Many students have dyslexia and the statistics for students with known dyslexia are 1 in 10, however, many studies say the real number is closer to 1 in 5. Why such a wide difference in research outcomes you might ask?
One reason is perhaps that there are many unknown cases of dyslexia and some students struggle along for years never quite hitting enough of a gap for any kind of assessment in school.
I screened a wonderful student last week for dyslexia and her Mum mentioned ‘She is so well-behaved that I think she is just getting missed- I know something just isn’t quite right.’ I have heard this many times from parents and it seems a shame to me, that students and families are not getting the right kind of advice and support.
Many children are slipping through the net and with schools facing a serious lack of funding and dealing with a wide range of needs, the well behaved just under-average but not significant enough for an assessment kind of child is getting missed.
Of course, at Elite Tutors Sussex we do offer a dyslexia screening service (with additional reading and spelling checks) which is not a diagnostic assessment but will give you a clear picture of where your child is and what steps you could take next. There are many external organizations and dyslexia assessors who can help too. We love the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre who run helpful workshops for parents/students and training courses for teachers and MPA educational psychologists in Brighton for a full educational psychology assessment.
There are many online dyslexia screeners out there, however, I would only really recommend this if it completed with a professional and has been well researched. I’m not a huge fan of these although they are cost-effective- errors can be made and nothing beats professional, experienced educator having that 1:1 to make astute observations about a student’s approach as well as delivering judgments based on the screening results themselves. Feeding back to parents and students about what steps they can take next is also a very important and sensitive part of the process. There’s no point in a screener or an assessment if there is no outcome.
Whichever course of action you choose to take- do take an action. It can help students to be considered for extra time or to use a laptop/having a spellcheck/reader in exams but most importantly, it can help students to understand themselves as learners and help the educators working with them to make appropriate adjustments to their learning and hopefully, restore a sense of self-esteem and belief that anyone can achieve anything.
Read our latest review from one of the families who have used our service.
By Karen Ormerod- Company Director at Elite Tutors Sussex
