Good news

My youngest daughter, Rebecca, had a reading assessment yesterday at school and has been moved up to the next book band. She was so proud of herself! It still means that her reading age is about a year behind but it's a great achievement. Her dyslexia has only just been diagnosed and she still hasn't has a formal assessment (for some reason her Educational Psychologist won't do that until she is eight) but she is receiving all the help that she would get with a formal assessment anyway.

It's been a hard few years for Rebecca. She was a happy contented baby who never cried and met all her targets apart from walking. She didn't actually walk until she was 17 months but her health visitor didn't seem concerned and thought it was just because she was very big and heavy. Rebecca was one of those gorgeous chubby babies with dimpled legs! It was only when she started nursery that any concerns were raised. The nursery called in the local Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator to assess Rebecca for dyspraxia. This was ruled out and as she was improving, any problems were felt to be developmental.

By the time Rebecca started school, her balance was still a bit wobbly and she was holding her pencil in a fist to write. Initially the school put the delays in writing down to her being left handed, but half way through her Reception year, Rebecca got a new teacher who also took over co-ordinating special needs for the school. He immediately set things in motion to get proper assessments for Rebecca and things have improved dramatically since then.

Rebecca sees a paediatrician who referred her for physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Her hearing was tested and found to be fine. She had blood tests to check her thyroid and we are currently awaiting for results of tests for Fragile X syndrome. In addition the school has arranged for speech therapy and Rebecca has "validated hours" which basically gives her a guaranteed amount of one on one help per week.

This, and Rebecca's own determination, has helped her make so much progress. She has hyper mobility in lots of joints so we have worked at strengthening those, she has a special pencil to write with which has helped enormously (stabilo left handed pencil) and her speech is much clearer now.

For Rebecca, dyslexia will obviously be an ongoing problem to deal with throughout her life. She also has severe auditory processing problems which is probably linked to the dyslexia and means that complex or detailed instructions or information are difficult for her deal with. She is a happy little girl though, who deals with everything with a smile and a hug from her is the quickest way to brighten up my day. I am constantly searching for new tools or methods too try and help her and hope to use this blog to pass on any information that others may find useful.

To end on a lighter note, the pyscho cat is now being rechristened Ninja Puss as last night he jumped up on the couch behind my ex and with both front paws proceeded to box him round the head. I swear my ex thinks I trained him to do this, but I didn't, hee hee.

love Riki xxx