lms, what makes you suspect he is dyslexic? A low incidence cognitive profile doesn't, a priori, mean a learning challenge, especially in the right-most tail of the curve, though it can. And, on the flip side, there are plenty of learners with beautifully even cognitive profiles for whom other testing (achievement, executive function) reveals learning differences.
What specific behaviors or performance anomalies give rise to your suspicions? It might be important to request that these areas be assessed in the upcoming school evaluation, if they have not already been included.
My suspicions started early on when I'd ask seemingly innocent questions in some parenting groups and several people would reply "That was actually an early sign of dyslexia in my child." For instance, I do remember asking, "My 5 year old doesn't understand rhyming at all. Even if I give him multiple examples of rhyming words and ask for another one, he'll still get it wrong. What age do kids normally know how to rhyme?" and I got lots of dyslexic responses to that. There were probably 5 other questions like that one I've asked over the years and got responses of it being an early sign of dyslexia.
Despite knowing the sounds of the letters for several years, it wasn't until I started working with him using a reading program intended for dyslexics and struggling readers that reading started to catch on. But then he started to understand sight words and how to put them together...
It's also quite obvious to me that he reads pretty much exclusively through sight words. He might skip over words or say them incorrectly. If he doesn't know a word, he won't try to figure it out. He really resists reading any book out loud if I haven't read it to him first (like he's storing the potential words he might not know?).
And then from reading books about dyslexia, I've realized other things, like talking around words when he can't quickly recall the word he wants ("the color of our car" instead of "white") and difficulty understanding time and schedules.
I asked the school district about evaluating him for dyslexia awhile ago, but they said not until 3rd grade. He's 2nd now, and this evaluation isn't even about the dyslexia, but I thought that there might be something that would indicate it. ADHD is what the evaluation is for (I was recently diagnosed with ADD myself.), and I was also curious to know if there would be something in that as well. I believe that they're also going to do an achievement test, such as the W-J. So maybe it's in the combination of those that we'll see something?
(And I know that I'll get explanations about results. I just like to know what to expect first. That's the gifted in me.
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