As a parent of a dyslexic child, I look back at the time before my daughter received a dyslexia diagnosis.
I remember reading with her and wondering why she was skipping words and lines and why she always said that she 'hated reading'.  She went through the whole of primary education struggling with this.

Then we got her assessed and everything changed and whilst I know that here in the UK resources in schools to support dyslexia varies greatly, having a diagnosis in place is empowering for parents as they seek support for their child through education.

So here are three reasons why your child should have a dyslexia assessment from the perspective of a parent.

1) Peace of mind.

Putting it bluntly, a diagnosis of dyslexia answers a question the question of why is my child struggling at school.

It may well be that the struggle is nothing to do with dyslexia but if they are struggling with reading comprehension, writing down information copied from the board, listening and recalling verbal instructions then certainly a dyslexia assessment is worth doing.

Once the test was completed for my daughter, I felt relieved that we now had a reason for what she was struggling with at school.  For us, something didn't add up before the assessment.  Our daughter was clearly bright but her output and results didn't indicate this.

The diagnosis of dyslexia allowed us to move forward in supporting our daughter rather than just watching her struggle.

2) It helps to unlock resources at school to support studying.

When you receive a diagnosis for your child the report is really useful as it tells you what should be done to make studying an easier process for your child.
In the Disability Act 2010, schools are not allowed to discriminate against those that have dyslexia (or any other disability ) and as such are required to put reasonable adjustments in place to support the student.

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So with some confidence, as a parent you can request a meeting with your school SENCo and discuss the findings in the assessment report and ask for the recommendations to be put in place.  Note that the response that you get from a school will vary depending upon where you are in the UK, but the report is an independent validation of your child's condition and should give you a head start in those discussions.

3) It allows for self advocacy.

At the heart of all of this is of course our children with dyslexia.  It is really important that they understand how their brain processes information and be able to ask for changes in a classroom that will help them to study better.
For example, it may be that being closer to the front makes it easier in terms of reading the information at the front.  Being able to confidently say that you are doing this because it helps with studying is better than asking for changes with no real way to justify it.
If a child can understand what their learning style is and can look to nurture that through asking for help or resources then this will empower them and make them more confident and reduce issues with self esteem.

So there you have three reasons why having a dyslexia assessment is important more information can be found about dyslexia assessments by clicking here.

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