My dd6 was diagnosed with dyslexia over the summer (between K and 1st grade.) In case it helps here's what we saw:
I noticed a hand-eye coordination issue when she was about 18 months old but was unable to get the pediatrician to refer for a fine motor eval until she turned 5. I kept getting the explanation that she was "so far ahead of the curve" on most things that something that is age appropriate appears to be a deficit when it is not. I kept bringing it up until finally when she turned 5 I basically demanded the eval before she started kindergarten. Of course it showed a significant deficit and we began OT and PT in a furious effort to get her to grade level before starting school.
Her kindergarten experience was just awful - she was in an extremely punitive environment and totally shut down. While she would read for us at home - not enjoying it and not always easily - at school she would not even acknowledge that she knew her letters. Every time I asked for assistance with either the fine motor or reading we were told "She'll never qualify - she's too smart." We were at a regional magnet with multi-age classrooms but the school was required to contact our town to explore the issues and they never did. The school's literacy specialist refused to make eye contact and changed the subject when we raised the question of dyslexia.
It was June of her kindergarten year before we finally got the information on who to contact ourselves. When we met with her we explained some of what we were seeing with dd's reading - at times reading easily at other times it was as if the words just disappeared from the page, sometimes reading the correct word but moving its placement in a sentence, almost always confusing "b" and "d", adding or leaving out sounds, recognizing a word on one page but being totally unable to decipher it on the next page, etc. She tended to use the pictures and context for reference rather than working to sound out the words. The school psych from our town who held this meeting and did the special ed testing at first scoffed and told us she couldn't have dyslexia if she was able to read so well at some times. When she saw dd�s handwriting she realized that something was going on and decided to do a full special ed eval.
The testing showed 98% percentile for oral comprehension, 5th percentile for visual perception and processing speed. She was also clinically anxious from her school experience so I believe these numbers were probably somewhat off but they clearly showed a gifted kid with significant learning disabilities. When the school psych told me the results she started by saying "You were right � I didn�t believe it but you were right!"
We changed to our local public school who is taking a major interest in her since her scores were so unusual. She is receiving pull-out special ed daily to work on the reading while participating in the highest reading group for comprehension. Apparently there are 4-5 other first graders with very advanced comprehension so I think she will be in a group with them soon even while the special ed teacher works on her actual reading skills. As far as reading at grade level really translating to being behind yes, a relative who is a pediatrician specializing in ld issues made it clear to me that based on my dd's comprehension anything below 4th grade reading level would be considered remedial.
I hope this helps. I know that if I had relied on the school to pick up on this my dd would have been way, way behind before it was caught. Smart kids do indeed cover up the deficits. Look for how your ds does when he is tired � that is when his giftedness is least likely to mask the problems.
Good luck!
