Mis-diagnosis dyslexia

aliasojo

notakid wrote: »

I read it differently as the teacher who orignally picked up on the OP's daughter must have been really on the ball as the child was obtaining all the benchmarks but the teacher must have picked up that all was not well from the child's understanding. And brought it to the parents attention. The educational psychologist confirmed this as fact.

You could well be right.

But the bit I put in bold doesn't necessarily hold weight for me ....but I'm happy to admit that's because of my own experiences. It was an educational psychologist who got it badly wrong with us and he simply went along with what the {useless} teacher had advised him. It was proven by a different ed psy that his assessment and report were both wrong and his recommendations if followed would have had a detrimental effect.

(That's not to say, the ed psy in the OP's case was wrong, just explaining my thoughts.....and I only raised them because of the OP's feelings of shock when dyslexia was diagnosed. )

However new school seems to have no knowledge of dyslexia, if they did the test results would make sense. She is testng okay and performing in tests but her actual comprehension is 4 years behind. Classic able dyslexic performance!

I find it difficult to accept a school in this day and age is unable to recognise signs of possible dyslexia. But, I'm no expert so will accept other's thoughts on this.

Having said that, it took a year for daughter to be officially diagnosed with dyscalculia and that was only because I pushed. Her Maths teacher used to be quite curt with her and say things like 'I have just explained that to you, why don't you understand? He was a useless article who has no business teaching imo.

Maybe I've just contradicted myself. :rotfl: Dyscalculia is not as well known or as easily recognisable as dyslexia though? I know there is at least one teacher on these boards who doesn't accept it as a recognised issue.


I think the expert has given a diagnosis but the absence of the report has given the school an excuse to not deal with the problem. And again, we go back to your previous point it seems the school feel the OP is a liar and a fantasist! (Not saying you are OP but its the schools view)

This amazes me tbh. I've had many many 'discussions' with school/teachers over the years. I have no doubt I was a thorn in their side at one point. It's almost beyond the realms of reason that a concerned parent would be seen as possibly having Munchausen's. Either the OP interacted with someone who has few social skills despite being intelligent enough to teach, or has perhaps not been very reasonable herself, in her approach. Who knows.

It seems from the schools position, the teachers know nothing about dyslexia and after they have been given proof no longer wish to talk to parent. And she has been left wondering if the information she has furnished is correct. (it is)

Whatever the facts of the matter actually are, I hope the OP can get some sort of resolution before too much more time passes.

notakid

I find it difficult to accept a school in this day and age is unable to recognise signs of possible dyslexia. But, I'm no expert so will accept other's thoughts on this.

Having said that, it took a year for daughter to be officially diagnosed with dyscalculia and that was only because I pushed. Her Maths teacher used to be quite curt with her and say things like 'I have just explained that to you, why don't you understand? He was a useless article who has no business teaching imo.

Maybe I've just contradicted myself. Dyscalculia is not as well known or as easily recognisable as dyslexia though? I know there is at least one teacher on these boards who doesn't accept it as a recognised issue.

As I said earlier I work in a dyslexic charity and within the West Midlands many parents are told by teachers that there is no such thing as dyslexia.
I was told the same thing by my daughters SEN teacher. However, my daughters maths teacher did think she suffered from dyscalculia but said she had no idea on how to help her.

I would say the majority of teachers have no understanding of the the condition, we have many teachers who bring their own children in for screenings who have no idea on how to cope with a dyslexic child. Until it touches them individually they have no real interest.

Support does vary from area to area.
There was a programme on channel 4 a few years ago called the death of dyslexia. It put back progress on the attitudes of dyslexia by decades.

aliasojo

notakid wrote: »

I would say the majority of teachers have no understanding of the the condition, we have many teachers who bring their own children in for screenings who have no idea on how to cope with a dyslexic child. Until it touches them individually they have no real interest.

I stand corrected.

It's quite shocking really, especially since we as 'ordinary' parents are often guided by these 'experts'.

I should also add that despite having run ins with the useless articles mentioned above, I have also had the most fantastic support from teachers who have clearly become teachers to make a positive difference to young people's lives and I wish I could give those ones a medal. The good ones are worth their weight in gold.

notakid

aliasojo wrote: »

I stand corrected.

It's quite shocking really, especially since we as 'ordinary' parents are often guided by these 'experts'.

I should also add that despite having run ins with the useless articles mentioned above, I have also had the most fantastic support from teachers who have clearly become teachers to make a positive difference to young people's lives and I wish I could give those ones a medal. The good ones are worth their weight in gold.

I agree and I don't want to be bashing teachers I think they do a hard job and as we all now have high expectations for our children, sometimes I think they must feel we think they can perform miracles and (maybe)we have rose tinted glasses when it comes to our offspring!:A
Coupled with all the form filling and performance testing its difficult for them to sometimes see a child who masks their problems.
I have dealt with some parents whose attitudes have made me unsurprised by the school's stance. :cool: I try to advise always to make friends with the school as all roads lead back there. Its a bad day when it becomes us and them. No one profits.

I'm glad to hear you got the help for your daughter tho Jo.

SingleSue

notakid wrote: »

Just be aware that the colour can change! Weird but true as the child ages.
I've always been abit 50 50 about Irelens probably because I have no difficulty with black and white.:p Many parents have reported to me that their child's problems have disappeared, others it has been no help at all ( but there is the need to take in peer pressure, many won't wear the glasses because it makes them stand out.)

Or you have a child like mine who absolutely refuses to use any of the special things because, well, they are different and he doesn't like change.

He is complex autistic and was diagnosed with Irlens about a year ago.

Eldest son has dyslexia and had an English level more akin to a primary school child when he started his GCSEs, thankfully, he found a great English teacher who recognised he had a talent in poetry and creative writing (despite not actually being very good with writing or spelling) and worked on him. He went from being predicted a G to actually getting a C in both English Literature and Language.

His dyslexia was also helped by the use of a laptop, he wasn't given a laptop to use in lessons or exams because of the dyslexia though, it was given because of his EDS!

heatherks

Mojisola wrote: »

My son has glasses in one very particular shade of pink which help but certainly don't make his difficulties go away.

One thing that has helped over the years is having the computer and his Kindle read to him - he tracks the words while they're read out to him. It keeps the flow going - none of that awful stilted reading while stuck on one word - and the constant feed-back has helped him to read more fluently.

my daughter was recently diagnosed with dyslexia .. ( i had my suspicions for 2 years but school thought she was just a bit slower than the rest of the kids and would catch up ) i have been using a yellow overlay which i found helped with her reading ... do you have to be referred through doctor or hospital to obtain these glasses

it is a lot to take in to find our your kid has dyslexia and so much conflicting information on ways to help your child with schoolwork etc

.My daughter is more embarassed to tell her friends she has dyslexia and has already had a few call her thick and stupid which doesn't help with her confidence

Mojisola

heatherks wrote: »

My daughter is more embarassed to tell her friends she has dyslexia and has already had a few call her thick and stupid which doesn't help with her confidence

She'll have to come to terms with being dyslexic. It's far better for people to understand that someone is having problems because they are dyslexic rather than because they are "stupid".

Show her a list of famous dyslexics like - https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/famous-dyslexics.html
and then she can pick out a few names to use "Well, xxx is dyslexic but he/she is still clever/rich/famous/etc".

Mojisola

heatherks wrote: »

my daughter was recently diagnosed with dyslexia .. ( i had my suspicions for 2 years but school thought she was just a bit slower than the rest of the kids and would catch up ) i have been using a yellow overlay which i found helped with her reading ... do you have to be referred through doctor or hospital to obtain these glasses

We were really lucky that our optician had a personal interest in dyslexia and she did it all for us.

Mulberry_bush

Many thanks for all the replies, some helpful. Thought I would update you on progress, we have managed to get dd reassessed for dyslexia by school ed psychologist and now have the report.
DD is not dyslexic - she shows no sign of any dyslexic traits!
We are of course delighted and DD is over the moon but angry that she has been labeled all these years with a false label.
Things at school have improved and now have a good teacher at the school that pushed for the re-assessment and recognises that I am a concerned parent rather than someone suffering for some sort of mental illness!
DD is going to get extra tuition to bring her literacy up to scratch and everybody's happy.

notakid

Wow that was quick! The report normally takes a month to come out. These ed psychologists aren't normally quick on the report issuing!

As long as your daughter is getting help and her self esteem is good that is all that matters.