What is the best way to get an assess... - The Dyslexia Comm...
What is the best way to get an assessment for my son?
hi it could depend on how old your child is and that type of assessment you are looking for. if you look on dyslexia actions website you can find details of a local centre and contact them for advice. you might find it helpful to go in and talk through your concerns with a member of staff
Lists of independent specialist assessors/tutors are also available by e-mailing the BDA asking for a list of thosein your area or looking at the list on the Patoss website patoss-dyslexia.org/.
Having a dyslexic son aged 8 myself it has been a massive learning curve. You need to inform the school (if school age) and speak to the SENCO to see if there is funding to get your son assessed by an Educational Psychologist. If no funding you will have to pay privately and the E P we used charged us £100 for a report. If your child is struggling and in primary school he could be placed on School Action and have an indvidual education plan and keep in touch with his teacher on a regular basis. Look for BDA PATOSS teachers who offer after school lessons too we use one and pay £15 for half an hour. Unfortunately till you have an assessment done in my experience dyslexia is not taken seriously at school. Good luck
Hi I have an eight year old son who is dyslexic. His school couldn t recognise that he had a problem. As parents we could see that things weren t right. After a lot of consultations with the school I rang the education department of the county council and asked if there was anybody there that could help us. They had a dyslexic advisory teacher that came out to the school to assess our son three months later. She confirmed to us that he was dyslexic. He was put on school action and she advised the school Senco that he should have help with her twice a week. This didn t happen on a regular basis and he was then put on school action plus. The situation got worse and we were advised by the dyslexic advisory teacher to move schools. This was a massive desicion to make as he didn t want to leave his friends. Since the move he has come on leaps and bounds and we are very proud of him. I would advise you to ring the education department and ask for help.
Many thanks for all of you advice, my son will be 6 in may-until now school has told me that they won't assess them generally until they are 7
He is behind with reading and writing-so many of the frequent examples about reading a word and then not being able to re-read the same word etc is so very true of him as are many other examples. He hasn't really progressed on the books at school, they say they are monitoring him at the moment so see if may need extra help.
In phonics he is doing a simpler version than the rest of the class, he is so intelligent and asks lots of questions about life and "hands on" he is very good.
There is dyslexia in our family, my brother wasn't diagnosed until late in primary school, after my mother moved him due to being unhappy with his progress, in which the new school had the ball rolling within 2 weeks of him starting.
My main concern is that he will get too far behind, making school life difficult throughout (or more difficult than needs to be)
I have today requested a meeting with his teacher and the senco for the school, but so far have felt they want to wait, this being similar to speech therapy when he was younger (2 and barely saying a word), when they assessed him every few months but no action until the summer before school, when although he improved it was very intense!
He is still very young. What you need to work on is his slef-esteem. He will be feeling lots of frustration at school because they will be making him sit still, use electronic whiteboards, write do number work etc. The wrong approach. It's exactly what happened to my son. It's heart-breaking, I know. Try to make home-life stress free, and do active fun things with him. Do not make him do frustrating school stuff he gets enough of that at home. Don't worry if he falls behind - he has a different way of processing learning. He is learning lots of things. Work on his self esteem. And keep a close eye out for bullies. I moved my son away from London in the end. We visited a Rudolf Steiner school and we all loved it. He's been there ever since. He is thriving. That's how we coped with a mainstream system that doesn't cater for children like ours. I am dyslexic too. I am also a Special Needs Teacher and Dyslexia specialist. Self- esteem would be my priority at his young age.
Hope this helps. I know it's hard but you are doing all the right things - fight on!
It is extremely important to always speak with your child's school first if you have any concerns.
Here is a step-by-step guide on getting help for your child:
1.Write a list of your concerns and the reasons why you feel your child may be dyslexic.
2.Then speak to your child's class teacher or head of year about your concerns.
3.Make an appointment with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) at your child's school.
4.If your school does not have a teacher specially trained in dyslexia you can contact your local Dyslexia Action centre for advice.
5.Arrange to have an assessment by an educational psychologist at Dyslexia Action or at the Local Education Authority (LEA) if possible.
6.Discuss the assessment report with the school and set in place an action plan. Dyslexia Action could help with this.
To find your nearest Dyslexia Action centre go to: dyslexiaaction.org.uk/find-us
