Family of dyslexics, should I wait to test the youngest?

[summerreading]

Today I'm going for a consult about my oldest and wishing I had done this year ago. So I'm wondering should I just assume since dh, ds 14yo and ds 10yo are all dyslexic to get the 8 yo tested?

 

He's not recognizing sight words from a page ago like "the" and forgetting which is short e and i without the Ed the Elephant song. He won't sit still for nothing so asking for 10 minutes focused reading practice is all I can get out of him right now. Should I wait a little longer till he's been at it daily for another month or two (we took the summer off and I won't do that again)?

 

His brother is doing Dancing Bears AB and I really like Sound Foundations. I might just scrap hooked on phonics and get Dancing Bears A and B for him. He is doing Apples and Pears A for spelling. 

Edited September 25, 2017 by summerreading

[prairiewindmomma]

Yes, test the 8yo.

[PeterPan]

Psych might give you a slight discount and slide 'em all in. :D

 

In all seriousness, I think IDA is now saying to diagnose between K5 and 1st. As in you're late, high time, get a move on it, easily diagnosable, totally obvious.

 

Evals will give you information unique to each child beyond the really basic dyslexia label. You'd like to know about other SLDs, processing speed, EF, fine motor, all kinds of stuff. It will be worth the effort to allow you to target. It's true, after enough kids you could guess, but if you can make it happen make it so.

 

And I don't mean late like feel guilty about it. I'm just saying the tools are there to diagnose accurately and that the standard has changed from 3rd to rising 1st. It's really not jumping the gun. It's GOOD to get it diagnosed now, have the words, get access to the materials.

 

You can take those reports to your ped and get him to sign the paperwork for NLS/BARD. Awesome and totally free.

SaveSave

Edited September 25, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[summerreading]

Psych might give you a slight discount and slide 'em all in. :D

 

In all seriousness, I think IDA is now saying to diagnose between K5 and 1st. As in you're late, high time, get a move on it, easily diagnosable, totally obvious.

 

Evals will give you information unique to each child beyond the really basic dyslexia label. You'd like to know about other SLDs, processing speed, EF, fine motor, all kinds of stuff. It will be worth the effort to allow you to target. It's true, after enough kids you could guess, but if you can make it happen make it so.

 

And I don't mean late like feel guilty about it. I'm just saying the tools are there to diagnose accurately and that the standard has changed from 3rd to rising 1st. It's really not jumping the gun. It's GOOD to get it diagnosed now, have the words, get access to the materials.

 

You can take those reports to your ped and get him to sign the paperwork for NLS/BARD. Awesome and totally free.

SaveSave

 

I'm goint to ask about the discount. I was not able to get my confirmed dyslexic on the NLS b/c the diagnosis needs to be from an MD, as in his pediatrician. This highly confused me and I called them but they said that is the case. His eval was done by the psych. 

[summerreading]

And I'm just going to add, because it just dawned on me, that this child remembers everything he has learned. He remembers things from 3 very clearly. So yeah, a poor memory here would be a red flag. Sigh, so that's all 3 of my kiddos.

 

It's ok, right?? Lol 

[PeterPan]

Summer, that doesn't make sense. You take your psych eval to the ped and the ped looks at it and says fine and signs the form, done. And if your ped is that much of a jerk, find a new ped. I mean, seriously, NLS is worth a TON to have access to. Huge. HUGE. 

 

Peds don't diagnose dyslexia. The form says the ped signs and takes into consideration the reports of others. So you take in your psych report and it should be a nothing. We did it at our annual, easy peasy.

[PeterPan]

Working memory is different from declarative memory, etc. That's pretty nifty that he remembers so much. Three is when they say declarative memory begins, so that's pretty normal. Also indicates he's probably wicked bright. ;)

[summerreading]

Summer, that doesn't make sense. You take your psych eval to the ped and the ped looks at it and says fine and signs the form, done. And if your ped is that much of a jerk, find a new ped. I mean, seriously, NLS is worth a TON to have access to. Huge. HUGE. 

 

Peds don't diagnose dyslexia. The form says the ped signs and takes into consideration the reports of others. So you take in your psych report and it should be a nothing. We did it at our annual, easy peasy.

 

Ok, this is what I did wrong then. I had the NP fill out the form. So I will just reapply when he goes for his annual.

 

Thanks!

[summerreading]

I don't have to stress about getting them tested anymore, just found out their new insurance covers it! That's such a huge relief! Now to find someone homeschool friendly.   :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

[Storygirl]

Yay!!  For the record, I vote to test and not wait.

[summerreading]

Gah! so now I find out they cover the testing codes BUT there are no providers in plan and they don't cover out of network providers. I will have to call and ask again. But it looks like either way I have to find $3k in my sock drawer or something to get this done. He's got other things going on, so I'd want the full eval. 

 

In the meantime, I have been looking at our diets more and am banishing all food dye. I thought hey we're pretty good, it's ok for them to have candy once in awhile, but I am seeing that's when meltdowns happen. Also adding in an Omega 3-6-9 supplement. I know it won't correct lack of memory for sounds, but it might help with not being able to focus for longer than 10 minutes.

 

Or is 10 minutes about normal for this age? I should say he's 7y 11months, he turns 8 in a couple of weeks. 

[PeterPan]

Retained reflexes, test for them. To me ten minutes is short for that age.