Your opinion?

[Everythinghappensforareason1]

We moved to a new area and new school 3 months ago. Dd is year 3 had dsylexia assessment done when he was 6.5 years mild dsylexia, struggles with working memory and processing therefore struggles with maths, still has to do number bonds to 10 on her fingers as she just can't remember them.

Previous school she was under ed psy.

So we have moved had a term for teachers to make there own assessment. Thy have done assessments on her which led to a meeting last day of term.

There assessments states she is 8.3 year for reading she is 8 years old next week. Spelling is 6.11 years so a year behind. They have agreed maths Is her weakness but today I realised no maths assessment was not done and no predicted age of where she is upto when I know for a fact she is at least 2 years behind. So my question is why was I given her Builth of reading nd spelling but not maths...

Last week they referred her to SALT

Throughout the meeting they told me they had done dsylexia screening and she comes up higher therefore she doesn't score enough on there test to be classed as dsylexic. having spent £500 on assessment with dsylexia action i was annoyed at this. Was constantly told throughout the meeting that there is no funding and she doesn't score low enough for intervention on a 1-2-1 basis. I was told 'i m sorry this isnt what you wanted to hear'. Her score were not low enough for ed psy to be issued for a referral, although was under ed psy at previous school (different local authority)

She does access a teaching assistant in a small group in lass when a TA is available hence not all the time.

I suppose it's bugging me that no proper assessment was done in maths. What do you make if this? Any opinions would be gratefully received, I am going to email the teacher and ask about maths assessment and her ability age as this would qualify for ed psy referral surely.

Lots of points made on lack of attention and focus. Going to go doctors for suspected ADD although not told school yet I am going down that route as decision only made today after watching her in gymnastics lesson and admitting to myself there may be a problem on that side of things,

Sorry this is all jumbled, just been reflecting on meeting today while I had 5 mins and kicking myself at loads of things I should of asked,

I welcome anyone's advice.

[AsBrightAsAJewel]

What do you mean when you say she was under the ed psy? If she has been assessed by an educational psychologist there will a report and recommendations for the school. Were these records not passed to the new school? If not, why were all the existing assessments not forwarded? That would provide the maths assessment information you/they need.

Also, with regards to the dyslexia assessment, if you have paid for one from a private (non-LA) advisor have the school been given that assessment report? Schools have in-house dyslexia screening, which doesn't diagnose it gives them an indication that of the likelihood that the child needs a full assessment, but it is very rare for them to be able to actually test for dyslexia. It is certainly not their role to give a diagnosis.

The level of assessments you feel your child needs is beyond the school's usual remit. They could answer whether your child is working at age-expectations under the new curriculum, and if not which year group's curriculum they are working on. This would give you an indicator of how far behind she is.

I assume you have moved Local Authority - we are finding getting EP time almost impossible- some LAs are better than others. Funding cuts means their threshold for involvement has moved ridiculously high. The same goes for the adult support we can provide within the classroom and the individual interventions. We run 1:1 Dancing Bears intervention for some children, but they have very little additional support within the classroom. It is up to us teachers to adapt and support.

[Everythinghappensforareason1]

Thanks for your reply.

No assessments were passed on by previous school, but I have provided everything myself to the school. Although at the meeting yesterday they had not looked over it as it was a few sheets of paper they said they had been put in another file until i pointed out that it was at the back of there wallet, they apologised and quickly glanced over it and looked pointed out the attention issues that were mentioned didnt look at anything else. all the percentile that are listed on report etc. Last report done oct 2014

The assessment from dyslexia action was given to them on the first day DD started, and yes your correct that it was a screening and DD didnt fall into the bracket on that screening.

I am grateful that DD is working in small groups within class although I know it's not consisent and aware of all the cuts. I just presumed that if she had been assessed by ed psy for two years at previous school every 6 months I assummmed it would be carried over.

Think I will just email and ask about assessment on maths to find out what age ability DD is at

Thanks again for your in

[mrz]

The school may not use a test that gives an age for maths. It's less common than reading and spelling age tests.

[mrz]

Even with a diagnosis of dyslexia it would unlikely qualify her for 1 - 1 support.

[poppy70]

WM the byword which no one seems to understand much. Long answer there are games you can play to improve it. Short answer it is linked to KS1 SATs results and just to KS2 maths, and the reality is there is little that can be done for it. It basically boils down to... If you are academically bright and do well in tests you have a good working memory... If you aren't you don't. Highly academically intelligent people have phenomenal working memories because they make links between disparate thinks in a nano second.

[Charis1]

privately paid for assessments are disregarded in school.

[AsBrightAsAJewel]

Not always Charis1 - If we find the assessor's qualifications and experience valid and the assessments themselves unbiased they are very useful.

[Charis1]

we find ourselves absolutly inundated with them. Whole filing cabinets full, one child I knew had a draw of a filing cabinet absolutly crammed full of her own individual private assessments, hundred of pages!They frequently say what ever the parents have paid for them to say, and are of no value to us at all, and to be honest, the time to even sit down and skim through them doesn't exist, particularly when you know they are likely to be worthless. from the point of view of information, and legally.

[AsBrightAsAJewel]

I suppose we are lucky and get very few compared to you, Charis1; the most recent was from a parent that paid for an assessment as I had explained how difficult it was to get EP assessments, but I was concerned about X.

I check who the assessment is by before I bother spend time reading too much of it. I do warn parents that some private EPs are less than accurate unless they have input from the school. I quote about the fact I have a certain dyslexia assessor (who I don't name) near me that always identifies it as a very serious issue and that the child needs intensive tutoring out of school ... what a surprise the assessor is also a tutor!

As we struggle so much to get access to LA EPs I am grateful when parents will foot the bill to get the additional information that can help the school provide a targeted and structured support plan.

[Primaryteach87]

Sorry, nowhere I've worked would she be 'bad' enough to meet the thread holds for LA help. Fundibg is ridiculously low for SEN now. In our LA even statemented children don't attract any specific funding. The teachers are probably as p**d off about this as you, understandably, are.

Do ask about the Maths assessment though.

[spanieleyes]

As a rule of thumb in my authority, we really struggle to get
any 1:1 for a child unless they are around 4'years behind, P scales in year 4/5 is considered borderline! Of course, there are exceptions, severe autism, some medical needs etc but dyslexia wouldn't usually require/receive 1:1 funding

[mrz]

Schools now have to show they've spent £6000-£10000 to support an individual child before an EHCP would be considered and with changes to the SEN code of practice school action and school action plus no longer exist schools are doing their best with reduced budgets.
We are paying for an EP because it's almost impossible to get time from the LEA EPs.

[IvyBean]

Has Dyspraxia been looked into?

The PE thing along with the maths sounds familiar.

That said she probably won't get anything for that either even if very low on scores but she may get referred to an OT and then get some classes out of school. Re her maths can you find out the weaknesses and do some support at home. I know it's not easy to do that but it may be your only option.

[mrz]

The OP said she is looking at an Attention Deficit assessment after watch her child at gymnastics ...

OP does your child experience physical problems?

[Everythinghappensforareason1]

Thanks for all your replys.

No not concerned its dyspraxia, very good at sport just her attention and focus when learning is very poor (which i witnessed at gymnastics) and I have been told this by every teacher since she was at pre school.

Thanks for everyone's information - ivory much appreciated.

I have sorted a few maths games to do over half term hopefully the more we do them the more she will remember the numbers.

Interesting comment about the private assessments and they get disregarded.

[Everythinghappensforareason1]

Ivory=very

[mrz]

We refer children for private assessment and pay for private EP time so definitely don't disregard out of hand but there is a huge market out there and unfortunately not all assessments are of the same standard.

[OneInEight]

If you just stuff them in a filing cupboard then I am not surprised you find the reports totally useless Charis.

I can understand schools being overwhelmed by the bumph - we have a pretty impressive pile for the ds's (all instigated at the school's request I might add) and there is a lot of repetition. Perhaps a one page summary for each professional would be the solution rather than repeating all my pregnancy history which really was nothing to do with the issue

The in depth reports can be very useful especially when the child (as mine do) have a very spiky profile to highlight where the specific difficulties lie. They don't need help most of the time but they do need the teacher to know that certain tasks they will find nigh on impossible e.g. inference and that refusal to do these tasks is because they can't rather than they won't.

Even if the school doesn't read them it is helpful as a parent to know where your child's difficulties lie so that you can ask for appropriate help or give the child appropriate help yourself.

[mrz]

I would be shocked if any SENCO stuffed reports in a filing cabinet without reading them.

[Charis1]

I would be shocked if any SENCO stuffed reports in a filing cabinet without reading them

sorry, what would you like us to do with them. There is many weeks of full time reading there, who has the time to sit and read through it all? Why would we anyway? it mostly just says what the parents has paid to have said, and is of zero value.

Any official assessments done by the school or requestioned by the school are read and used. We probably have ten times as many done privately than done by the school so the reading is far less, and not only that but the information is valid and useful.

[Charis1]

I would be shocked if any SENCO stuffed reports in a filing cabinet without reading them

yeah, sure, you have no idea how many come raining down on her, it is a physical impossibility to read them

[mrz]

I'm a SENCO so probably have a good idea how many come raining down on her and how some children need a whole filling cabinet for themselves but you have to find time to plough through them and if like me you are also a full time class teacher that means lots of bedtime reading.

[Charis1]

you have to find time to plough through them

all very well in theory, but in practice, in many schools, the time simply does not exist, it can't be made, the value is frequently zero, and the chance of remembering anything after the 200th page is also zero.

Not only impossible ,but completely pointless to even consider attempting.

[mrz]

Yes I have to find time to plough through them ... that's my job.

[mrz]

Did you miss the part where I plough through them in my own time ...often in bed?