Is My Child Dyslexic?

‘I think my child may be dyslexic’. This is what many parents say to me. When I was at school in the 50s and 60s I was called stupid by many of my teachers who gave up on me. Now ‘dyslexia’ is the ‘in’ word. If a child gets his or her ‘bs’ and ‘ds’ the wrong way round, parents wonder if they might be dyslexic. No, this doesn’t mean a child is dyslexic, many children do it.

The difficulty with dyslexia is that there is not a tick list that one can hand out and say ‘If you tick all these boxes then you are dyslexic.’ Every person who has dyslexia is very different from anyone else.

I recently suggested to one of my Mums that she should have her child tested by an educational psychologist as I was sure that he was dyslexic. I know that this is really expensive to have done but can be very useful. Chris was struggling so much despite all the help that school had been giving him. The parents agreed to this and he was diagnosed not only as having severe dyslexia but that he was also suffering from dyscalculia which affected his mathematical skills!! No wonder he was struggling so much with his school work.

With Luke, however, although Mum thought that he might be dyslexic, I was certain that this wasn’t the case. Yes, he had huge gaps in his understanding of the English language and especially of spelling rules. However, he didn’t have any difficulty learning and remembering the spelling rules that I taught him and would then apply them to his writing.  What he needed was to have the gaps in his understanding of spelling filled in. He has been working really well. He is now beginning to catch up with his school levels.

Being a Mum of a child who is experiencing difficulties at school is hard. One of the children I teach, who is very definitely dyslexic, is now in year 6. Her Mum has been told that she needs to be retested (it is now 4 years since her last test)  in order for her to get the support that she needs in school, including her getting the right help with her exams. Her Mother is battling on with the authorities and the school management in order to get this done.

In conclusion, I would say to anyone who is concerned about their children’s school work to go and speak to the school first of all, the class teacher and possibly the Senco (Special needs co coordinator). If not consult the Head teacher. They should be able to help you. However, if you still feel that your child is not getting the right help at school you can always seek the help of another trained professional. The best person may be some one who has experience in dealing with or teaching children with specific learning difficulties. They should be able to throw more light on where the gaps/problems are in your child’s education. I for example hold consultations before taking a child on to tutor. If I feel I can help, I will of course do so but at other times I have been able to point the family in the right direction without my taking them on to tutor.