Dyslexia - any experience with the system?

fionaincork

Hi
my daughter is in fourth class and coping Ok at school but she has always struggled with her reading. She was able to learn the words she was taught but was never able to use the phonics to build new words. SHe has plodded on at school and reading has been a long hard slog for her.
At this years parent Teacher meeting, the teacher wondered whether she might have mild dyslexia.
I looked it up and a number of the symptoms sound very familiar.
Teacher says that given its mild and she is coping at school the system wont' do much for her.

Does any one out there have experience in getting their child assessed? whats involved, how long does it take and what kind of help can be got?
Llike i said she is managing but its a lot of hard work for both of us. If I can find a way to make her life easier, Id love to know how to do that.

Any help, tips, experiences or advice would be very appreciated.

Thanks
Fiona

byhookorbycrook

Firstly, I'd suggest a good quality omega oil, if she is not taking some already.

Dyslexia will not qualify a child for any resource time now, originally a child with dyslexia got 2.5 hrs resource time per week, now they have to fit in with the learning support system. If she is scoring above sten 3 in standardised tests she may not even qualify for learning support.

Ideally, the school NEPS psycholgist should do the asssessment through the school, but there are so many on waiting lists it is only the very severe cases that will be seen, realistically.

It would be worth asking the school to see if they will do the "DST" test with her, it's the dyslexia screening test and will give an indication as to whether she is "at risk" from dyslexia. Only a psycholgist can diagnose dyslexia, even though down the years I had children that only needed the psychologist "rubber stamp" as a teacher i could not make that call.

It cost from €400 upwards to get a child seen privately. You can claim some of this back on tax, be sure to use someone approved by the DES (if you go to www.education.ie and click on the NEPS tab you'll get the list under SCPA Panel of Psychologists 2009 )

So for your money, what do you get? A diagnosis-perhaps and suggestions as to how to best help her, hopefully.


A child with dyslexia can get an exemption from Irish , but this can limit careers later.
She can also get some help at state exams in secon dary, like a spelling exemption or a reader, to read q paper for her.

I'd also suggest she works on typing skills and the use of a spell checker,

The book "Toe by Toe" is excellent, it takes phonics in tiny bits, not even steps, hence toe by toe!!Best of all it has easy to follow instructions for the adult.

We use a cd-rom called "wordshark" it is expensive though.

If you want any other info , let me know.

fionaincork

thanks so much for the advice. Its great to get helpful and practical pointers.

I'll look up the books and the CD and start her on Omega oil.

I guess €400 sounds steep but if you can make a real difference to the way your child experiences education then it would be worth it. I'll get on it

Thanks again - i just didnt' know where to start.

Fiona

byhookorbycrook

Have a look at
http://www.dyslexia.ie/

They run weekly workshops, if you do get a diagnosis of dyslexia . Many of our children attend one here and find it great fun- and helpful. Also it does them good to realise they are not alone- and that they certainly aren't "stupid", they just have to work harder than other people to get the same results.

Best of luck to you both.

E.T.

You've been given some great advice already, I just want to add one more bit - if you do go down the private route to get your child assessed, you should ask your daughter's teacher if she can recommend a psychologist that the school have used and found helpful. Speaking as a teacher, we've tried a few different psychologists over the last few years, and finally found an excellent one that we use all the time now. One or two that we've used have been absolutely useless, and disgracefully lazy and incompetent (reports sent to the school after a YEAR, other random childrens' names appearing in reports - obviously the psychologist just cut and pasted reports together, etc, etc). Good luck to you and your daughter.