Best timing for ed psych report

Advice on Special Needs and the 11 Plus Exams

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salsa
Posts: 2686
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:59 am

Re: Best timing for ed psych report

Post by salsa »

I agree. I don't know of anyone who has been given extra time for the test themselves. Only 10% extra on the unmarked writing exercise.
Bumblebeez
Posts: 268
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 5:55 pm

Re: Best timing for ed psych report

Post by Bumblebeez »

From what you have written here, in addition to dyslexia testing you might also get a specialist eye examination done by a behavioral optometrist. They check to see how quickly the child's eyes tire when doing close work. It can be possible to have perfect vision on a conventional test but when they do simple things like count the numbers of words on a line it becomes obvious that they start making errors sooner than normal, if they have underlying weakness. It can overlap with dyslexia or be a condition on its own. After an appointment which I was highly skeptical about, (quite different to a high street eye exam) my daughter was prescribed glasses with a faint blue tint and a very weak plus prescription. The difference when she started wearing them was staggering: she read for hours with a visibly less strained expression, and her music studies took off. I'm sure that was because she could read the music better. She would become flustered if we forgot her glasses when we went to music, so she obviously experienced a benefit. They are for sustained, close work, so not great in normal classroom lessons. You should be aware that some optometrists regard behavioral optometry as a bit flaky. On the other hand, the neurologists and specialists who deal with brain injury etc regard it as pretty uncontroversial and mainstream, so I thought it was worth keeping an open mind.

BTW, is the spell checker on this site defaulting to American spellings? Behavior and skeptical?
salsa
Posts: 2686
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:59 am

Re: Best timing for ed psych report

Post by salsa »

Very interesting. What is this eye tracking problem called?

By the way, I think the spell check should be set up from your browser. I use Chrome and I set it from there.

Salsa
Bumblebeez
Posts: 268
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 5:55 pm

Re: Best timing for ed psych report

Post by Bumblebeez »

Very interesting. What is this eye tracking problem called?
The report is long and technical but this seems to be the heart of it: "Convergence insufficiency is a common eye teaming problem in which the eyes do not work at near easily." I've PMd you a longer extract.
Optymum
Posts: 83
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:17 pm

Re: Best timing for ed psych report

Post by Optymum »

Hi Monochromecat. I would be interested in any info you have gleaned regarding the KCC 11+. Our DD sounds very similar to your DC. She reads well, with good comprehension, but struggles with spelling greatly. She gets so frustrated. I am considering trying to get a private assessment, but like you I want to get the timing right. As she achieves above expected level in all but spelling, I think we will find it a struggle to get any assessment at school. Also, following on from the thread, I am an optometrist (although not a behavioural one). Most Optoms should be able to deal with convergence issues and issue appropriate exercises, so it is always worth a thorough eye examination. The overlay assessment is also worth doing, especially if there are any symptoms of blurring/ words moving or jumbling or 'rivers' in the text. My DD has precision tinted lenses (blue) and absolutely will not read without them.
PurpleDuck
Posts: 1586
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:45 pm

Re: Best timing for ed psych report

Post by PurpleDuck »

DS had a problem with tracking and convergence on top of his dyslexia. We found an excellent behavioural optometrist in Cheltenham, who diagnosed the problem and prescribed vision therapy. It was over 2 hours' drive away each time we went for a check-up (roughly about once every 6 weeks), but it was definitely worth it.

There aren't that many behavioural optometrists around and I agree with what Bumblebeez said - some optometrists think it's all mumbo-jumbo. Guess what - DS had a number of eye tests prior to his diagnosis, including a hospital referral, but none of those standard tests found any issues. The behavioural optometrist's assessment lasted nearly 2 hours and covered so many things, including general bi-lateral coordination, that it was mind-boggling.

For anyone who would like to find a properly trained behavioural optometrist in their area, you can look up a website of the British Association of Behavioural Optometrists: http://babo.co.uk/find-a-behavioural-optometrist/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)
Optymum
Posts: 83
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:17 pm

Re: Best timing for ed psych report

Post by Optymum »

We have finally bitten the bullet as it were and had a private Ed Psych report for our DD. Unsurprisingly (for us anyway), she is dyslexic. We thought it was really only affecting her spelling, but it appears it does affect her reading too. Hopefully we will now get some support in school. However, we still feel grammar is a good option for her as she is very able. I just wondered if there was anyone on the forum who could advise via pm, whether the Ed psych report would be a benefit or hindrance if we had to go to appeal (DD is currently year 5). If anyone feels they can advise, I can pm the details. Many thanks.
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