Primary teachers...wwyd wrt interventions/help....

[Becaroooo]

...for an 8.5 year old Y4 boy who is only just on ORT level 7 reading book?

TIA

[mrz]

It would really depend on what aspects of reading causing his difficulty. My first step would be to stop using ORT.

[Becaroooo]

He is dyslexic mrz - 3rd centile for spelling and 17th for reading according to EP report in Sept, although he has made some progress since then.....

[Becaroooo]

(oh and the school use lots of different books/schemes and number them so ds1 is on 2.4 (whatever that means) but I noticed it was an ort and the level....

[mrz]

Sorry that doesn't tell me a thing that your initial post didn't. It doesn't tell me where his difficulties lie which is the problem with an all encompassing non label like dyslexia.

[Becaroooo]

I can only tell you what I have been told - that he is dyslexic and that he is working at a 1a in reading and 1b in writing in Y4.

[mummytime]

Does he know his letter sounds?
Does he know that words are made of sounds? Does he know the first sound of "cat" is "c"?
Can he break words into sounds?
Can he tell a word from its sounds?
Is he fine with sounds but just can't recognise words?
Can he read whole words but not decode sounds?
Does he spell phonetically?
Does he struggle to form letters?
Does he know how books work?
Does he have any kind of speech problem?
Does he have a hearing problem?
Does he have a sight problem?
What has been done so far?
Are there any emotional problems?

When he tries to read, what strategies are used? What kind of mistakes does he make?

[Becaroooo]

Nothing has been done mummy hence my post.

He knows most of the letter names and all the letter sounds.

He spells phonetically - at least I can read it! -

so eg:

meenwhigl - meanwhile

School doing nothing and I am getting increasingly frustrated/angry.

He has no 1-1, no specialist interventions (apart from what I do at home) despite the an EP report stating he needed 1-1.

wwyd?

[maverick]

Does he know the Alphabet Code? Use the following chart -he needs to know instantly the sounds that the spellings represent:

ontrackreading.com/assets/pdf/CodeKnowledgeTest.pdf

[Becaroooo]

I will, thank you

[paddingtonbear1]

If the EP report said your ds needs 1:1, would he qualify for a statement? You can apply yourself, not just through school. The SN - Children section would have better advice on this. I'm pretty sure my dd is dyslexic - we have no formal diagnosis, but her writing and spelling are a similar level to your ds. Her reading is much improved, partly due to intervention at school (lots of extra phonics sessions). She also has a tutor once a week. I'm also looking into a local Behavioural Optometrist, as she may have tracking issues (often loses her place on the page, can't copy very well).

[Becaroooo]

paddington SA is almost impossible to get for dyslexia

[mrz]

Schools should be supporting every child's needs regardless of having a statement or a diagnosis. As I said a diagnosis of dyslexia tells the teacher nothing helpful about the child.
Knowing if a child has tracking issues or auditory processing difficulties for example are much more helpful.
As maverick says a starting point would be to find out what he does know and if he can apply it.

www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/schoolsnet/utilities/action/act_download.cfm?mediaid=34387 is a very thorough assessment of basic skills

[Becaroooo]

thank you

[Takver]

mrz - do you think an assessment by an Ed Psych is of help? DD was referred by school but this is now on hold as the EP is long term sick and its likely to be quite a while I suspect before there is any spare time.

We're not quite sure where to go now - whether it would be worth for example considering finding out about the options for seeing one privately. It seems to me though that maybe that wouldn't make so much sense as of course the county service is integrated into the school, they've already observed dd in class etc.

[Becaroooo]

takver My sons school said they would not get an EP in - despite the community paed asking them too! - intil he had not made any more progress for another year. This was unacceptable to me and I therefore paid £600 for a piece of useless paper that told me what I already knew...that ds1 was dyslexic (have been telling teachers that since he was 6 - he is now 8.5)

I am pretty bitter about the whole sen provision in schools in general atm.

[mrz]

truthfully ... not really they only tell you what you already know. Suggestions are rarely anything you haven't already tried or are currently doing.
An EP report helps if there is the chance of a statement for a child with complex needs.

[Takver]

OK, that's kind of what I felt. I think the main hope we had from the EP route was that we might not have to go through the same hoops each time dd changes teacher.

We've just been in for yet another meeting suggesting that - just perhaps - keeping her in at playtimes four days out of five because she isn't getting her work done fast enough might not actually make her work any quicker since it has yet to do so in any previous class.

(I've no objection at all to her being kept in for bad behaviour, obviously.)

[mrz]

I've got to be honest even with an EP report and a gentle reminder from the SENCO teachers can be stubborn in their approach ... my son had no playtimes in primary until Y6.

[Takver]

To be fair dd's teachers have all come to the conclusion in the end that she isn't being wilfully stubborn - it just generally takes most of a year (fortunately they spend 2 years in each class).

We did I have to say have a reasonably productive meeting yesterday & I think they're going to try sitting dd on her own for maths & some written work. She's very happy with this as she says herself that the others can get the work done and chat but she can't.

We did take the excellent advice on here not to wait for formal reports on anything but just to get on with some intervention and her spelling & writing is much improved in content over the last 8-10 months if not in speed :)

[mrz]

I had our new EP in this week and she basically said not to count on her involvement in school as her workload has more than quadrupled this year.

[Becaroooo]

How comforting for us parents of kids with sen/sn....

[mrz]

The truth is our SEN children achieve highly without any EP input because staff don't wait around for reports before they initiate support.

[Takver]

From the other perspective, I'm not expecting miracles in the way of support anyway. Taking the cynical view dd will reach acceptable levels at the end of yr 6 in everything apart from writing (teacher assessment so it doesn't matter that it takes her forever to do things).

And from the less cynical viewpoint resources are so constrained that they have little to offer her friend who still couldn't read at all in yr 4 (now making some progress with outside lessons arranged and paid for by her parents) so dd is never going to be a priority.

Sorry to sound so negative - I don't think this is typical of schools in general, and I do know quite a few parents of children with SENs who have taken their dc out of this school. We've considered it ourselves but the other option of primary school I don't think will be enough better to justify the travelling + removing dd from her friends (and she doesn't want to be HE although she knows a few kids who are and we'd certainly think about it if she did want to come out of school).

[IndigoBell]

Takver - for the money you spend on a private EP report you could get an awful lot of useful therapy done.

In fact - the best therapy, Tinsley House is cheaper than many EPs.......

[maverick]

You might like to view this page of 'Your Options' if you have a child who is a seriously struggling reader:

www.dyslexics.org.uk/should_I_options.htm