8 yr old son is dyslexic and the best part of the diagnosis, is that we can assure him he's very bright and it's just that his brain finds it difficult to spell. Appalling spelling and always will do I think. He read late, but now devours books, finds copying almost impossible but he works really really hard and I think he'll do better than most. Dyslexic kids have to work so hard to overcome difficulties at at school that they tend to achieve more than most as they get used to working, and don't take it easy. I think your kid will be just fine!!

thanks pennyqss. she is a very bright well liked caring child and i am very proud of her. she can read if i cover the other lines up as she says they move down the page. copying or writig she finds difficult. she wants to be a teacher when she is older and this career has been with her for 3 years so i think she def wants to acheiev that and i relly hope she gets that far. wil let you know the out come. just been to a optition that deal with dyslexia so hopefully coloured sheets or a change in gflasses will help thank you all

Have you been in contact with Parent Partnership, the School/LEA will give you their contact details if you dont already have them. They will help you through the SEN process, they are able to attend meetings with you and the school, which may take some of the pressure off you and they do takes minutes of what was agreed. IPSEA independent panel of special educational needs advisors (free) have a web site, telephone advisior, template letters etc are truely brilliant so it is worth contacting them for advice.

Have you had a look at the British Dyslexia Web site? They have a dyslexia friendly school pack - which gives advice about how to support a dyslexic child in primary and secondary school.

The school can refer with your consent to the LEA visual impairment service - who will assess for Irlens syndrome - see if colour overlays / using colour printed paper etc will make reading easier.

It is worth looking up auditory processing disorder - common in dyslexic children. See if it ticks any boxes with your child. The GP can refer onto the child hearing impairment clinic for further advice and support. Our DS hearing test was fine, but the problem was in the class room, common noises ie doors opening, children moving around caused him to be easily distracted and he would them forget what he was doing. To cut a long story short - he now has a hearing aid to cut down back ground noises and the teacher has a microphone - so wherever she is in the class, when she needs to talk to the whole class it comes over as if she was just next to ds. It made a big difference.

The school can request an educational psychologist assessment. We went for a priviate assessment at Dyslexia Action - they have sites all over the UK, the private assessment give us very clear details of where our child learning style, how they learnt best, where their weaknesses were and how theses should be supported.

It is a very difficult and stressful process trying to support a child and ensure that their needs are being appropriately met. In our experience some schools are brilliant whilst other schools seem clueless. Having the extra support from IPSEA / parent partnership (would use both) made the whole process more manageable.

Good luck

I had the same problem when my daughter first went to school I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall. It took 3 years for them to admitt that she was dyslexic. I took her to the British Dyslexia Association for an assessment, they were great and gave me a very comprehensive report. My daughter was severly dyslexic and with hindsight (see is 21 now) I wish I had pushed for a statement but things were different then and so was I. What I am trying to say is, you as her mother know her best. Keep pushing help is available but you have to find what works best for your child. I put my daughter into drama lessons which helped build up her confidence and helped her with learning things by memory, when she came home with scripts to learn I used to type them out again for her using Comic Sans Script (A good one for dyslexics) and use coloured paper, this helps to stop that moving around the page that your daughter mentioned.
Keep going

Also - for all worried parents look at www.learn-writecentre.co.uk Mrs Heather is the most amazing person. Just look at the case studies she has on her site. Downside is that there is a 2 yr waiting list. Upside is that it's worth the wait, but don't wait to put your name down. If you change you mind nearer the time, then so be it, don't use your appointment, but if you need it in two years, then you'll regret now having the name down. My son used her and it's changed his school life. Changed his handwriting, so it's now legible and all in ONE session for 6 hrs which he LOVED?!?!?! His teacher thanked me for sending him there and said that if he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't have believed it. Worth every penny!

well been to have dd eyes tested today then onto someone to help with colour sheet. feel very disgusted that they can get away with chargin 24 for the first test and to find out what colour helps dd, then we take the sheet away for 6 weeks. if the colour suits dd then she can have lenses put in her glasses for 90. it is all private asd they dont do it on nhs. this is for a child i believe there should be help out there finacially for this kind of stuff. i cant really afford it all btu going to have to find the maoney someho as of course dont want dd to suffer

Angel My DS2 was assessed this time last year at school and it was found that using a blue overlay helped. We used the overlay when he was reading which helped a lot (the words were moving off the page without it) but he was still struggling with his work and he wasnt always encouraged to use the overlats in class.

In December we took him to an Irlen specialist to have him assesssed for lenses. They arrived on Christmas Eve, and I have to say, it was the best present he could have recieved.

He has worn his coloured glasses for school for a whole term now and his school work has improved dramaticly. His teacher, who was very sceptical cant believe how much difference his tinted lenses make. His reading and writing has improved and he has better consentration.

When he first got the glasses, he would sometimes forget them, and his teacher said she could see a big difference on these days, and even the structure of his work was not as good.

We get no finantial help with the cost and he should be reassessed every 12 months to make sure he has the right colour so I am putting a little bit away each week to make sure DS has his lenses.

By the way I was charged £165 for the assessment which lasted all day and then £90 for the tinting of his lenses.