SCOTLAND - Dyslexia but no support in school at ALL?

[DopeyDawg]

After a long battle my LEA have finally accepted that my 11 year old ds has Dyslexia. The private report also lists dysgraphia and dyspraxia.

We also have a 3 year old private ASD assessment which they do not accept (or rather, they simply ignore).

As they accept the Dyslexia assessment I thought we might finally get some support for his learning needs (he is also assessed as gifted in some areas).
Today I had confirmation from the LEA that he will not receive any formal support for learning this year (he has had less than 10 hours over the last 3 years).
The schools own figures show that he has 'gone backwards' over the last 3 years in terms of performance on some of their tests.

Apparently, he doesn't even need an individual learning plan.
Some of the 'strategies' they suggest are 'having a go' at spelling on pieces of scrap paper, marked by peers (there has been a lot of bullying).
Other suggestion have been that he struggles with his work due to his 'English accent' (!)

Can anyone who knows the Curriculum for Excellence tell me if this is acceptable, under this regime, please?

[DopeyDawg]

Hell0000000000000000?

[Seryph]

Okay first of all check out www.dyspraxiascotland.org.uk/ www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/ and the Education Scotland page for dyslexia www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inclusionandequalities/additionalsupportforlearning/dyslexia/index.asp there should be a link on there somewhere for the dyslexia toolkit for teachers which should give you some idea.
I know that there is a dyslexia centre here in Glasgow (based at Thornwood Primary) but I don't know how much use that will be for you.

First off you can tell school where they can shove the accent idea, and peer marking, that won't help your ds's confidence at all. Now, I recommend you look into the dyspraxia side of things as well, instead of just focusing on the dyslexia. Dyspraxia causes all kinds of problems including making the physical act of writing painful, which won't help trying to do anything! You need to have a long meeting with the school, take your private assessment (and a photocopy) and go over in detail where your son personally struggles. Every case of dyslexia/dyspraxia/dyscalculia/dysgraphia is different and each child will have different struggles. For example despite numerous tests and assessments I wasn't diagnosed as dyslexic until university due to my very good reading skills and a vocabulary in the top percentile (thankfully they did notice the dyspraxia earlier but I was very much in the same position as your son!).

Expect to do a lot of the work at home, especially if the school seem difficult about it. You are going to have to find ways of doing things differently to help your son. For example, try doing something active when practising spellings (we ran laps of the coffee table changing direction when a correct spelling was given). Use different kinds of pens or pencils, does you son find a certain colour easier to use, do big felt tips help, a wax crayon, a fountain pen even? Try getting him to dictate written work to you/a tape recorder and then typing it up (I would avoid scribing for him completely as some children become dependant on it and struggle more later on in work or university when they don't have access to someone to write/read for them). Find things he's really interested in reading and do little projects together. Encourage any mark making at all if he struggles with it. Some people find mindmapping to be hugely beneficial, see if it helps him and talk to his teacher about maybe accepting mind maps for now rather than pages of written text.

Sorry if I've suggested things you already know/do, and I hope you can convince the school to help!

[JellicleCat]

Dopey, have you had a look at any of the information on the Enquire website? It tells you about what you are entitled to.

[Pepperpot69]

Well why am I not surprised!!! I can not believe that this is still going on in Scottish schools and they still sweep it under the carpet! My DS had exactly the same treatment and the primary head refused to deal with it making loads of excuses and avoiding all responsibility.
We also had him privately assessed and they recommended that we look into the independent sector. We found a fabulous little prep school that recognised his needs and helped and nurtured him from day 1, he has never looked back.

[ClearBlueWater]

Hi, I am the OP back with a namechange (after being on 'The List').

Jellicle - I have had number of conversations with Enquire and they suggest we do to Independent Adjudication. As does our local Mediator. As does the Govan Law Centre.

Seryph - thank you. This isall really helpful.

It is difficult, as he comes out of school so wound up he wont contemplate doing any extra 'work' with me, but I will keep trying and there are some really good ideas here.