That depends on why you want one. Understand when a diagnosis is useful and what else is available.

If you suspect that your child has dyslexia, it is natural to consider getting a formal evaluation and diagnosis. There are obviously benefits to getting a formal diagnosis. And surprisingly, there are some disadvantages to be aware of.

You might also wonder when to hire specialist tutors for your child. We’ll discuss that at the end of this article.

Spoiler alert: We recommend finding a specialist tutor in parallel with getting an official diagnosis. There’s no need to wait. We’ll explain why at the end of this article.

In this guide, we will cover:

1. Dyslexia diagnosis: What it is
2. Pros of getting a dyslexia diagnosis
3. Cons of getting a dyslexia diagnosis
4. Specialist tutoring for your child

Dyslexia Diagnosis: What it is

A dyslexia assessment and diagnosis is generally performed by a psychologist or a special education teacher. It’s based on identifying patterns of strengths and weaknesses in cognitive abilities. In contrast, diagnosis of other neurodiversities are often performed by medical professionals.

For example, an Autism Spectrum diagnosis should be performed by a psychiatrist who specializes in Autism.

Similarly, an ADHD diagnosis should be performed by a psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD.

Now, there’s a potential problem with this. It’s very common for someone who is dyslexic to have aspects of other neurodiversities, for example Autism Spectrum, ADHD or dyspraxia. As each neurodiversity has its own specialists who perform official diagnoses, one specialist might only be able to diagnose in their specialty and refer on if they see other potential issues. So it’s important to have someone on your team who has the whole picture of who your child is. We’ll discuss that more in the section on “Specialist Tutoring for Your Child” below.

Pros of Getting a Dyslexia Diagnosis

The advantage of having a diagnosis is that you may be  then able to use that diagnosis to force the local authorities or school to provide special accommodations. Those may  include funding for extra help or equipment and extra time during exams. 

Cons of Getting a dyslexia Diagnosis

You may be surprised to hear that there can also be downsides to getting an official dyslexia diagnosis for your child.

It turns out that there are also potential problems:

• The child becomes the label
• Teachers may lower their expectations 
• The child sees this diagnosis as a limiting factor.

The child becomes the label

Many educators think they ‘know’ what dyslexia is, so once a child has been diagnosed with dyslexia, they think they ‘know’ the child. Even if they’re not special educators they may have some guidelines they can follow for working with dyslexic students once they see the diagnosis.

The problem with this is that most neurodiverse people have not one but rather several neurodiversities.

Teachers may lower their expectations

A simple diagnosis of dyslexia may well give their educators tunnel vision, leading them to ignore other challenges that the child may have. Some educators may even make the mistake of thinking that dyslexia defines the child.

Teachers want to do the very best for all the children they teach, but often they do not have the breadth of experience to fully cater to a range of neurodevelopmental differences. 

Some teachers and some school systems focus their time and attention where they expect to succeed. Some children, unfortunately, just get left behind.

The child sees this diagnosis as a limiting factor  

It is common for dyslexic children to experience negative informal labels too. Labels from teachers and others who just understand. They are often called lazy or nagged to try harder and do better without being given the tools to succeed.

This experience can contribute to low self esteem, lower aspirations and learned helplessness. There’s a strong overlap of depression and anxiety with all of the neurodiversities. Perhaps if we can make their experience better, they can feel better about themselves. 

In fact, dyslexia is a mixed bag. Yes, there are some obvious limitations like difficulty reading or learning to read or difficulty processing some kinds of information.

However, dyslexics also have a unique way of thinking that often allows them to see the big picture, and see patterns that others miss.

The world is full of highly successful dyslexics, such as Richard Branson, Steven Spielberg and Magic Johnson.

When you have the full picture, dyslexia is as much a superpower as a limitation. Your child just needs to learn to discover their superpowers hidden beneath their obvious challenges.

None of these downsides mean that you should not get a formal dyslexia diagnosis for your child. However, finding the right support is more important than a formal diagnosis

Specialist Tutoring for Your Child

If you think your child might be dyslexic, you might be considering hiring a specialist tutor to help them thrive in school – and in life.

Which raises two questions:

• Is it important to have an official diagnosis before hiring a specialist tutor? 
• Will an official diagnosis affect how the specialist tutor works with your child?

Is it important to have an official diagnosis before hiring a specialist tutor? 

As we mentioned before, neurodiversities tend to go together. If your child is dyslexic, it is likely they also have other differences. And even if they’re ‘only’ dyslexic, no two dyslexics are exactly the same.

Sometimes a diagnosis may lead subject tutors who work with students with dyslexia to pigeonhole your child into a box and miss the individual differences.

Will an official diagnosis affect how the specialist tutor supports your child?

A great dyslexia tutor will see your child as a unique individual, regardless of whether they have a diagnosis or not. 

They will assess all aspects of your child’s strengths and weaknesses, so they don’t miss any other important differences your child has.

They’ll develop a customised approach to working with your child. And as they continue to work with your child, they’ll continue to adjust their program over time.

So, for the best specialist tutors, a specific diagnosis is only one reference point. They do not need the diagnosis to get to know your child and start working with them.

If you would like to talk with one of our experts to discuss what would be the best approach to tutoring your dyslexic child, book a free consultation today.

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In this article, we’ll explain the four essential things to look for in a dyslexia tutor.

The advice here is based on our decades of experience tutoring students with dyslexia and other neurodiversities such as ASD (Autism/Aspergers), dyspraxia and ADD/ADHD.

In this article we will cover:

• The common types of dyslexia tutors
• The importance of identifying and addressing any neurodevelopmental weaknesses
• The importance of not just learning to read, but learning how to think
• The four essential things to look for in a dyslexia tutor

At the end of the article we’ll discuss the pros and cons of online tutoring vs. in-person tutoring.

The Common Types of Dyslexia Tutors

When you search for a dyslexia tutor, you’ll mostly find two kinds of tutors:

1. Subject matter tutors who claim to have experience in working with dyslexic students
2. Specialized reading tutors for dyslexics

Let’s break those two types of tutors down in more detail.

Subject Matter Tutors

First of all, what is a subject matter tutor?

Well, it means that they tutor their students in specific subjects like math, biology, history, etc.

If they turn up in a search for “dyslexia tutors” it’s most likely because they added something at the end of their profile like “Special Educational Needs: Aspergers, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia.”

They may be great subject matter tutors, but if they put their special needs ‘expertise’ right at the end of their profile, they’re probably not true experts in working with dyslexic students.

The problem with subject matter tutors working with dyslexic students is that dyslexic people don’t learn and think like most ‘normal’ people.

So when traditional subject matter tutors try to teach them as if they were just like every other student, your child will most likely continue to struggle, even with a great subject matter tutor.

So, we recommend against hiring subject matter tutors for your dyslexic child until they have learned to read at their reading age and have learned how to learn given their unique thinking style.

Reading Tutors

True dyslexia specialists will emphasize dyslexia tutoring in their profile. It will be the first thing they talk about, not the last thing in their profile.

Most specialized dyslexia tutors teach reading skills.

The best approaches to teaching reading skills to dyslexics are similar to the Orton–Gillingham method. Look for that kind of expertise in a reading tutor’s profile. Their profile might use the term “Orton–Gillingham” or the more technical term “Multisensory Structured Language Education (MSLE)”. Either one of these on their profile is a good sign.

If your child is young and has not received any specialized reading skills tutoring, this is the best place to start.

If this goes well, then stick with it.

An appropriate goal is for your child to reach their standardized reading age by the time they reach age 10. In any case, it will also be important for your child to learn how to learn given their unique thinking style. We’ll cover that later in this article.

If your child continues to struggle reading even with specialized reading tutoring, then it’s appropriate to explore whether they have any neurological weaknesses that need to be addressed.

Identify and address any neurodevelopmental weaknesses

First, what is a “neurodevelopmental weakness”?

Simply put, it is some weakness in brain development. It’s not as scary as it sounds. It might be something as simple as not fully developing their ability to process what they read. And these are things that can usually be addressed once they have been identified.

Most people have some weaknesses in their neurological development. And dyslexics may have specific weaknesses that are affecting their ability to read and learn.

So, if your child is struggling to learn to read even with specialized help, it’s appropriate to assess and address those weaknesses.

This is where the field of neurodevelopmental movement comes in.

Quite simply, neurodevelopmental movement gives your child a way to strengthen the neurodevelopmental weaknesses that they somehow missed.

Madeleine Portwood [1] has written extensively about this approach in her book Developmental Dyspraxia: Identification and Intervention: A Manual for Parents and Professionals. While that book is focused on dyspraxia, it’s just as relevant to dyslexics.

So, we recommend looking for a specialized tutor with expertise in creating a neurodevelopmental movement plan for your child. The plan should be based on observing your child in real life situations and 100% customized to your child.

Once your child has strengthened any important weaknesses in their neurological development, it will be much easier for them to learn to read, and to master other academic skills.

Now, catching up on reading is only part of the solution. There are other skills they will need to truly thrive in academics and in life.

It’s not just about learning to read – it’s about learning to think

Dyslexic students have difficulty processing written information, for sure.

But there’s so much more going on for dyslexic students.

They process information differently and think differently.

If you have a dyslexic child you’ve probably already noticed this. It may be hard to put your finger on it, but somehow you’re aware that they just think differently and process information differently from other children.

A great dyslexia tutor will address this by teaching your child:

• How to work with the limitations of their dyslexic thinking style
• How to understand and appreciate the particular genius of their dyslexic thinking style
• How to bridge the gap between:
  • their unique thinking style and 
  • how their teachers expect them to explain their thinking in order to get good grades

Well, that’s all very nice, but how does it work?

The fundamental difference between the thinking style of most people and dyslexics is this:

• Most people learn details and procedures first and then figure out the big picture later
• Dyslexics do it the other way around. They think best when they get the big picture first, and then learn the details and procedures later.

Unfortunately for dyslexics, classroom teaching matches how most people learn and mismatches how dyslexics learn. This makes it hard for them.

So, the trick for the dyslexic student is to learn how to use these simple steps:

1. Reframe what is taught in class into a framework that actually works for them (often using techniques to relate the new knowledge they are learning to the existing web of knowledge they already have)
2. Think about the the problem in ‘their world’ – coming up with answers in a way that’s easy for them
3. Translate their answers back from ‘their world’ to the linear, procedural answers that their teachers want to see to get good grades

Once your child has learned how to do this, they’ll struggle a lot less and discover that they can thrive in learning.

To summarize… 

The Four Essential Things to Look for in a Dyslexia Tutor

When looking for a dyslexia tutor, there are four essential things to look for:

1. They are not just subject matter tutors who claim to work with students with special education needs
2. They will teach your child how to read and process written information better
3. They can assess and address any neurodevelopmental weaknesses
4. They will teach your child how to think more effectively

So, where can you find a dyslexia tutor who meets these four criteria?

Online vs. In-Person Tutoring

Unfortunately, these four simple criteria eliminate most dyslexia tutors. Finding a great dyslexia tutor near you might be impossible.

Considering an online tutor opens up a lot more options, but does it really work?

Fortunately, the answer is a resounding Yes.

We’ve been working with all our students online over the last few years, and surprisingly, it turns out that their results are generally better online than with the old-school in-person tutoring.

Why?

Well, the answer is slightly different for younger children than for teens and adults.

Let’s break it down…

For younger children

If you have a young dyslexic child, you know them better than anyone else.

You see them every day. You know what they do well. You know where they struggle. You know when they get confused. You know when they get frustrated.

You see all these things. But you may not know how to interpret them and what to do about it. That’s not your fault. You’re a good parent, but you’re just not trained in special education.

So when we work with younger children, we ask you to take short video clips of your child going about their daily lives. Especially video clips of them doing the things you know that they struggle with on a daily basis.

Then you share those clips with your expert tutor – who knows how to analyze the video clips and knows what to do about what they see.

Then your specialized tutor will give you ‘play’ activities to do with your child. These ‘play’ activities are specifically designed to help your child learn and thrive.

You sharing video clips of your child in a variety of situations with us gives us much richer information than we used to get by coming to observe your child in-person.

For teens and adults

For teens and adults, we work directly with the student. And, of course, advise the parents as well.

Dyslexic students often have difficulty processing the information they’re reading. When a tutor is sitting beside the student in-person, it’s hard to see their eye movements, how they’re scanning the information on the page, and where they get stuck.

But online, the tutor can actually see the student’s face as they’re working with the information they’re reading. The camera is right on the computer screen that the student is reading, so the tutor gets a bird’s-eye view of how the student is processing the information.

This turns out to be a significant advantage.

So, overall, online tutoring actually works better than in-person tutoring.

The most important thing is to find the best tutor for your child.

If you would like to talk with one of our experts to discuss what would be the best approach to tutoring your dyslexic child, book a free consultation today.

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Related article: Dyslexia – What it is, challenges, how to overcome it.