Ditto, ditto polarbear, syoblrig and ABQMom! My DS11 was not reading at end of K (at 6yrs 3mos) and I spent the summer doing extra work through a reading class and tutors to get him up to speed. He still mixed up letters too, including, most bizarrely, p and m. He had the p/m confusion all the way through 1st grade.
Everyone kept telling me he was within normal, a late bloomer, but he was really struggling with dysgraphia. The "wait and see" approach apparently works well for a lot of kids because of the broad range of developmental "normal" but it's a terrible disservice to kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia.
I wish I had listened to my gut with DS before he was labeled a lazy underachiever who simply refused to write and spent so much time in the nurse's office with stomach pain due to school anxiety. He didn't get diagnosed until 4th grade when I had him privately tested. The school never identified him because he is bright enough to compensate well most of the time. That compensation takes quite a toll on the child though. Arrgh I still feel guilty about it.
