Anybody have any direct experience of dyslexia, either as a parent of a dyslexic child or somebody who has it themselves?

I've had suspicions about my son for a while and now his teacher has raised it as a possibility. I would be very interested to hear other people's experiences of it (diagnosis etc)

pm'ed you

i got diagnosed with it, 3 years ago, mine is just grammar and spelling errors, as well as i cannot say words phonetically if i do not know the word is or have not heard it being said before.

I got tested because my Dad has it, while also always having trouble with my English in school and essays even now.

Unless it is severe (which i just had to look up how to spell haha) you can carry on as normal, just have to put bit extra time into the problem you have.

not sure if this helps you Pondsey, this is just how go about things with mine.

my husband has dyslexia-undiagnosed all way through school until his last yr and struggled.
my son has it also along with adhd and tourrettes this has just been diagnosed, vie school so what you need to do is ask the teacherinvolved to sort out an assesment to get this on record, then he will recieve extra help in lessons etc, he should also then get an S.E.N ( special education needs) form which every teacher has to acknowledge and come up with suitable ideas to help/aid learning.
there should also be parent/teacher/pupil workgroups you can attend ( i did and it helped massivley) this gives you tips on how to help with reading, writing and also tips on how you can control your own anger when something so simple becomes a major task.

dyslexia is often hand in hand with other problems like adhd, dyspraxia etc so dont be alarmed if they pursue other means.

http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dys ... lexia.html

Seriously get this sorted now, my son was told he may be dyslexic at 5 yr old, the diagnosis process took so long he was 10 when finally diagnosed. the sooner you act on this the sooner your son will get help, keep pestering the school for the test to be done, or he will struggle in secondary school.

That helps, thanks dude.

And thanks Flic. My boy is 6. Last year he had a bitch of a teacher who took a dim view of him, keeping him in at break times and suchlike. He became disruptive and was always in trouble. This year his teacher has taken the pressure right off him and he now enjoys going to school but produces very little work. I'm so glad she's raised it. I've suspected things for a while but as he's our first child we don't really have a point of reference to compare him. Interesting about the ADHD going in hand with it - I've had suspicions about that too from time to time.

Well, the ball is rolling so we'll see where it takes us.

P.S. Thanks to Wavy for the pm's too

WARNING!!!!! LONG POST!!!!!!




i know where your coming from poundsey, my son was in nursery 3 yr old and one teacher (bitch) waited until i was in the que of other parents to scream at me
"your son wants flippin testing hes got adhd!!!"
my response, no darling you want testing if you cant cope with a 3 yr old thats energetic.
my argument all the other kids in his class were obese -no joke. he was the only one who run and not get outta breath, i ignored her screams at me.
he then moved into reception and really struggled with everything from reading to writing but would sit and listen to stories and come with unbelieveable theories on stories for his age.
5 yr old listening to the story about the huge turnip, hes sat on teachers knee and she asks how can they eat the turnip if its too big to get in the house?
my son replied why dont they chop it up and take it inside to cook it! the teacher was amazed at his theory as he was only 5, art work was amazing but everything else he struggeled with. he also suffered with a lot of ear infections and had a really bad case where i said enough was enough he shouldnt be having this many infections at a young age send him for a check up, this turned out to be a major problem, he was technically deaf in both ears which is why he struggled. he had spent his whole nursery life not able to hear anything but muffled voices. so he had to have gromets fitted. this did help but bless him then we found out he was virtually blind too lol, needed glasses. by this time he was nrly 6 so his whole learning foundations had been ruined by his sight and earing which doesnt help when your dyslexic. once he had his hearing sorted and his vision it was too late and he needed extra help in lessons. i did what i could by joining parent classes at school to help with his learning:
numeracy & literacy course,first aid course, coping with kids with learning probs, i went on them all.
it wasnt until i went on the adhd course that i realised my son had possibly adhd, i went to support a cpl of friends whos kids did have learning probs and everything they were saying there described my son.
i do feel partly to blame cos i refused to listen to bitch teacher, i should have demanded the hospital for his earing earlier as for his eyes, he went every 6 months so i trusted the optition when they said everything was fine. so now it was down to me to get his education back up there.

if the school offer parent groups and you can go, go to them you will learn loads of stuff to help.
i stopped making him read the book he was sent home with, if he picked it up to read then fair enough, but this task had turned into a nightmare where he would sob, i would rage etc. this HAS worked, he loves books now because he chose to read them himself not having me scream have you read your book yet.
he used to look at the picture in the book and make his own story up instead of reading words.
when he counted to 10 he would miss 7 or 9 every time.
he was impulsive, he knew the dangers but did stuff anyway, couldnt help himself.

i was in denial for a very long time about his condition but this wasnt helping him so i said yeah he may have a problem, lets sort it.
No one believed me when i said he had tourrettes cos they were expecting all the f words etc, but this drove me insane. was i the only one hearing this? was i imagining it cos no one else had noticed?
he used to talk to me but inbetween words instead of taking a breath he would make a humming noise through his nose or a squeek. it wasnt until i pointed out what to listen to people realised yes he did do it!!!then he would screw his face up or blink his eyes multiple times. after a while his gran passed away and the noises got worse, he was then diagnosed with facial tics- tourrettes. it could get worse if hes stressed.

i was really worried as he was moving into secondary school and he had not been diagnosed with adhd yet, i also struggled with which medicine to put him on, husband and i argued about it cos he didnt want him on meds, i needed him on something to aid his learning. finally it came to a head when i couldnt cope anymore, i was the one at home with him while the husband was at work and he didnt see what i had to put up with until the husband was on holiday- he lost his rag with the lad playing up and i lost my rag with husband saying its not his fault etc.
hes on medication now and it has helped him so much, i leave it up to him if he wants to take the meds, i told him he can take it all week for school and have weekends off, but he takes one everyday himself.
i dont treat his illness as an excuse. i will not allow him to run round like a looney destroying property, hitting people and blame adhd. i will talk to him if hes outta line, tell him why ive told him not to do something- because of this people dont believe me that he has adhd. i am teaching him to control his illness not let his illness control him.
be totally honest and open and discuss everything with your kid, he may be young but he will understand.
things are going so well for him at school now its unbelievable, hes very artistic and has won 2 awards for art projects so far. i got a call from school the other day saying he had aced a maths test, top of class, only one in class to do so, he reads his won types of books, draws pictures from them and does his homework.
i had to stop pestering him to do work and change my phrasing to have you got homework? or have you finsihed it yet? instead of go do your homework?
make a big deal out of what he does right, dont make a big deal about what hes done wrong.

ive been where you are poundsey, its a long scary road but the end will leave you leaping with joy. keep at it, go with your gut instinct and dont let them fob you off. tell them everything that concerns you and ask people to help you at school, if school do recommend you to someone then go for it, doing this yourself via doctors is a longer process, school seem to be able to rush appointments through quicker than a doctor.

when i went to see my doctor and told him my concerns he said " oh another one jumping on the ADHD bandwagon!" i wont type what i told him to do lol.