I believed my son had dyslexia and asked for testing, as did his teachers. The diagnostician refused, saying he did not meet standards for school testing because he was not at least 2 grade levels behind. We had him tested privately through a local psychologist who instead diagnosed him with a fine motor disability, dysgraphia. Similar to dyslexia, it carries the same issues with reversed letters, difficulty reading and spelling, and challenges with memorization of things like times tables, etc. It also brings the additional challenges of fine motor skill developmental delays.
Once I had the private diagnosis, I requested another meeting with the school diagnostician. She agreed to take the results before a review committee who then voted to allow the results to be part of his official school record. Based on the results, he was admitted into special ed and began receiving speech therapy, remedial education for reading, and occupational therapy for writing.
If your child is gifted or very bright along with these challenges, you will have a fight on your hands because his testing will belie the difficulties you are describing. You will have to remind yourself that you are advocating for the success of your child. Trust your instincts. Don't be afraid to push beyond the standard institutionalized "no" when asking for help. But whenever possible, keep the teachers and testing staff on your side. Understand that they are overworked, overwhelmed, and bound by a massive boatload of rules and regulations.
Good luck.
