Anyone get a diagnosis of dyslexia after it didn't appear on first neuropsyche?

[Anonymous]

My rising 3rd grader had a neuropsyche at 6 which identified ADHD and slow processing speed, but no other learning differences. Her phonological awareness, vocabulary and other language-oriented markers were very high at 6 (end of kindergarten). The evaluator commented that she did very well with activities like rhyming and replacing sounds in words (e.g. what do you get if you say the word "map" and then replace the 'm' with a 'c'?). There were no concerns about dyslexia.

She just finished 2nd grade and her I-ready tests show her as on grade level for reading....but my gut tells me that something is just not clicking with reading. She LOVES stories and listens to relatively audiobooks and podcasts meant for older kids, but when she reads aloud, she skips lots of small words and guesses at anything that's not entirely familiar to her Her spelling is TERRIBLE and she still often confuses 'b' and 'd.' She can read....but the amount of guessing she does makes me feel like she's just hiding an underlying problem. Should I have her re-tested? The testing is expensive, so I don't want to do it if it's unlikely that a re-test would show something very different from the initial test. Plus, I feel silly re-testing when the original evaluator specifically indicated that she had no concerns about language-based learning differences and her 2nd grade teacher had no concerns about her reading and hypothesized that the guessing was related to ADHD not a reading disability.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Hmm. Dyslexia does seem unlikely given her phonological strengths. That said, strong phonological skills don’t magically get turned into reading skills unless the kid makes the connection between those sounds and the letter shapes! That’s phonics and eventually what is known as orthographic mapping, where words are recognized immediately without effort.

How was her instruction in K and 1st grade? If it wasn’t aligned with “the science of reading” she may simply never have gotten what she needs. Happens to many kids, unfortunately.

Regardless, if she is not reading at grade level now the intervention is going to be the same - go back to find the weakness (which thankfully is probably at phonics, not phonemic awareness) and start remediating there. A CALT can do that for her, and I’m sure other providers types could as well.

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t sound like your kid has dyslexia. My dyslexic son couldn’t even read going into 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Following. My kid is very similar and just out of 2nd grade. Getting a neuropsych next week.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid with dyslexia and a kid with ADHD. I’m no professional but it very well could be ADHD. We took a similar route as you and asked several times “are you sure it’s not dyslexia” re the kid with ADHD. It’s not. He just can’t focus on reading. My kid with dyslexia is a far better reader - now after a million hours of remediation.

But, getting your DD some solid private reading instruction won’t hurt. I might go that route first before doing another neuro psych.

[Anonymous]

I’ve worked in special education. Yes, neuropsych diagnoses can change over time. That’s part of the reason why families are advised to repeat them every three years.

However, the symptoms your child is displaying don’t necessarily point to dyslexia. She could have low frustration tolerance or even embarrassment that’s motivating her to guess at words. Inattention and poor self-monitoring could also be causal. Also, some kids who have trouble transitioning into fully fluent reading lack skills for decoding multi-syllable words.

In your shoes, I’d get a skilled reading tutor. Take what you would have spent on testing, and put it toward an action plan. The exact diagnosis isn’t as important to getting effective help as the symptoms your child is displaying.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like my ADHD but non-dyslexic 13 yo dd. Does your dd enjoy reading to herself? Mine has always enjoyed reading (especially graphic novels in elementary) but even still when reading out loud to younger siblings skips over words, omits punctuation -she is just zooming ahead in her brain.

[Anonymous]

Would you consider a vision therapy evaluation? I know there is mixed messages about.

A lot do those signs could point to a tracking issue. We are just starting this (on the late end) for our rising 8th grader and wish we pursued an evaluation earlier. Had been suggested by a teacher and the combo of our research + dismissal from a skilled pediatric ophthalmologist caused us to dismiss.

[Anonymous]

My ADHD rising third grader does the things you’re describing, OP. She isn’t dyslexic. I do think she’s got dysgraphia, which explains my daughter’s terrible spelling.

[Anonymous]

While it's possible, ADHD would explain the word-skipping and guessing. Attentiveness and focus are needed to read accurately.

FWIW the dyslexic kids I know could not rhyme or read at all in second, before starting interventions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ADHD rising third grader does the things you’re describing, OP. She isn’t dyslexic. I do think she’s got dysgraphia, which explains my daughter’s terrible spelling.

Terrible spelling arises from the same deficits as dyslexia. It’s sort of immaterial and semantic, but if you would like to have your daughter’s spelling improve the intervention is explicit teaching in phonology, phonics, and morphology. The same interventions we use for dyslexic people. There isn’t a separate intervention for spelling for dysgraphia.

[Anonymous]

Not exactly the same, but my daughter's first evaluation in PK (not a full neuropsych) found no concerns with her reading. In 1st grade, in a full neuropsych, the dyslexia was obvious.

[Anonymous]

The kids were likely in kindergarten during pandemic. The effect of pandemic is alot. With intervention, your daughter will be fine. It takes me thousands of dollars to dig my daughter out. She has neuropsychological evaluation done and then intervention. I will recommend intervention as soon as you. Kids who can't read will also translate into writing. Please note your daughter is not lazy. Accommodations will also help. One of my daughter's tutor noticed, she mentioned her daughter was dyslexia and went on to get PhD. She mentioned she consistently reevaluate and ensure the Accommodations is the until PhD. It is tough, it is a fight. I hope you win and not give up.

[Anonymous]

Having two kids with dyslexia, I second the vision analysis (I highly recommend Dr. Sarah Terlesky at NOVA Vision Center) and a skilled (meaning Orton Gillingham trained) tutor. Then re-evaluate after 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Test her phonics skills