Groan and here we go again

[happychappy]

OK parents evening next week but this time a new school. My son is nearly 13 year 8 and is dyslexic. Apparently his reasoning is allowing him to cope. I don't see any interventions (whatever they are) in place not have ever been, in this school or the last or the primary school. However his is mulling along and every now and then we have a blip. It's blip time, lost homework, forgetfulness, chatting, poor test results, lots of staying in at lunchtime (is this an intervention?). groan. ok The school as with every other school doesnt tell me until he is nearly on report or a parents evening. next weeks parents evening and he asks not to go. Turns out he is in big trouble in science french and spanish (wrote his french and spanish tests in Italian; her solution give him the answers to the test and more homework!). Other subjects is coasting along the bottom of his set. When I go to parents evening what am I asking for? the teachers awareness clearly isnt going to get him through his GCSE's feeling a bit lost. Husband leaves this to me because I am also dyslexic so therefore, obviously, the fountain of all knowledge on this subject.

[isitsnowingyet]

My sympathies completely. My DS had a dreadful year for year 8 - it was detentions every week/on report/you name it - and was also terribly unhappy. (He doesn't have dyslexia, but did have appointments with the special needs person each week as he certainly had problems concentrating).

I dreaded the parent's evening, and went without husband too, as he was working conveniently for him Actually the evening was okay as in not too bad, as most of the teachers were interested in helping him.

We offered him to change schools at the end of the year, as things had gotten so bad. He said he wanted to stay and would work harder. This year he's in year 9 and has been much better (only 1 detention so far this year!! - this is good, believe me).

We tried to help him by getting him interested in some extra-curricular hobbies that weren't related to school in order to boost his confidence. Is it possible for you to get a tutor to help him with his most difficult subjects? Or to boost his confidence a bit? I wouldn't be worrying too much about GCSEs yet as he has another 2 years to mature before then.

Also does the school not have a special needs staff/dept? Surely if he a recognised dyslexic he should be getting some extra help.

[happychappy]

haha, know that feeling, only one detention so far. We just dont have the money for a tutor, I do what I can, I use to teach but it is a bit of battle of wills. His self confidence unrelated to school is fine, it's just school. He's a great sportsman and fab at fixing things. The way I explained it to him when he was young was some people are good at sport and some people are not, they have to practice harder. Unfortunately for you reading and writing is difficult and, unlike sport, we all have to do it.

No, there is nothing in place. The first school in this country, fudged his results so they didn't have to put him on school action plus, the first secondary lost his results (the SEN got the sack for being so rubbish(. we moved house so new school, that school did completely nothing at all. and this school is a bit better but still nothing is in place. I am not sure what I want to be in place. I know when I was at school they took me out of languages and religion and worked in a small groups with me on strategies and spelling. I think this would be good. I need ideas of what else could help him. Bless him he always tries.

[TotheBarricades]

OK - he is coming up to year 10. He will need:

*25% extra time for GCSEs - necessary for additional processing
*technology - have a look at Dragondictate
*the use of this technology will require a separate room for all examinations
*information for all staff teaching him, regarding note-taking, organisational support, time to process and retrieve information and over-teaching key materials
*the possibility of dropping languages to focus on passing key GCSEs
*memory and examination strategies: brainstorming, mindmapping, verbalising answers, models of key answers

and probably, most important of all, the acknowledgement of his effort.