Dyslexic dd 14 what can we ask for?

[Sixinthe]

Hi,
Tips needed please. Am not at all sure the school is helping dd. They are all lovely when I talk to them, but am not sure what happens after that - I suggested written notes on tinted paper which some teachers give her. Homework is when teachers want to set it - so not regular maths on Monday etc. I also can’t seem to get to the bottom of what she is learning or what is coming up so have no idea what or how to teach her. Feel overwhelmed and confused. She has a tutor who is helping but says she is a primary teacher so can’t help dd for much longer. She recently said she’d tested her and her reading age is primary 3 which Is obviously quite scary. She gets frustrated too because she can’t read magazines like Aquila where the type is small, and says she wants to know things as well as the kids that write in.
Help!

[Singleandproud]

You could get her a reading pen, they are quite pricey but I know our students with dyslexia found that it gave them independence. The orange exam pen can be used in place of a reader in exams. Or there are other with more bells and whistles that can be used at home.

She shouldn’t have to but giving each teacher a list of what she needs would be helpful, the SEND info should be easy to access but it often isn’t. Just a note with her name, class what size font she needs, preferred font, preferred colour of paper if applicable makes it much easier for the class teacher to provide her with what she needs.

She needs assessing in year 10 for exam access arrangements to see if she qualifies for a reader/scribe/ word processor or extra time.

[bookishtartlet]

Hi, I'm a secondary teacher. The school need to ensure she has an ASN file that all teachers have access to. This will include information for teachers such as best colour paper to use, font and size. My kids also find it useful if I print any PowerPoints off before the lesson so they can follow along. Would a netbook help instead of handwriting notes? She can also get an overlay in her preferred colour. All exams and assessments need to be adapted to her needs, as well as additional time and a reader/scribe if needed.

In regards to reading at home, might a kindle help? You can change colour and sizes and buy pretty much everything.

Who diagnosed her? What support did she have in primary?

[LittleCandle]

Find out if any local opticians test for coloured lenses in glasses. That was life changing for my DD. Also, they can find electronic text easier to read than books. The words seem to 'jump' less for them.

[RaggeddeeAnn]

In my experience the schools don’t do much without you pushing them constantly. They also are very limited. My DD was diagnosed with severe dyslexia at age 10 when despite all their efforts she could still not read words or basic math expressions.
I paid for a private psychologist to run a full battery of tests on her and write recommendations for the school to follow of what would help her specifically. There is no one set way that helps all dyslexics. It has to be tailored individually. The psychologist also referred us to a cognitive tutor that specialises in dyslexics & could tailor sessions to give DD the tools to successfully decode writing and so on. This tutor was a godsend! The school and NHS had only phonetics on offer for helping dyslexics with reading/writing and had done that with her in primary school but for our DDs dyslexia phonetics was completely useless and only confused her more.
Our DDs confidence during & after the tutor went through the roof because unlike with phonetics, she was working hard and seeing results. Her reading age went from five years behind to six months above average in the space of two years. She’s learned lifelong skills.
She did really well in GCSEs and is predicted straight As at A level. She was retested for post-16 dyslexia for exam arrangements and sure enough, still very severely dyslexic. She gets extra time and can submit video/oral work instead of written work. The biggest fight we’ve had is the culture of low expectations. The school often questions if she is dyslexic because they expect her to be average to failing...not an A student. But she is...we just invested in that battery of tests to get clear direction as to what tools would actually help her and then got them instead of depending on the schools hit or miss approach. Paying for dyslexia tests and diagnosis by actual psychologists was worth every penny.