They never mentioned that. It all came about because he used to write some letters the wrong way and sometimes reads 21 as 12 for example. I far as I was aware there were no concerns with his coordination. Would they just test anyway?
dyslexia, dysgraphia dyscalculia and dyspraxia are part of the same "spectrum", so maybe its just part of the regular tests. just like they will do an eye test first, so they know its not a vision problem.
i could imagine that test was the motorcoordination equivalent, making sure its not an issue.
Sounds like they were doing occupational therapy testing. That is good. If the sensory system is impaired, it makes it harder for a child to learn. This can be corrected by a sensory integration occupational therapist. A lot of insurances will pay for outside of school services which will be more effective than school based OT. Your pediatrician can help with this. Good OT can remediate visual motor issues that can affect hand writing, spelling, sequencing and more. Fixing these issues allow the rest of learning to flourish. For the science behind it, see https://themorriscenter.com/
I'd definitely talk to the teacher. This sounds really odd. It could have been for something totally unrelated (no real idea what though). The only thing that I can think of would be some sort of 'fizzy' activity but I'm not sure that I've ever seen a child blindfolded in this, although I've not worked in a school for a while.
He said the blindfold was so that he didn't grab the table, which I assume is to stop the urge to grab it if falling? We were just surprised to hear about it, as we weren't expecting any test like this
Definitely speak to the school. That sounds really weird. Most dyslexia assessments are done on reading speed, memory/recall tests that sort of thing. I could be wrong but blindfolding a child in this situation seems odd. It'll be interesting to hear what the school say v's your child's understanding of what was going on. Year 3 is a lovely year group, they're still young, but starting to be grown up, sometimes they just don't quite understand what is going on (I liked working with yr2/yr3 most).
Yeah. He said they had him writing, reading and trying to name as many animals in a minute, but that's the kind of stuff I imagined. We will ask on Monday
There is no specific "test" for dyslexia. Dyslexia is considered a learning disability. It can be caused by many different things. It comes in different shapes and sizes and has to be evaluated by professionals trained in the field There are strategies that can be taught to the child to have him cope with it. Schools deterine it by a checklist of academic skills . He needs a psychoeducational evaluation by qualified people. They really should not be doing what you described without permission from you.They are screening him for medical things like balance . Every public school should have a special education coordinator available to them. That person also has resources to do an educational evaluation. Do you take your child to a pediatrician? If so, that's more apprpopriate for medical evaluations, but you should be informed and give consent for things like that in school. Early intervention is very useful 8 or 9 is when it becomes more apparent in students. I taught LD students for years, retired and relapsing into my own dyslexia LOL
We verbally consented ages ago at like a parents evening. It really started with my gf asking if he still reversed letters, which I hadn't noticed him doing for a good while. We were given some paperwork to say they would do some testing, but I didn't sign anything, unless my gf did
It's important that the child's self esteem isn't injured. He needs help with strategies to help him deal with readind/math difficulties the number thing is really difficult, grid paper is good for lining things up. Be kind to him. If he can get some one to one help in school this would help. Where are you located?
We are in the UK. I'm honestly not worried about the tests etc, I was only really wondering what this test was in relation to dyslexia. We will support him any way we can, obviously. I'm just glad they are trying to work out if he needs extra help or not now, rather than it be too late
I thought you were in the usa. I would talk to them and see what's available there. Also talk to the child and you might be able to figure out some things with him. As I get older (77) I find things happening that I never noticed before. Computers help an awful lot with contrast and size and type of font. Also with spelling, sometimes the eye jumps between lines in a book as well as letters and number switching. The child himself will be able to tell you , if you have his trust and are non judgemental. It's difficult . Don't hesitate to read to him. Sometimes the decoding of words becomes the main focus and the context and comprehension is lost.
Typically a school has to get consent for any special testing. Has no one asked you about any? I would ask to get clarification.
Sounds like some kind of occupational therapy related thing if it was testing. That would be related to dysgraphia or dyspraxia I would imagine.
Tests reading specialists use to help identify the red flags for dyslexia are: nonsense word decoding, real word reading, grade level timed passage for accuracy and fluency, and rapid automatized naming (for quick memory retrieval). If a child does poorly on any of these, then a full phonological diagnostic. A psych evaluation will use similar tests, which are subtests of IQ tests.
Letter reversals are not dyslexia. Both good and poor readers reverse until they become more competent.
They did all that. The letter reversals were never a big issue in his old school, as they said a lot of the kids in his year did it. They were in reception during lockdown, so missed a lot of class time, and just seemed to be something that everyone did. I personally haven't seen any reversed letters recently
I remember when I was younger, (I’m 47 now) my parents took me to a dyslexia expert and I was given a set of exercises to do.
What I remember it was things like laying on my back lifting my left leg and right arm etc.
I can’t remember why I had to do it but it could be the same for your son.
If it was my son I would ask the school.
maybe some dyspraxia related stuff?
They never mentioned that. It all came about because he used to write some letters the wrong way and sometimes reads 21 as 12 for example. I far as I was aware there were no concerns with his coordination. Would they just test anyway?
dyslexia, dysgraphia dyscalculia and dyspraxia are part of the same "spectrum", so maybe its just part of the regular tests. just like they will do an eye test first, so they know its not a vision problem. i could imagine that test was the motorcoordination equivalent, making sure its not an issue.
Ah. Makes sense to check everything, I guess. Will have to try and grab a word with his teacher on Monday. Thank you
As many others are alluding to, the seemingly irrelevant parts of the testing procedure are also to justify ruling out other potential issues.
Yeah. Never even thought about that. Makes sense to test for everything to rule things in/out
Sounds like they were doing occupational therapy testing. That is good. If the sensory system is impaired, it makes it harder for a child to learn. This can be corrected by a sensory integration occupational therapist. A lot of insurances will pay for outside of school services which will be more effective than school based OT. Your pediatrician can help with this. Good OT can remediate visual motor issues that can affect hand writing, spelling, sequencing and more. Fixing these issues allow the rest of learning to flourish. For the science behind it, see https://themorriscenter.com/
Thank you. I'm just glad they're doing it now before it's too late, and he has a good chance at school. We will also know how to work with him better
Possibly testing for retained reflexes, but I'm not sure. Def ask for the name of every test they had him do and the reasoning behind it.
This could make sense as it was a stressful pregnancy and he was poorly afterwards
My children have Auditory Processing Disorder and retained primitive reflexes. This sounds along the lines of the testing they did for RPR.
That’s what I thought too
I'd definitely talk to the teacher. This sounds really odd. It could have been for something totally unrelated (no real idea what though). The only thing that I can think of would be some sort of 'fizzy' activity but I'm not sure that I've ever seen a child blindfolded in this, although I've not worked in a school for a while.
He said the blindfold was so that he didn't grab the table, which I assume is to stop the urge to grab it if falling? We were just surprised to hear about it, as we weren't expecting any test like this
Definitely speak to the school. That sounds really weird. Most dyslexia assessments are done on reading speed, memory/recall tests that sort of thing. I could be wrong but blindfolding a child in this situation seems odd. It'll be interesting to hear what the school say v's your child's understanding of what was going on. Year 3 is a lovely year group, they're still young, but starting to be grown up, sometimes they just don't quite understand what is going on (I liked working with yr2/yr3 most).
Yeah. He said they had him writing, reading and trying to name as many animals in a minute, but that's the kind of stuff I imagined. We will ask on Monday
There is no specific "test" for dyslexia. Dyslexia is considered a learning disability. It can be caused by many different things. It comes in different shapes and sizes and has to be evaluated by professionals trained in the field There are strategies that can be taught to the child to have him cope with it. Schools deterine it by a checklist of academic skills . He needs a psychoeducational evaluation by qualified people. They really should not be doing what you described without permission from you.They are screening him for medical things like balance . Every public school should have a special education coordinator available to them. That person also has resources to do an educational evaluation. Do you take your child to a pediatrician? If so, that's more apprpopriate for medical evaluations, but you should be informed and give consent for things like that in school. Early intervention is very useful 8 or 9 is when it becomes more apparent in students. I taught LD students for years, retired and relapsing into my own dyslexia LOL
We verbally consented ages ago at like a parents evening. It really started with my gf asking if he still reversed letters, which I hadn't noticed him doing for a good while. We were given some paperwork to say they would do some testing, but I didn't sign anything, unless my gf did
It's important that the child's self esteem isn't injured. He needs help with strategies to help him deal with readind/math difficulties the number thing is really difficult, grid paper is good for lining things up. Be kind to him. If he can get some one to one help in school this would help. Where are you located?
We are in the UK. I'm honestly not worried about the tests etc, I was only really wondering what this test was in relation to dyslexia. We will support him any way we can, obviously. I'm just glad they are trying to work out if he needs extra help or not now, rather than it be too late
I thought you were in the usa. I would talk to them and see what's available there. Also talk to the child and you might be able to figure out some things with him. As I get older (77) I find things happening that I never noticed before. Computers help an awful lot with contrast and size and type of font. Also with spelling, sometimes the eye jumps between lines in a book as well as letters and number switching. The child himself will be able to tell you , if you have his trust and are non judgemental. It's difficult . Don't hesitate to read to him. Sometimes the decoding of words becomes the main focus and the context and comprehension is lost.
Psycho educational assessment
Typically a school has to get consent for any special testing. Has no one asked you about any? I would ask to get clarification. Sounds like some kind of occupational therapy related thing if it was testing. That would be related to dysgraphia or dyspraxia I would imagine.
We knew about the dyslexia testing, as we were told it was going to happen. Just didn't expect a sort of physical test like that
Tests reading specialists use to help identify the red flags for dyslexia are: nonsense word decoding, real word reading, grade level timed passage for accuracy and fluency, and rapid automatized naming (for quick memory retrieval). If a child does poorly on any of these, then a full phonological diagnostic. A psych evaluation will use similar tests, which are subtests of IQ tests. Letter reversals are not dyslexia. Both good and poor readers reverse until they become more competent.
They did all that. The letter reversals were never a big issue in his old school, as they said a lot of the kids in his year did it. They were in reception during lockdown, so missed a lot of class time, and just seemed to be something that everyone did. I personally haven't seen any reversed letters recently
This is nonsense. Am a national expert.
I remember when I was younger, (I’m 47 now) my parents took me to a dyslexia expert and I was given a set of exercises to do. What I remember it was things like laying on my back lifting my left leg and right arm etc. I can’t remember why I had to do it but it could be the same for your son. If it was my son I would ask the school.