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Children with dyslexia undiagnosed

In my opinion schools are not doing enough to identify children with Dyslexia!  I am a 21 year old male, who throughout his education has always noticed something was lacking in my written work.  It took me a long time to get my parents to notice, and was even harder to get my school and college to notice too.

A child writing - schools not identifying children with Dyslexia

Children with Dyslexia are not dummies...

As I attended University, I had a chat with my tutor about this personal subject, and was taken straight to the correct people who would help me find out if there was a problem.  Now children with Dyslexia are not dummies, in fact some of THE MOST intelligent people were Dyslexic; examples of these being Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Woodrow Wilson.

After all the correct tests, I was diagnosed with Dyslexia and was told that if I was diagnosed in my secondary school that I would have had a better chance of obtaining the grades needed to study medicine at university.  The tester was disgusted with the late diagnosis and was even wrote to my local education board expressing his disappointment because the tests revealed that I have an IQ of well into Mensa selection.

Is your child brilliant at practical and spoken assessments, able to identify problems at a glance and on paper seem very able?  However, do they have a short attention span and tend to struggle somewhat with writing?  If this sounds familiar lease get them checked out because they will be given all the help they needed to progress and become more than a so called "slow" child.  You will receive funding for help from private tutors and even equipment.

Do people think that all schools should screen children for Dyslexia?  It is a growing problem and these children are not being helped in the correct way to give them a chance at life.

By: Annoyed Student

Useful Resources - Children with Dyslexia

How to recognise dyslexia in children
A wealth of information and a very well organised section on the Channel 4 site.  How to recognise dyslexia in children Pre-school, at primary school and at secondary school.

How many children have Dyslexia?
These pages are aimed at the younger audience and contain a kind of slide show that tries to explain what Dyslexia is.

Common signs of Dyslexia in children
Another very in-depth resource.  Dyslexia basics.  The causes of Dyslexia, how widespread it is, Dyslexia effects, how to diagnose and the signs of Dyslexia.

Dyslexia Parents Resource
Free information about dyslexia, free Dyslexia Magazine for Parents, a free Dyslexia Advice Line, and dyslexia testing for children and adults.

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Here! Here! What you have just said is precisely what has been on my mind these past couple weeks. Although I went through school in another country (Canada) more than 15 years ago, I still feel cheated by the system. A few years ago I finally decided I was ready to tackle the dreaded thesis, so needed to return to school. I am now a first year graduate student studying language acquisition and was awarded a National Scholarship, the most prestigious in this country. Much of the information out there on Dyslexia is about children who are falling behind their peers. But when smart people capable of getting average grades without trying have learning problems, they are simply viewed as lazy! Something MUST be done! Thus it has recently become my mission not only to understand the causes of dyslexia but to ensure that even the smartest of dyslexics out there get the help they need!

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Dana - 10-Apr-11 01:17 

hi my name is alex wen I was at primery school before I found out I was dyslexia teachers thought I was lazzy and not making efort it wasnt till I was at secondray that I found out I was dyslexic but by then it seemed to late to do anything about now it seems def to late to do anything about. my friend thinks I should make a cliam against my primery school do you think e-mail me at ecky_ranger_no1@hotmail.co.uk

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eck - 2-Dec-10 02:48 

I am 23 and recently decided to retrain pursuing a career in medicine. I was always excelling in Maths and science at school however I struggled with written English; within 2 weeks of starting my current course my teacher suggested I had a dyslexia assessment, I was finally diagnosed with dyslexia last week. I am somewhat annoyed that my English teacher (who I had for 5 years from 11-16years) was unable to notice my difficulties even though I was in top set for lots of other classes. I'm hopeful that now I have the right support I will be able to succeed in medicine next year.

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Lee - 16-Nov-10 16:41 

Just had a quick squizz on the Dyslexia Institute Website. According to Government statistics, around 5% of children have SpLD's (Specific Learning Difficulties) - 5 children in 100. The overwhelming majority of that 5% are dyslexic. So let's take a very low percentage of that figure to play devil's advocate, and say only 1% of all children are dyslexic. That is 1 in 100. 1 in 100 is not "very rare". 1 in 1,000 would be considered "very rare". The percentage is of course higher - probably 3% - 3 children in 100 have dyslexia. My daughter is not dyslexic, but she suffers from ADHD and an SpLD called Semantic & Pragmatic Language Disorder. She also I believe suffers from dyscalculia, as I do, but is not diagnosed for it. She had a Statement of SEN's (Statement of Special Educational Needs), and eventually after years of battling with our LEA, we won her funding to attending a specialist boarding school at the age of 13, where she went from being a complete academic failure, having never passed an exam in her life, including two attempts at her SATs and failed both miserably, to leaving this school at the age of 18 with 6 good GCSE passes. She is now working in the NHS, and we are incredibly proud of her. She went to college and got her diploma in Child Care & Education, the equivalent of doing 3 'A' levels. When she went to boarding school, she didn't even know her times tables and could barely add up, multiply and divide.

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Nikki - 9-Nov-10 09:12 

Dyslexia is NOT very rare, what a load of nonsense!! I am not sure of the statistics, but it is certainly not very rare! My daughter attended a specialist boarding school, the majority of whose pupils were dyslexic, but taking her previous "normal schools", her best friend had severe dyslexia, as did her elder sister, there were 2 or 3 other children in this very small village primary school also with diagnosed dyslexia. At her senior school, there were at least 20 children with SEN's, diagnosed with Dyslexia. And all this is in a remote part of the countryside. I agree with you that maybe half a class being diagnosed with Dyslexia is an eyebrow raiser though - do they all have Statements? Who diagnosed them?

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Nikki - 9-Nov-10 08:58 

After reading your article I agree that children with dyslexia are not being recognised in the school system. My son has gone through all through school without the problem being noticed and it was only myself on discovering I had dyslexia while studying at university realised what my sons problems were. I arranged for a test which found that he also had dyslexia. At the assessment the educational psychologist has also referred him to an occupational therapist as he also thinks he may also have dispraxia. It makes me wonder just how many children are going undiagnosed and not achieving their full potential at shcool.

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chrissy - 8-Nov-10 20:48 

Dyslexia is a very rare problem and it has become increasingly used as an excuse by parents and teachers for children who are not learning as quick as others - I think that this has led to genuine cases being 'tarred with the same brush' as those students and parents who use the condition as an excuse. I am a teacher in a low income, low educational attainment area and I have some classes where over half of the class has been diagnosed with the condition. I just don't think it is taken seriously because of this trend.

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Tina - 14-Oct-10 13:03 

hi my son is now 9 and school found him to do slower than other children they found out when he was 4 , the school still dont give him the support he needs,im frustrated as I am dislexic and no he needs help but school have let this drag on now,very disapointed.

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newby - 22-Jan-10 22:31 

GLC : many people have been diagnosed with various SpLD's posthumously (spelling?? !). As far as Winston Churchill is concerned, I think what you had there is a person who very obviously was not stupid, but academically he failed to thrive at school. I believe he had ADHD, possibly the P.I. sub type that my daughter has, but what we find now with children at school where there is this failure to succeed academically, despite being otherwise intelligent children, thankfully these children are being picked up on by the specialist services such as CAMHS, and treated. When my daughter was young, she was labelled as "thick" because she did not achieve academically. We knew she was not thick, she was bright, alert, and it was as clear as the nose on your face that she had ADHD. At 14 she was also diagnosed as having Semantic & Pragmatic Language Disorder, which is classified as a SpLD.

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Nikki - 4-Jan-10 16:57 

Sorry I haven't been back to answer your question, Rori.

Primarily Inattentive.

Until recently, it was not recognised in this backward country.

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Nikki - 4-Jan-10 16:52 

Sorry to be showing ignorance Nikki; I know what ADHD stands for but what is P.I ?
Regards Rori

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Rori - 26-Oct-09 21:50 

He has been diagnosed retrospectively as having SpLd's and possibly ADHD, or at least being on the autistic spectrum.

He is a classic example of someone who struggled with formal learning, was declared to be a dunce at school ... and yet is one of the most revered Englishmen of all time. You don't need to be hyperactive with a capital H to have ADHD; I cannot comment on dyslexia, because I know little about it, but having a daughter with P.I. sub-type ADHD, I know a fair bit, plus I work in the field of child psychiatry.

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Nikki - 26-Oct-09 18:16 

You write

"in fact some of THE MOST intelligent people were Dyslexic; examples of these being Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Woodrow Wilson."

Who diagnosed Churchill as dyslexic?

Churchill was born in 1874 and left school in 1893 long before Dyslexia was widely recognised. In the late 19th century Churchill worked as a war correspondent for The Morning Post. He was a prolific writer and in 1953 became the only British PM to be awarded the nobel prize for literature.

What precisely were Churchill's symptoms?

Thanks

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GLC - 26-Oct-09 10:11 

My 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with "mixed dysleia" 4 years ago. This means that she doesn't hear or see words like most of us do. She will never be able to spell because she can't sound words out or use sight recognition. But......she's gonna be okay because she's really smart and she has a memory like a steel trap. I had her professonally tested and they determined that although her spelling was only kindergarten level her long term memory was 2nd year college level. Who knew? Dyxlexia doesn't mean your dumb it just means that the way "normal" people learn is dumb to you.

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pinkpeaches - 18-Apr-09 15:12 

I attended parents evening tonight, only to be told that they think my 7 yr old is dyslexic, I don't really know much about this, as it does not run in either side of the family, and my eldest does not have it...I originally got called into school when he was in yr 1, and nothing was carried through, now he has changed schools within a few weeks of him being there they have noticed that their is a problem and are now going to test him...So yes I do believe that schools need to do more test for dyslexia..

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Sam - 14-Oct-08 19:45 

I have just been told that my 6 yr old son needs to repeat prep as he can't read, so I asked my son why he can't read ( we read together every day at home ) his answer was that the words flash and change around, my 15 yr old told him to hold them with his finger and they stay still ( he sees rivers of white and the words shimmer around them ) I did keep him down in 3rd grade.!! I had my 15 yr old tested by the school before I kept him down and now I find I have two children that are dyslexic one is now in yr 9 at high school....so YES I do think the schools need to do more to test for dyslexia.

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Jenni - 13-Sep-08 12:38 

I love the water lawnmower, what a very apt and insightful description. These children really are very special, they see things and can then give them extremely appropriate and relevant names, but in a very simple way. To give an example, when we mated our dog with a neighbouring husky mal cross, we kept a pup as a stud fee. We wanted to call the dog Timber, but there were two other Timber's of a similar type, and so my daughter immediately said "we'll call him Woody". The connection is very obvious, but at the same time very subtle, and Woody became the dog's name.

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Nikki - 12-May-08 13:09 

Yep, its great. And we live 30 mins from the lake district, bonus! ! Beach was good, Even tho my son tried to chase a jet ski ! ! Or a 'water lawnmower' as he calls them, I told them they're there to cut the sea weed! ! Hee, hee. Am having a lazy day today, I've sent hubby off to the Abbey with the gruesome twosome. And no, I didnt notice the grammatical error.

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Digsy - 11-May-08 14:35 

Digsy, you are a tormentor ! Living slap bang in the middle of England, we could not be further away from the sea! It is so hot, I am dripping, although loving the gorgeous weather of course!

I couldn't believe it when I read what I had wrote !! Lol !! I mean "written" !! I pride myself on a good standard of English ... how sloppy can you get ! Your english is fine Digsy, BTW, don't know why you should think otherwise.

Enjoy that beach you lucky thing !!

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Nikki - 11-May-08 13:20 

Well said, and never were truer words spoken. The earlier problems are diagnosed, the earlier they can be if not fixed, then helped. In the long wrong, this will save the LEAs money, but the stupid ignorant people don't see it this way of course.

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Nikki - 11-May-08 13:17 

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