[senco-forum] dyslexia

We screen all Year 1 children for signs of dyslexia, using Lucid Rapid. This
looks at some phonological skills (mainly rhyme awareness) and some aspects
of working memory, then computes a statistical risk that a child might be
dyslexic. If there is a risk then I talk to the class teacher and ask if she
has any concerns. We may decide to monitor, or we may decide to speak to
parents. In either case, we try to err on the side of caution and put in the
support at the earliest opportunity without worrying about labels, given
parental agreement.

During the course of working 1:1 with a child we get a good idea of their
strengths and weaknesses and we use this to plan an individual, cumulative,
incremental teaching and learning programme for each child. If, further down
the line, we feel the need to assess for dyslexia per se then we use a
combination of the following tests:

- Naglieri nonverbal test of underlying ability
- BPVS
- digit memory
- children's test of nonword repetition
- WRAT word recog., maths and spelling
- PhAB

We are finding that putting in the support at this early stage prevents the
build-up of the gap between underlying ability on the one hand, and
achievement in reading and spelling (and/or maths) on the other, that is so
often used to "diagnose" dyslexia.

My own feeling is that there is a continuum for most skills and that a child
is not one thing or the other (dyslexic or non-dyslexic) but has dyslexic
traits to a greater or lesser degree. By putting in the support early and
getting children reading with confidence, we hope to head off the loss of
confidence and self-esteem that can otherwise occur. I certainly feel that
we are getting better outcomes for children now than we were a few years ago
when the message generally given to parents was to wait for the child to
mature and then, if there was still concern, go off to an EP to get a label
before getting any support.

I'm very interested in other people's thoughts in this area.

Mary

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Stuart Lucas
Sent: 03 March 2008 17:10
To: senco forum
Subject: [senco-forum] dyslexia - screening/testing/assessment

A member of the Cross party group at the Scottish Parliament is
currently looking at a petition for assessing for dyslexia by age 7 -

Turned into a lively debate!

Collegues - questions:

1.	What do you think is an appropriate age to assess for dyslexia ?
2.	What tests are used to assess primary pupils for dyslexia and at
what age? - is it successful?

Will try and collate responses - both from the Forum and from our CPG
petition!

What is happening in Wales around this topic?

Tks all

Stuart

Loretto School is a Registered Charity, number SCO13978
Registered Office: 16 Heriot Row, Edinburgh, EH3 6HR, number SCO59500
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