If your child has recently been diagnosed as dyslexic,
or you suspect that they might be dyslexic,
you might be feeling worried, anxious, or overwhelmed.
We're here to explain a little bit about dyslexia,
how it's diagnosed, and also how to support it.
Dyslexia affects between 10% and 15% of people.
This makes it the highest incident-specific
learning difficulty or learning difference.
Typically, dyslexia presents as challenges
associated with reading, writing, and spelling.
Research shows that dyslexia doesn't
have a bearing on intelligence.
In fact, the same research is telling us
that 40% of our top entrepreneurs
are dyslexic, which is roughly three times more
than the general population.
Dyslexia occurs because of differences in the way
that the brain processes information.
Quite often, this is around language-based information.
But everybody's different and everybody's unique.
It's not unusual for dyslexia to occur
alongside other specific learning difficulties,
such as Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADHD, dyspraxia,
which is also known as development coordination
disorder, or dyscalculia, which is difficulties
with math and numbers.
The exact causes of dyslexia are unknown.
But we know that it runs in families.
And so it's likely to be genetic.
Dyslexia is most often identified
and diagnosed when a child starts school.
It might manifest as problems with learning to read,
with getting sounds in the right order,
with words, with spelling, remembering things,
and particularly remembering things in the right sequence.
But we've learned that dyslexia can also bring great strengths.
So innovative thinking, creativity, gist memory,
good verbal communicators.
So it's not all doom and gloom.
And there are many positives associated with dyslexia.
We began to suspect that our daughter was dyslexic
because the challenges she was experiencing at school
were not only educational, but it
seemed to be affecting her on a fundamental emotional level.
Other key signs to look out for are
being bright and able, but unable to get their ideas down
on paper.
Have areas in which they excel, particularly
creativity and problem solving.
Act as the clown or be disruptive to mask what
they see as their failings.
Become withdrawn and isolated.
Being able to do one thing at a time very well,
but can't remember an entire list.
Look glazed when language is spoken too quickly.
Have difficulties being organised.
Go home exhausted at the end of a normal day, or exhibit angry,
frustrated behaviour at home.
If you see these behaviours, it's always worth contacting
your child's school.
Schools differ in how they manage and support dyslexia.
But dyslexia is part of a legal framework
that includes the Children and Families Act 2014.
There's a description to that in the link below.
Some schools may be able to test and diagnose
your child's dyslexia.
But most often parents will have to pay privately
for an assessment.
And this is most frequently the way children are diagnosed.
When my daughter was 12, we took her
to see an educational psychologist for a dyslexia
assessment.
The resulting report from that assessment
enabled us as parents to feel really empowered
because we could really start to understand
the challenges that my daughter was going through in the school
environment.
More so, it also helped us to build a dialogue
with the school about what reasonable adjustments should
be put in place to support our daughter's education.
The assessment will test your child's reading, spelling,
writing, memory, speed of processing,
and also their underlying reasoning abilities.
Following the assessment, you'll not only
receive a comprehensive and detailed report that
contains the results, it will also
contain very detailed and specific recommendations
to support your child with their learning.
In the case of my daughter, one simple change they made
was to do away with having to use pen and paper to write
lots of text.
We moved to our daughter using a laptop, which
enabled her to be able to access text
in a way that worked for her.
But we have to remember that school resources, money, time,
and training on special educational needs and dyslexia
is actually really thin on the ground.
We do hear of too many cases where a school can't or won't
support a dyslexic child.
Where that is the case or where the child needs more support
than the school can provide, there
is a process in place to apply for an Educational Health
and Care Plan, or EHCP.
Currently, schools have to fund the first 6,000
pounds of any support.
Within the current climate with budget being stretched,
this can be particularly challenging for schools.
So on occasion, sometimes they are therefore
reluctant to fund dyslexia support.
It is important to note that any parent, young person, or school
can request a needs assessment for an EHCP
under the Children and Families Act 2014.
It does not have to be the school that
makes the request for this.
Often, parents are unaware of this fact
and rely on the school to make the application.
This can cause unnecessary delays in the process.
Sometimes as parents, we can be so focused
on the academic attainment of our kids
that we can sometimes forget that there
is a huge emotional well-being element.
This stems from a child not feeling
like they're fitting in with their peers at school.
They might have really low confidence.
They might even be telling themselves
that they're stupid because their friends are doing so much
better on countless exams and tests they're subjected to.
What we do know is if these feelings are left unchecked
and not supported, it can lead on
to more severe emotional well-being challenges.
It's also tiring for you.
In a recent survey, 77% of the parents that responded
said that they sometimes felt exhausted
when dealing with the challenges that come from their child's
dyslexia.
And 76% reported they sometimes lost
patience and got frustrated with their dyslexic child.
The great thing that you can do to empower your child
is to invest time and effort into you helping your child do
things that they're great at.
In the case of my daughter, she loved musical theatre.
Singing and acting and dancing helped her to not only vent
her frustrations of being dyslexic,
but she saw in herself something that she was really good at
and could take pride in.
One piece of advice I'd like to give you as a parent
is to remember that when a child has a dyslexia diagnosis,
that doesn't change who your child is.
It is simply a measure of their strengths and their weaknesses.
So going forward, applaud their strengths.
Help them to find the solutions and the strategies that
will help them to manage their weaknesses.
We hope you found this helpful.
For more information, check out the British Dyslexia
Association's website.
And don't forget you can talk to other parents on Mumsnet.
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